The price of cocoa skyrocketing

The price of cocoa skyrocketing

the raw ingredient for chocolate, has been skyrocketing in international markets. Demand for chocolate, especially for dark chocolate which uses more cocoa, has helped fuel price increases.

Ghana Research Council

chocolate may become unaffordable

Chocolate could become as rare as caviar, said John Mason of the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council. Which means chocolate treats may become unaffordable for the average person.

In Ghana, workers' cooperatives receive fair trade prices for the cocoa they produce. The farmers are staying on the land and keeping up production, said Sophi Tranchell, managing director of Ghanaian chocolate manufacturer, Divine Chocolate, in the UK Independent. A cooperative of 45,000 cocoa farmers owns 45 percent of Divine Chocolate.

Ivory coast Cocoa land lost fertility

In the Ivory Coast, cocoa farmers often earn less than $1 a day, and in many cases the land they farm has lost its fertility, said Tony Lass, chairman of the Cocoa Research Association in the UK Independent. Ivory Coast farmers are leaving behind unprofitable, failing cocoa orchards for the cities.

Cocoa trees are originally from the rainforests

of the Americas. They naturally live for up to a century in the shady understory of biodiverse forests.

But modern cultivation techniques clear the forest and plant only cocoa trees in full sun. Under these conditions the trees live only 30 years or less. The land quickly loses it's fertility. The trees die, and the farmers must cut down new patches of forest.

Candy makers must share profits with farmers

Solutions exist to stop the chocolate shortage. But it will require candy makers to share more of their profits with cocoa farmers. And many farmers will have to change the way they grow cocoa.

Chocolate may become the food of kings yet again.

source: discovery.com