Nicaraguan Cocoa sector and its considerations under the Central American Free Trade Agreement and possible problems producers face in marketing abroad

Nicaraguan Cocoa Trade

Cocoa has been an important part of Mesoamerican life for more than a thousand years . It began as a sacred , ceremonial food until the discovery of the Americas by the Europeans . From that time to today cocoa has been a booming commodity locally and more importantly , in the worldwide marketplace (Somarriba , 2009 ) However , Nicaragua struggles to capture a big portion of the international market , although cocoa from that region is generally accepted as very high quality

In the late 1970 's farmers struggled with both crop disease and lower

br market prices . The outcome was a massive replacement by farmers from cocoa to bananas , which were believed to be more profitable . The effect was a decrease in cocoa bean production , which has remained relatively low until recently . Today cocoa is frequently cultivated by indigenous peoples and peasant farmers . Many Mesoamerican countries use the cocoa farms as a key land use effort to reducing poverty (Somarriba , 2009 However , Nicaragua is beginning to turn their focus on better production methods , and more land specifically designated to the production of cocoa

Experts have estimated that only 6400 hectares are farmed each year in the cultivation of cocoa . That number roughly represents about one thousand cubic tons per year in cocoa production (Navarrete , 2005 ) In addition to this , most farmers are small scale generational farmers passing along traditions through the years . However , it has also been estimated that in comparison to the 6400 hectares that are farmed each year , a possible 350...