Global cocoa prices are climbing steadily and international demand for the valuable produce remains high, yet millions of T&T’s finest cocoa beans are rotting in the fields.
More than 1,700 cocoa farmers across the country are having difficulties getting access to international buyers as the new Cocoa Development Board has failed to set up mechanisms for export.
In the meantime, more than 4,000 workers on cocoa estates have been laid off and 40 tonnes of cocoa, which could bring in valuable foreign exchange, are wasting away.
Cocoa beans stored ay the Macoya market have been drying up while hundreds of farmers have had to leave cocoa pods in the fields.
In an interview yesterday, vice president of the National Cocoa Allied Farmers Association Oscar Cadet said the problems started in 2015 when then minister Devant Maharaj abolished the Cocoa and Coffee Industry Board of T&T which was established by Act 20 of 1961 with a mandate to “secure the most favourable arrangements for the purchase of cocoa and coffee.”
“Previously we used to sell the cocoa through international brokers. We had about $30 million in assets under the board but when Minister Maharaj repealed the legislation, $10 million of that was used to set up the Cocoa Development Company,” Cadet said.
With the change in government, the old board was fired and Cadet said it took several months before a new board was put in place.
Seven months later, the board has failed to organise access to international markets jeopardising more than 40 tonnes of cocoa.
At a time when T&T is experiencing economic recession, Cadet said he is surprised that little is being done to save the industry.
Cadet said many farmers do not have the knowledge and expertise to sell their produce to international buyers as the process is long and bureaucratic.
“The buying agents have international linkages and there is a lot of paperwork involved in shipping the cocoa and the majority of farmers don’t know what to do or where to start,” he said.
While the Agriculture Ministry has contacted the association and suggested several names for new appointees, the process is taking too long and farmers are losing out.
“There are been about 4,000 people who work in the cocoa fields that did not get any work this season because if you don’t have a buyer, it makes no sense spending money to harvest the cocoa and it remains to rot.
“We had hoped the ministry would meet with the farmers early o’clock but the crop is going to finish the end of this month and nothing is in place yet. We have to wait until next year for the cocoa to grow again,” Cadet said.
Contacted yesterday, former minister Devant Maharaj said the industry is in jeopardy because Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat and his “sidekick” Parliamentary Secretary Avinash Singh are clueless about how the ministry should be run.
He said the abolition of the Cocoa and Coffee Industry Board was done through consultation with farmers and the legislation was repealed so that T&T’s fine-flavoured cocoa beans could be marketed aggressively abroad.
“We realised that we had the best cocoa in the world and cocoa was a commodity that was maintaining high prices and global demand, so we decided to change the legislation to make the Act more market friendly because previously the Act was very colonial.
“You couldn’t sell on a Sunday and all sales had to go through the government. The bureaucracy was not customer friendly,” Maharaj said.
He said the new Cocoa Development Company experienced bureaucratic problems and there was a staffing problem.
“We tried to revive the industry by putting a more dynamic system in place but all of that fell when this government took over,” Maharaj said.
“The new company was supposed to be a certification board. They will grade the cocoa and they know what kind of beans you have and what kind of price they will fetch.
“The new company could buy from more than one farmer and sell a big amount. It was set up to be more dynamic and market oriented,.”
However, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Avinash Singh said he voiced concerns when the Act was repealed.
He said the disbanding of the Cocoa and Coffee Industry Board had relieved the State of responsibility to source markets buy and sell cocoa.
Singh said Rambharat is in active discussions with the cocoa farmers to find a solution.
Rambharat, in an earlier interview, said the Cocoa Development Company cannot function like the old board.
“The government named a board for the company several weeks ago. The chairman is Winston Rudder. He has been working on several matters.
“The board includes Winston Rudder, Carlisle Pemberton, Jacqueline Rawlins, Glen Beckles and Fitzclarence Waldropt.”
The minister said cocoa farmers continue to act as though the new board will do what the previous Cocoa and Coffee Industry Board did.
“The system in which the State bought and exported cocoa no longer exists. It ended with the repeal of the Cocoa and Coffee Industry Board Act,” Rambharat said. He added that discussions are ongoing with farmers to address the situation.