The Cocoa Harvest

The cocoa tree starts to bear fruit in its fourth or fifth year, and can continue to produce crops for thirty years. The harvest comes twice a year, as soon as the pods become ripe and golden. The main harvest takes place before the dry season, the second, smaller one at the end of the rainy season. The pods are cut straight from the tree trunks with machetes, great care being taken not to damage the bark of the tree. This process is extremely labour intensive and requires great skill, so the cocoa harvest provides much seasonal work. The price of labour in the cocoa-growing areas might be considered low by western standards, but with so many workers needed, the harvest represents a large proportion of chocolate production costs.