Chocolate Just Made the Endangered Foods List
November 21, 2014
With the holidays just around the corner, chocolate goodies and candies span as far as the eye can see.
In the grocery store, we stroll past red and green colored chocolates in all our favorite varieties. We’re busily searching for recipes to bring to our neighborhood bake swap, or fantasizing about the goodies grandma has in store for us this year.
Can you imagine a holiday without chocolate? If you think that would simply be the end of the world, you might want to stock up on your favorites, because we’re in for a chocolate shortage.
That’s right. In the not-so-distant-future (think 2030), we could be experiencing a global shortage of cocoa.
Two major chocolate producing companies, Mars Inc. and Barry Callebaut, reported this week that the world is consuming more chocolate than cocoa farmers are able to produce.
Last year, the world consumed 70,000 metric tons more cocoa than farmers produced, according to the Washington Post. If the trend continues, there could be a 2 million ton deficit by 2030.
Growing Regions Are Having Problems
Why the shortage? Let’s start with where the world’s cocoa is produced. West Africa, the Ivory Coast and Ghana is where more than 70 percent of the world’s cocoa is coming from. And what’s going on right now in that part of the world? Drought, Ebola and fungal diseases.
Roughly a third of cocoa production in this region has already been wiped out by a fungal disease called Frosty Pod. Due to this, and the persistent drought, farmers are taking up growing other, more profitable, plants such as corn.
Ebola is also playing a role in the drop in cocoa production this year. Because of it, Ghana and the Ivory Coast have been forced to draw strict borders between neighboring countries Liberia and Papua New Guinea.
Cocoa farmers previously relied on migrant workers from these countries to help work on their farms, but due to tight borders, they no longer have this access.
All of these drought and disease issues certainly come at a bad time, because the world is going cocoa crazy!
While Consumption Is Going Up
According to Time Magazine, chocolate consumption has more than doubled in the last decade. Not only has the demand for chocolate gone up, there has been an increase in the popularity of dark chocolate among consumers, which contains a good deal more cocoa.
China is also gaining admiration for the delectable treat. Although they consume only a small percentage compared to Western Europeans, the added consumption is playing its part on the demand for cocoa beans, and it is expected to increase.
What does this mean for us humble chocolate appreciators here at home? A rise in chocolate prices of 14% is expected by next year, says Time reporter Ben Goldberger.
It's Not All Bad News
Don’t let all of this doomsday drama get you down though – scientists are working to create a sort of super cocoa tree. One that would produce seven times the amount of beans!
Moral of the story: Take a few extra cookies home to your loved ones this year, and be sure to enjoy some yourself!
Video from Time Magazine’s #TheBrief: How Ebola and Fungus May Speed Up the Chocolate Shortage here.
Photo: "Oh No" by Tom Woodward is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 / cropped from original
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