Divisi
How to grow Cocoa
Theobroma cacao · Malvaceae
Photo: Lolay · CC BY 2.0
Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) is a small evergreen tree of the hot, wet tropics. Left alone it grows tall, but you keep it pruned to about 3–5 m — a little taller than a person — so you can still reach the pods. It grew up in the shade under the rainforest, so when young it must have shade: full sun scorches the leaves and stalls or kills the tree. Its oddest habit is that the flowers and pods grow straight out of the trunk and the thick old branches, not on the leafy twigs. The tiny waxy flowers are pollinated only by midges — little flies smaller than a mosquito — that breed in damp leaf litter on the ground, and only a few flowers ever set into pods, so keeping the midges happy is half the crop. From flower to ripe pod takes about five to six months, and because the tree flowers on and off all year you pick in rounds, not one big harvest. The beans inside become chocolate — but only after you ferment and dry them properly. Planted once, a cocoa tree bears for decades.
Pkraemer · CC BY-SA 4.0 
Flocci Nivis · CC BY 4.0
- Days to maturity
- 150–180 days
- Row spacing
- 300 cm
- Plant spacing in the row
- 300 cm
These are general figures for the crop, compiled from published agronomic references including FAO and CABI. The right choice for your field depends on your soil, rainfall and the yield you are aiming for.
Will cocoa actually do well on your land? Check your field against every crop in the catalogue — free, no signup. Run the free crop check →
Other names for Cocoa
cocoa · cacao · cacaoyer · cacau · kakao
Working in buckets, bags or paces? The farming glossary turns the measures growers actually use into kilograms and hectares — what a 20 litre bucket of each crop really weighs, and how to size a field by walking it — alongside the Shona, Swahili, Ndebele and Yoruba words used in the field. Open the glossary →
Growing cocoa, stage by stage
Your cocoa orchard from the ground up — raise shaded young trees and plant them out, nurse them to first flowering, then work the year-round rounds of pollination, pod care, weekly picking, and the fermenting and drying that make the flavour and the price.
- Raise your young trees and set up the shade
- Plant under shade and settle the trees in
- Grow the frame to first flowering (years 1–3)
- Flowering: help the midges set your pods
- Pod development: beat black pod and feed for fill
- Pick ripe pods in rounds
- Ferment and dry — this is where flavour and price are made
15 step-by-step tasks in the app
Every task for cocoa — what to do, when to do it and why it matters — with the amounts worked out for your own field, reminders as each one falls due, and warnings before extreme weather.
Pests and diseases that attack cocoa
1 more threat tracked in the app
Divisi tells you which of these is a risk on your cocoa right now, when to walk the field looking for it, and what to do the moment you find it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does cocoa take to grow?
Cocoa takes about 150–180 days from sowing to maturity, though the exact length varies with variety, temperature and how the season runs.
What spacing should I use for cocoa?
Space cocoa rows about 300 cm apart, with roughly 300 cm between plants within the row.
What pests and diseases attack cocoa?
The ones covered in this guide are Black pod, Capsids (mirid bugs), Cocoa swollen shoot virus. Each has its own page explaining how to identify, scout for and control it.
Grow cocoa with a plan, not a guess
Divisi turns this guide into a dated plan for your own field — what to do each week, reminders as tasks fall due, and warnings before extreme weather. Free for farmers, works offline.
Or check your field first