Have you heard the news about the probability that chocolates may become as scarce as caviar is?  In 20 years in fact!  I just read it at CNN, right here.

“I think that in 20 years chocolate will be like caviar,” says John Mason, executive director and founder of the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council (NCRC). “It will become so rare and so expensive that the average Joe just won’t be able to afford it.”

Countries who rely on the growth, development, processing and harvest of cocoa beans for a huge portion of their Growth Domestic Product (GDP) may be in the brink of an economic catastrophe.  In Ghana (South Africa) the cocoa yield are declining, and Ghana supplies two-thirds of the world’s chocolate needs… 100% of Cadbury’s need. 

Yes, this is alarming.  It was reported that their soil just could not, will not, accomodate the usual demand for crops anymore. 

“The way we farm is just not sustainable,” he says. “I’m afraid by the time we wake up to that fact it will be too late. I’ve worked in Ghana for 25 years and I can show you huge areas that can no longer support a crop.”

Here’s the crux of the issue, and really it’s all about short term gain.

Cocoa is naturally grown IN rainforests, where it’s shady and is surrounded by high bio-diversity.  But due to scientific studies they were able to grow it in clear fields.  Yields therefore can be increased because it can be grown in clear fields but THIS has a terrible effect on the soil in time… it’s like sucking the blood/life out of it.  NOW to be able to support the current demend for cacao, they have to plant it in more clear fields, which means they have to cut forests to create more land.

We’re nearing the part of time where a lot of used up land is sitting idle and forests are being torn down.  Tough times ahead indeed.  A world without chocolates???  I could never imagine.

 

 

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