Cacao is a crop of great commercial value and has competitive advantage both in the domestic and international markets. Cacao processed beans are used mainly by manufacturers of chocolates, cocoa powder, soaps, cosmetics, shampoo and other pharmaceutical products.
Despite the bright future of this crop, the domestic production level of cacao has been decreasing, from 7.945 metric tons in 1994 to 7000 metric tons in 1999. This can be attributed to some long standing problems such as lack of superior varieties and inadequacy of technologies on pest management and postharvest handling and processing and the poor farming systems. Continue reading “Propagating cacao by nodal grafting”