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The change in rain patterns is affecting the world’s top cocoa producer, Ivory Coast, which produces almost half the world’s supply of the raw ingredient used in chocolate. Small-scale cocoa producers are being hurt because of climate change
The change in rain patterns is affecting the world’s top cocoa producer, Ivory Coast, which produces almost half the world’s supply of the raw ingredient used in chocolate. Small-scale cocoa producers are being hurt because of climate change. Analysts observe that the rain hasn’t been abundant and also erratic affecting production. Rains need to come at the right times in the growing cycle for the cocoa tree to give fruits of the right quality. Rains at the wrong times infect the trees and fruits.
Cocoa farming employs nearly 600,000 farmers in Ivory Coast, supporting nearly a quarter of the country’s population, according to the Coffee-Cocoa Council. The production accounts for 15% of the nation’s GDP.70% of the world’s cocoa beans come from four West African countries: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon. The Ivory Coast and Ghana are by far the two largest producers of cocoa: together they cultivate more than half of the world´s cocoa.
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Worldwide, 90% of cocoa is grown on small family farms of 2 to 5 hectares, while just 5% comes from large plantations of 40 hectares or more. Cocoa production provides livelihoods for between 40 and 50 million farmers, rural workers, and their families in the Global South. In the Ivory Coast and Ghana, up to 90% of the farmers rely on cocoa for their primary income.
