General News
28 October, 2026
Cocoa stacks up as sweet alternative to sugarcane
COCOA, as a viable growing option in the Douglas Shire, has taken a step forward with two Melbourne experts visiting the area, offering advice.
Tim Davies, Australian Cocoa and Chocolate Purveyors, Chocolate Hunters managing director and co-founder of Daintree Estates, together with Dr Barry Kitchen, an associate professor for nutrition, dietetics and food at the Monash University’s faculty of medicine, nursing and health sciences, paid a visit to meet new and existing cocoa growers and help to establish cocoa seedling propagation locally to supply a group of farmers who have expressed interest in growing the crop.
Since the closure of the Mossman Central Sugar Mill, sugarcane farmers have been looking for alternative crops. The financial yields from cocoa farming are similar per hectare to sugarcane, although the plantation requirements and husbandry processes are quite different.
Mr Davies has been working in the cocoa industry for 20 years, as chief financial officer of Cocoa Australia and Horizon Science, and then co-founder of Daintree Estates, the world’s first chocolate made with cocoa grown in Australia.
Dr Kitchen has been working in the cocoa and chocolate industry for over 40 years. He held several top senior executive roles at Cadbury-Schweppes for 20 years.
“I saw an opportunity whilst I was working at Cadbury-Schweppes. We were trying to buy cocoa from various parts of the world, including West Africa, Indonesia and Malasia, for example,” he said.
“We actually came up to the Douglas Shire over 20 years ago, originally because we were interested in sugar cane and ended up with an office in the old sugar mill.
“I asked, even then, if there were any spare paddocks to grow cocoa.
“We always managed with overseas suppliers, but I saw there was a weakness in terms of supply. I said to my managing director, at the time, that we should look at parts of Australia where we could start growing cocoa.”
Mr Davies confirmed that cocoa grows extremely well in Far North Queensland and the returns on cocoa and sugar cane per hectare are very similar.
“I’m passionate about this project as the cocoa industry has actually gone backwards since the early days that Dr Kitchen talks about,” he said.
“This is an enormous opportunity as we don’t even have enough cocoa to even export at this stage.
“Cocoa grows best near the equator, so after some trail plantations in Darwin, Broome and also the Douglas Shire, we discovered that this area was the best.”
