✻Forecast FarmClimate · Cultivation · Consequence
Tropical tree · Stimulant nut

Kola Nut

Cola acuminata · Sterculiaceae

Kola Nut is a tropical tree that grows best in the 23–28°C range with 2000–3000 mm of rain, cropping over a 150–365-day season. Today it is grown mostly in Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon.

Optimal temp
23–28 °C
Annual rain
2000–3000 mm
Max altitude
—
Cold limit
18°C
Growing cycle
150–365 d
Climate-fit land
16 % world

How it grows

Kola Nut
Photo: Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada · CC BY 2.0
Kola Nut
Photo: T.K. Naliaka · CC BY-SA 4.0
🌳 On a tree

Kola Nut grows on a tree — the fruit ripens above the ground, up in the canopy.

Where Earth's climate suits kola nut

Global climatic suitability map for Kola Nut
marginal suitable good excellent unsuitable land
16% of world land

Climatic suitability only — scored for every 0.5° of the planet from this crop's temperature and rainfall tolerances (FAO EcoCrop) on AgroClim 1991–2025 normals (AgERA5 temperature, CHIRPS/ERA5 rainfall). It shows where the rain-fed climate permits the crop, not where it is grown today; irrigation lets many crops thrive in drier country than the map suggests (California, Egypt, the Indus and Nile).

Who grows it — and where the climate merely allows it

Actual production · FAOSTAT 2024
World harvest 0.3M t/yr
Nigeria179k t
Côte d'Ivoire59k t
Cameroon49k t
Ghana25k t
Sierra Leone5k t
Benin619 t
Latest reported year. Source: FAO FAOSTAT.
Climatic fit · computed
Where the climate suits it best
Brazil
Dem. Rep. Congo
Indonesia
India
Colombia
Venezuela
Peru
Central African Rep.
Ranked by suitable land area (EcoCrop×AgroClim). Climate permits far more than is farmed — economics and history decide the rest.

The climate where it grows

Nigeria🌧 130% rain · wet
27°C · 1919 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Côte d'Ivoire🌧 219% rain · wet
26°C · 1571 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Cameroon🌧 87% rain · near normal
25°C · 1864 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Ghana🌧 205% rain · wet
27°C · 1568 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND

— mean monthly temperature   ▍ monthly rainfall — averaged over the actual growing areas (the suitable cells) inside each country, so it reflects where the crop is really grown, not the national average. AgroClim 1991–2025 normals. The 🌧 badge is the last 3 months’ rainfall as a percentage of the 1991–2020 CHIRPS normal (through 2025-12) — the current drought/deluge signal.

Climate envelope · FAO EcoCrop

Temperatureoptimum 23–28°C · tolerates 18–32°C
-5°C45°C
Annual rainfalloptimum 2000–3000 mm · tolerates 700–4300 mm
0 mm4500 mm
Soil pHoptimum 4.3–6.8 · tolerates 4.3–6.8
3.09.0

Deep bar = optimal range; pale bar = absolute tolerance. Beyond the pale bar the crop fails. Latitude tolerance ±—° · soil pH 4.3–6.8.

Growing calendar & hazards

Season

An annual cycle of roughly 150–365 days from sowing to harvest, so it is timed to fall within the frost-free, adequately-wet part of the year for the location.

What threatens the crop
  • Cold & frost. A frost-sensitive crop: temperatures near or below freezing damage or kill it, so it is confined to frost-free seasons and warm climates.
  • Wet & disease. A thirsty crop that needs abundant rain; in the wettest climates, humidity brings fungal disease pressure.

Related crops