$1.05 billion. That is how much Americans spent on chocolate and candy this past Valentine’s Day, according to the National Confectioners Association.
70 percent of the world’s cocoa is produced in West Africa. What most may not know is that the prices of your favorite chocolate bar will escalate due to the shortage in production. Cocoa farmers are leaving this market in exodus. Why? Most farmers who do farm this crop can barely sustain their families because this kind of farming is neither lucrative nor sustainable due to climate change and political turmoil.
Cocoa is simply a hard crop to grow. The trees don’t start producing until three to five years after being planted. Also, climate change threatens to make farming it even more challenging. The crop needs hot, humid conditions, with temperatures no lower than 18 degrees C (64F) and no higher than 32C, according to U.K. risk advisory firm Maple-croft.
Sustainable farming methods need to be implemented in these regions to encourage farmers to carry on with this crop in order to improve cocoa yields.
On a global scale, foreign markets should implement policies that ensure that the local farmers are making some kind of living and that their rights are being respected. Buyers should also offer better prices to these farmers.
How may this all affect you? Well, your chocolate kisses may cost more next Valentine’s Day. To deal with more frequent cocoa shortages, confectioners have been shrinking the size of chocolate bars and adding more air bubbles to chocolate.
Due to my undying love for Cadbury and Hershey’s chocolates, it is my hope that companies will make investments for sustainable farming and advanced technologies in these cocoa producing regions such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Small strides have been made in this direction. Blommer Chocolate, the largest U.S. cocoa bean processor, and Singapore-based trader Olam International (OLAM) last year formed a joint venture to invest $12 million to raise yields by 2015. And candy giant Nestlé (NESN) will invest 110 million Swiss francs in cocoa science and sustainability initiatives from 2010 to 2019.
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Source: BloombergBusinessWeek