In the past two of Trinidad and Tobago’s major agricultural products were cocoa and coffee beans, with the former being acknowledged by many in the industry as being among the highest quality in the world.

However an examination of the period 1960 to 2007 shows that the outputs of both of these products have declined sharply, With regard to cocoa beans, in 1960 production stood at 8380 thousand kilograms but by 2007 this total fell to 639.2 thousand kilograms, a decrease of 7740.8 thousand kilograms or 92.4%.

In terms of coffee beans production the figure was 1841.8 thousand kilograms in 1960, this tally peaked at 4329.5 thousand kilograms in 1968. By 2007 the figure fell to 249.5 thousand kilograms representing an 86.5% decline over the period 1960 to 2007.

It should however be noted that coffee bean production in Trinidad and Tobago has followed a pattern of peaks and troughs and in 2005 the figure was 2131.8 thousand kilograms which was even higher than the 1960 total.