Technical and economic analysis of the production system of Theobroma cacao L. in the south of the department of Córdoba, Colombia

The southern zone of the department of Córdoba Colombia, for more than two decades has been promoting the cultivation of cocoa as a productive alternative in the replacement of illicit crops. There is no evidence of a study documenting the technical and economic characterization of the cocoa production system. The objective of this work was to analyze the production system from a technical and economic point of view. The sample is made up of 158 farmers selected at random. The information included aspects related to this production system in the municipalities of Montelíbano, Puerto Libertador, Tierralta and Valencia. The economic returns were obtained by the technique of the concession with producers with experience. The producers with an average age of 57 years of which 77% are male and 23% are women, about the educational level, basic primary predominates with 54% and 20% not having access to any level of schooling. The production model is that of family farming, average yields are 570 k/ha-1. The average income per year is 5,687,500 $/ha-1 the costs are 5,041,015 COP. per hectare which allows the generation of surpluses. The internal rate of return is 36% higher than the capital opportunity cost. It is concluded that with the local technology the costs are recovered, and generate surpluses for the producer of 1658,984 COP per hectare per year.