Act now: The world is running out of chocolate
Chocolate producers are feeling the pinch caused by the amount of chocolate intake across the world, as cocoa farmers are struggling to keep up with the rate at which chocolate is devoured.
Due to the drought in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, where a whopping 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa is farmed, conditions have not been ideal to produce chocolate, and a substantial percentage of production has been countered by fungal disease.
According to Food24, “Many West African cocoa farmers don’t even enjoy the luxury of chocolate for their labour.”
A video which has been doing the rounds shows how an Ivory Coast cocoa farmer tastes chocolate for the first time.
First taste of chocolate in Ivory Coast
The price of chocolate
The ravenous appetite for chocolate is ever-rising and China isn’t helping. Chocolate snobs aren’t making things any easier; the darker the chocolate, the higher the proportion of cocoa.
Like other mass-produced commodities, efforts are underway to make chocolate even cheaper and more abundant than it already is.
The Washington Post reports that trees producing seven times more cocoa beans than usual are evolving thanks to an agricultural research group in Central Africa. As expected, such a trade-off may compromise taste.
One can only imagine, “If you stocked up on your favourites, how long would the stash last?”
