Abstract

The purposes of this study were to compare the modalities of the post-harvest practices of these two groups and to statistically identify the modalities responsible of non-quality (under grade) on the basis of results of Pareto chart and proportion of successes calculated for each modality. A survey about of modalities of post-harvest processing methods and about the quality of the beans obtained was conducted among producers of the largest producing region of Côte d’Ivoire. The collected data were analyzed by the chi-square test of concordance and the Pareto chart. The results show that there is no correlation between practice of the individual farmers and the farmers in cooperatives. Highly significant differences (p-value < 0.001) were observed in the number of brewing; the fermentation time; the materials of fermentation and drying impacting the quality of merchantable cocoa. Samples collected from farmers into cooperatives have fewer defects than those of individual farmers. Regarding the modalities of the post-harvest practice responsible of the under-grades, the results showed that the samples of farmers in cooperatives had fewer defects than those of individual farmers. Thus, obtaining a good quality cocoa beans must take into account the best modality at each step of post-harvest practices. However certain modality should be avoided. These are: the time breaking pods of one day; the absence of brewing during the fermentation; the time of fermentation less than or equal to three days and the time of drying less than or equal to two days.

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