Godly Food and Pesky Midges

The mature cocoa tree produces as many as 5,000 flowers directly on the trunk of the tree. These flowers are entirely dependent on minute biting midges to do the fertilization. The midges thrive in a moist, shady habitat and swarm early in the day and late in the evening, doing their fertilizing duty. As their habitat is changed through deforestation, the population of these tiny midges (1 to 3 mm in length) is declining. Only one to five percent of the flowers develop into cocoa pods.