[masklinn]

> There is x amount of energy in sunlight and if it is going through leaves it is not available to your crop to grow.

Crops are not necessarily sun-bound, other factors/resources tend to set the growth limits.

And the cacao tree specifically is a small (under 8m) tropical tree, at such a low height it's can't have evolved as a sun-loving plant given it's only ever well below the forest's canopy.