Part 7 (2/2)

CACAO PRODUCTION OF THE CHIEF PRODUCING AREAS OF THE WORLD.

(1 ton = 1000 kilogrammes).

Country. 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons.

Gold Coast[1] 53,000 77,300 72,200 91,000 66,300 Brazil 40,800 45,000 43,700 55,600 41,900 Ecuador 47,200 37,000 42,700 47,200 38,000 San Thome 31,400 29,900 33,200 31,900 26,600 Trinidad[1] 28,400 24,100 24,000 31,800 26,200 San Domingo 20,700 20,200 21,000 23,700 18,800 Venezuela 16,900 18,300 15,200 13,100 13,000 Lagos[1] 4,900 9,100 9,000 15,400 10,200 Grenada[1] 6,100 6,500 5,500 5,500 6,700 Fernando Po 3,100 3,900 3,800 3,700 4,200 Ceylon[1] 2,900 3,900 3,500 3,700 4,000 Jamaica[1] 3,800 3,600 3,400 2,800 3,000 Surinam 1,900 1,700 2,000 1,900 2,500 Cameroons 1,200 2,400 3,000 2,800 1,300 Haiti 2,100 1,800 1,900 1,500 2,300 French Cols. 1,800 1,900 1,600 2,200 1,700 Cuba 1,800 1,700 1,500 1,500 1,000 Java 1,600 1,500 1,500 1,600 800 Samoa 1,100 900 900 1,200 800 Togo 200 300 400 1,600 1,000 St. Lucia[1] 700 800 700 600 500 Belgian Congo 500 600 800 800 900 Dominica[1] 450 550 300 300 300 St. Vincent[1] 100 100 75 50 75 Other countries 3,200 3,000 3,500 3,500 3,500 ------------------------------------------- Total 275,900 296,100 295,400 344,000 275,600 ------------------------------------------- Total British Empire 102,000 128,000 120,000 153,000 119,000

[1] British Possessions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF THE WORLD, WITH ONLY CACAO-PRODUCING AREAS MARKED.]

_SOUTH AMERICAN CACAO._

In the map of South America given on p. 89 the princ.i.p.al cacao producing areas are marked. Their production in 1918 was as follows:

CACAO BEANS EXPORTED.

Percentage of Country. Metric Tons.[2] World's production.

Brazil 41,865 15.4 Ecuador 38,000 14.0 (Guayaquil alone 34,973 tons) Venezuela 13,000 5.0 Surinam 2,468 0.9 British Guiana 20 0.01 ------------------------------------------ South American Total 95,353 tons 35.31 per cent.

[2] These figures, and others quoted later in this chapter, are estimates given by Messrs. Theo. Vasmer & Co. in their reports.

ECUADOR.

_Arriba and Machala Cacaos._--In Ecuador, for many years the chief producing area of the world, dwell the cacao kings, men who possess very large and wild cacao forests, each containing several million cacao trees. The method of culture is primitive, and no artificial manures are used, yet for several generations the trees have given good crops and the soil remains as fertile as ever. The two princ.i.p.al cacaos are known as _Arriba_ and _Machala_, or cla.s.sed together as Guayaquil after the city of that name. Guayaquil, the commercial metropolis of the Republic of Ecuador, is an ancient and picturesque city built almost astride the Equator. Despite the unscientific cultural methods, and the imperfect fermentation, which results in the cacao containing a high percentage of unfermented beans and not infrequently mouldy beans also, this cacao is much appreciated in Europe and America, for the beans are large and possess a fine strong flavour and characteristic scented aroma. The amount of Guayaquil cacao exported in 1919 was 33,209 tons.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RAKING CACAO BEANS ON THE DRIERS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: GATHERING CACAO PODS IN ECUADOR.

(La Clementina Plantation, Ecuador.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SORTING CACAO FOR s.h.i.+PMENT, GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR.]

An interesting experiment was made in 1912, when a protective a.s.sociation known as the _Asociacion de Agricultores del Ecuador_ was legalised. This collects half a golden dollar on every hundred pounds of cacao, and by purchasing and storing cacao on its own account whenever prices fall below a reasonable minimum, attempts in the planter's interest to regulate the selling price of cacao. Unfortunately, as cacao tends to go mouldy when stored in a damp tropical climate, the _Asociacion_ is not an unmixed blessing to the manufacturer and consumer.

BRAZIL.

_Para and Bahia Cacaos._--Brazil has made marked progress in recent years, and has now overtaken Ecuador in quant.i.ty of produce; the cacao, however, is quite different from, and not as fine as, that from Guayaquil. The princ.i.p.al cacao comes from the State of Bahia, where the climate is ideal for its cultivation. Indeed so perfect are the natural conditions that formerly no care was taken in cacao production, and much of that gathered was wild and uncured. During the last decade there has been an improvement, and this would, doubtless, be more noteworthy if the means of transport were better, for at present the roads are bad and the railways inadequate; hence most of the cacao is brought down to the city of Bahia in canoes. Nevertheless, Bahia cacao is better fermented than the peculiar cacao of Para, another important cacao from Brazil, which is appreciated by manufacturers on account of its mild flavour.

Bahia exported in 1919 about 51,000 tons of cacao.

VENEZUELA.

_Caracas, Carupano and Maracaibo Cacaos._--Venezuela has been called ”the cla.s.sic home of cacao,” and had not the chief occupation of its inhabitants been revolution, it would have retained till now the important position it held a hundred years ago. It is in this enchanted country (it was at La Guayra in Caracas, as readers of _Westward Ho!_ will remember, that Amyas found his long-sought Rose) that the finest cacao in the world is produced: the criollo, the bean with the golden-brown break. The tree which produces this is as delicate as the cacao is fine, and there is some danger that this superb cacao may die out--a tragedy which every connoisseur would wish to avert.

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