Advice for a beginning cacao farm

Plants
#1

Hello!

I am in the beginning stages of starting a cacao operation along the coast of Panama. I would love to learn from anyones with experience in cacao farming.

I currently have 300 trees growing and am preparing ground for another 700 by the end of this year.

-What are some lessons that people have learned or advise that they wished they had known when they started their operation? eg. tree spacing, variety selection, irrigation systems, soil preparation and maintenance, optimal amount of shade

My location is tropical rainforest with about 50% shade provided by a tall overstory. I have cleared most of the middle and all of the bottom story as preparation for the planting. The area is mostly flat. My soils are clay based, very little organic matter below the top 3 inches of soil, with a ph of 5 to 5.5. I have been growing legumes (pigeon pea, cow pea, and lab lab) on the site for the past year.

So far, about 100 of my trees are criollo and the rest are a more productive variety with very red pods. Im not sure what the name is. Any ideas on where I could find different varieties of genetics? Can cocoa seeds be ordered online?

Currently I have a large amount of pigeon pea growing on the site and would like to continue growing edible crops for personal consumption and sale. What are successful combinations that others have found? What kind of tree spacing should i use to optimize mixed plantings in the future?

I am currently using some of the JADAM methods in my other agricultural projects and I am curious if anyone has experience applying this to cacao production? I have visited a farm in Guatamala that was very successfully using it to fight fungal diseases in coffee production to maintain organic certification. It seems there might be possibilities of JADAM’s usefulness in cacao production.

Thanks for any input, i very much appreciate it! blessings.

#2

@Michael_T_Cooley has expertise mainly from Sub-Saharan Africa.

@Keith_Mikkelson is very experienced in using JADAM methods and may have advice specific to cacao production.

#3

I am from Cameroon. I am not only a cocoa farmer but an agroecological consultant(researcher) in coca farming. Actually in Cameroon agroforestry is the best practice so far. This is important for climate change adaptation and also against pest and disease. However the types of trees integrated in the farm in very important. Some trees are good for moisture, natural pest and disease, while others are known to bad. However the integration on banana and coco yam are best at the begining of the farm. With regard to spacing 3m is recommanded. For trees we are still researching on the maximum in a hactere. However since you are at the begining and are in a tropical forest selective tree cutting is recommanded. While adding fruits tree along with time.