324 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



October 15, 1910. 



FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 



THE PRODUCTION OF CACAO IN 1909. 



The Journal d' Agriculture Tropicale for July 1910 

 (No. 109) gives an account of the statistics, published in 

 Gordian for June 22, of the production and consumption of 

 cacao in 1909. The following particulars as to the former 

 of these are taken from that account, commencing with 

 figures showing the production of cacao in 1908 and 1909, 

 in tonnes of 1,000 kilos. (2,20.5 tt).), which may be taken as 

 being roughly equivalent to the ordinary ton: — 



The article proceeds to point out that several interesting 

 facts may be gleaned from the tables given in GordHin. 

 Firstly, there has been an increase in the world'.s production, 

 or more pro)>erly, export, amounting to 10 million kilos, in 

 1909. In the last decade, 1899-09, the production has moved 

 from 99,886,649 kilos, to 204,660,000 kilos.; that is to say, 

 it has more than doubled, implying an average increase 

 of 10 million kilos, a year. 



Brazil retains its position at the head of the different 

 cacao-producing countries with an excess of about 800 

 tons over the amcjunt for 1908, which, unfortunately, was 

 not accompanied by a corresponding increase in the value of 



the products; the average price of a kilogram of cacao fell from 

 959 reis (1 reis = -027(/.) in 1908 to 754 reis, in 1909^from 

 1 Ud to about 9rf. per lb. — entailing a total diminution of 

 9,.500,000 francs (about £375,000). The export from Brazil 

 is supplied to a great extent by the State of Bahia, which 

 furnished 28,783,000 kilo.?. in.l909; this was followed by Para 

 with about 3,783,000 kilos. 



San Thome continues to increase its crop by more than 

 a thousand tons, and its product is becoming more appreciated, 

 being prepared with much more care than that of Brazil and 

 of Guayaquil. 



The very great impetus given to the cultivation of cacao 

 in British West Africa shows itself by a fresh increase, by 

 two-thirds, on the crop of the previous year. This large 

 extension, and the small amount of care that is exercised by 

 the natives in regard to the establishment and the mainten- 

 ance of the plants, have not failed to gain the attention of 

 Mr. H. N.Thompson, Consei-vator of Forests of Northern Niger- 

 ia, who points out, in n recent report to the Colonial Ot}ice,that 

 it is much to be feared that the cacao plantations that have 

 been established on the hills rising from the plain are liable 

 to destruction, in the near future. The vegetation of the 

 cacao is already losing, in some respects, its character of 

 persistence; the trees are becoming deciduous, and the 

 changes that are taking place are so pronounced, that the 

 Director of Agriculture estimates that, in these places, the 

 life of the trees will not exceed six or seven years. This is one 

 of the consequences of excessive deforestation, which is threat- 

 ening the palm oil industry in the same way. 



The increase in the production of the German colonies 

 is very noticeable. This is from 2,840 to 3,400 tonnes, of 

 which quantity 2,800 tonnes came from the Cameroons. 

 {Deutsche Kolonial Zeifuii;/, 1910, p. 379.) Attention may 

 be also drawn to the slight improvement in condition.? in 

 Surinam, where cacao is far, however, from having regained 

 the position that it occupied in 189.5, before the ravages of 

 the witch broom disease took place. As regards the French 

 colonies, production remains much at the same level, or shows 

 a slight increase. 



The world's consumption of cacao, particularized in the 

 second table in the article in Gordian, has increased in 

 a proportiop that is much the same as that of the production, 

 and the visible stocks, at the end of 1909, were approximately 

 as follows; France, 20,070 tonnes; England, 9,150; Lisbon, 

 6,430; other countries, 34,340 tonnes. Finally, the floating 

 cargoes figure in the statistics as 20,740 tonnes. 



