382 COCOA 



CHAP. 



Kilog. 



1904 . . 13,558,000 



1905 . . . 12,604,000 



1906 . ; . 14,313,000 



1907 . . . 10,151,000 



1908 . . . 19,005,000 



Kilog. 



1909 . . 14,818,000 



1910 . . . 16,623,000 



1911 . . . 19,828,000 



1912 . . . 20,900,000 



The prices paid for Samana cocoa on the European 

 market differ according to the way in which it has been 

 prepared. The plantation cocoa is much better paid 

 than the produce of the small labourer. Taken as a 

 whole, the Samana cocoa belongs to the ordinary sorts. 

 It is a little superior to Accra cocoa (Gold Coast), and 

 about of the same quality or a little inferior to San 

 Thome. 



Formerly Germany was the most important con- 

 sumer, but lately the United States of America have 

 become still more important. 



VIII. THE GOLD COAST l AND LAGOS 



The Gold Coast (see map, Fig. 116) occupies a 

 special place among cocoa-growing countries, for the 

 remarkable growth of the industry, though mainly in 

 the hands of native small proprietors, finds no parallel 

 elsewhere. The first cocoa was exported in 1891, a 

 quantity of 80 kilograms being shipped to England ; in 

 1911 the export amounted to more than 40 million 

 kilograms (40,000 tons of 2200 Ibs.). 



At the present time cocoa is grown in all the 

 districts of this Colony, and is also rapidly extending 

 to the adjoining Protectorate of Ashanti. It is only 

 the sandy and stony coast-region which is unfit for this 

 cultivation. 



If the Government persists in its endeavours to 

 improve the cultivation, to find methods to fight the 

 prevalent diseases and pests, and to make the natives 

 adopt these methods, it may be expected that the 



1 See the Annual Reports of the Agricultural Department of the Gold Coast, 

 and also Chevalier, Le Cacaoyer dans I'ouest africain (Les Ve'ge'taux utiles de 

 I'Afrique tropicale franqaise, fasc. iv., 1908, pp. 185-200). 



