Jornal de Ciências Agrícolas e Pesquisa de Alimentos
Acesso livre

Abstrato

The Flavoured Cocoa Challenge

Devant Maharaj*

Trinidad and Tobago enjoy a comparative advantage as an exclusive producer of flavour cocoa beans. Paradoxically, the Trinidad and Tobago cocoa industry currently faces numerous challenges and has been on the decline in the past few years. Globally a number of factors these factors have resulted in an increasing demand for flavoured cocoa, while the supply of this has been largely unchanged during the period. This has resulted in a shortage of flavour cocoa and has contributed to an upward movement of prices paid per metric ton. This Qualitative Research paper aims to identify marketing strategies to close the gap between the current and the potential conditions in the cocoa industry in Trinidad and Tobago, by (1) interviewing experts and (2) comparing the similar markets in Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Honduras. The stakeholders and local cocoa experts were invited to share their impressions, opinions and ideas with Interviews, which were designed appropriately given the objective of this paper. On this foundation of significant background evidence obtained, a further comparison was made of the countries and their cocoa industry; potential marketing strategies to improve the Trinidad and Tobago’s cocoa industry were developed. The result of the study indicates that niche-marketing strategies are best suited as an effective marketing strategy for Trinidad and Tobago Cocoa industry.