Cocoa in the Ivory Coast

Made by Sara Maria

Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is
located in western Africa.
Cote d'Ivoire is bordered by the
Gulf of Guinea to the south,
Liberia and Guinea to the west,
Mali and Burkina Faso to the north,
and Ghana to the east.
1. Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) leads the world in production and export of the
cocoa beans used in the manufacture of chocolate, as of 2012 supplying
38% of cocoa produced in the world.
2. In Ivory Coast, the climate is tropical, with a dry season from December to
February and a rainy season from April to October due to the African
monsoon. Along the coast, the rains are significant also in March and
November, and even in December on the westernmost part.The best time
to visit the Ivory Coast is winter, from December to February.
3. Cocoa is essentially a plant of tropical region. The equatorial environment
with high temperatures and heavy rainfall is the best.
4. The cocoa farming is best developed in regions having about 27°C of
average annual temperature.
Pods containing cocoa beans grow from
the trunk and branches of the cocoa
tree. Harvesting involves removing ripe
pods from the trees and opening them to
extract the wet beans. The pods are
harvested manually by making a clean
cut through the stalk with a well
sharpened blade.
Fermentation can be carried out in a
variety of ways, but all methods depend
on removing the beans from the pods
and piling them together or in a box to
allow micro-organisms to develop and
initiate the fermentation of the pulp
surrounding the beans.
Cocoa beans are dried after
fermentation in order to reduce the
moisture content from about 60% to
about 7.5%.