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The cacao tree is a tropical
evergreen that grows in many
places, but always within 20
degrees of the equator. Most of
the plantations are in South and
Central America, Africa and some
parts of Asia. This is not the
same tree that produces cocaine,
which is the cocae or coca bush,
not a tree at all, nor is it a
coco palm which produces coconuts.
On most plantations, the trees get
their start in nurseries or from
cuttings of a mother tree which
are high yielding. For the first
few months they are nursed and
taken great care of, then they are
transplanted to the plantation in
the shade of other trees, rubber
or banana trees are common. Using
other crop producing trees allows
a second means of income for the
plantation owners as cacao is only
harvested twice a year. They
start bearing fruit when they are
between three and five years of
age, cacao trees produce fruit all
year long, it is not uncommon to
see one tree with pods at several
stages of development. The pods
grow from the main trunk or the
thinker older branches only, they
flower first and each flower turns
into a pod.
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