Getting Shade Around the Cocoa Tree

A cocoa farm works just like a small forest. Some of the crops we grow need the full direct sunlight to be able to grow well but cocoa trees a little different.

The setup of this particular Cocoa farm will give the shade the trees need to maintain a good temperature that'll keep them healthy.

If the sun was as direct on these cocoa trees like the regular crops, it can burn the soft leaves and also end up taking the water out of the drunk. So we have burnt leaves and no water, it's the perfect formula to kill a plant.

Even if it doesn't die it'll produce less pods than it could have.

If you don't understand this practice and the value it brings, you might end up destroying the financial investments you've made.

What you should be doing is using big shade trees that'll work as a natural sun screen. Beyond blocking part of the direct sunlight, less sunlight means the weeds you find it difficult to grow and to compete with the Cocoa for the soil's resource.

Besides that, if there's strong winds that can break the cocoa tree like the one I showed you on yesterday's video, the canopy shade trees will block the winds and protect your Cocoa tree.

This is exactly why a farmer needs to learn all this to avoid creating problems that'll cause more problems than the they can handle.