Brazil’s cocoa farms get high-tech upgrade

Big boost: Workers use machines to harvest and husk cocoa pods at a farm in Bahia. New machinery and widespread use of irrigation systems is helping Brazil’s cocoa production grow, which is a large shift for the typically labour-intensive crop. — Bloomberg

SAO PAULO: Valuable cocoa beans pour from the pipe of what looks like a small train making its way through tropical fruit trees in Brazil, leaving only husks on the ground.

The machine is bringing automation to the husking of ripe cocoa pods, a significant improvement over the traditional labour-intensive harvesting process of picking fruit from trees and manually cutting through the stalks with a blade.