Cacao cultivation near Santiago

mimi49 · #1 07-19-2009, 02:32 PM

I am planning to plant cacao trees in November and was wondering if anyone out there has ever tried this....

Hillbilly · #2 07-19-2009, 04:11 PM

I am going to talk to José Antonio Martinez, one of this nation's experts on Cacao. Let me ask him and see what he says..

HB

mimi49 · #3 07-19-2009, 06:21 PM

I have a place to buy the (seedling) trees and the land, the upper-story trees.... I'm hoping!

Hillbilly · #4 07-20-2009, 10:15 AM

Okay, Mimi, here's the "word"...
Cacao used to be grown in this area and successfully. However, other, more financially viable crops took over.
Nowadays, cacao is as profitable as any crop being sown outside of garlic and the greenhouses..;
The big BUT is that it takes 2 1/2 to 3 years of TLC to get the crop producing...if you can do that, then you are good to go.

There will be people batting down your door when the news gets out that you have cacao for sale.

Cordially,

HB

2dlight · #5 07-20-2009, 12:28 PM

HB,

Would the land Mimi plans to purchase need to have large trees to provide shade for the Cacao plants? My memories of cacao plantations are of them growing in the shade of other trees.
Thanks.

Chip · #6 07-20-2009, 02:37 PM

If you need advice on how to make this work, my family here has plenty of experience in farming from the older generation with almost 60 yrs of experience to a recent graduate from the Agriculture institute in La Vega who is eager to find work at more than reasonable prices.

mimi49 · #7 07-20-2009, 07:16 PM

Thank you so much HB, 2dlight and Chip! I have been asking practically everyone trying to find out what problems we face, etc. If anything comes to mind let me know!

We are using a piece of land owned by my husbands parents, it's somewhat abandoned with a good amount of upper-story trees. We want to try the organic method and hoping to plant 100-200 trees to start in the first week of November (before the quasi rainy season). Relatives will be doing much of the day-to-day care and we all have a lot to learn. We are thinking of this as a long term project knowing that we are new to this business and are bound to make many mistakes!

Hillbilly · #8 07-20-2009, 08:46 PM

Noproblem. If you need more help, let me know in a year or two when the crop starts to come in!!

HB

mimi49 · #9 07-20-2009, 09:55 PM

I 'll let you know how it goes !!!