Between 2013 and 2014 , Nigeria increased cocoa production from 367,000 tonnes to 421,300 , according to World Atlas . The growth was made possible by innovations and increased availability of agricultural technology , as well as a rise in world cocoa price and demand . However , in 2015 , the country saw a drastic decrease in production , moving it from the fourth largest producer of cocoa beans to the sixth , with an output of 150,000 tonnes . Before the discovery of oil in Nigeria in the 1960s , the crop made up 50 % of the country ’ s export . CNBC reports that favourable weather conditions might be beneficial to the industry , bumping up its production for the year to between 300,000 and 320,000 tonnes .

Although still the largest cocoa producer in the Americas , producing 256,186 tonnes of beans in 2013 , according to World Atlas , an endemic across the Brazil region has caused its production value to fall drastically ; Reuters reports the 2016 / 2017 output as approximately 150,000 tonnes . The disease , called escoba de bruja , or witch ’ s broom , has attacked several regions in Brazil , according to Choco-Story . However , the country is well set up for a recovery , as one of the reasons for the decrease was also a country-wide seasonal drought that is now over .

58 April 2018