Cocoa crisis

I have chosen a piece of new son cocoa. This piece is about chocolate being the favorite sweet of all and the fact that there may be a shortage by 2020.

Ivory Coast is the best place to go if you want to know the story of chocolate. This part is about the story of the farmers in this country and how difficult the harvest is for them with old trees which give fewer pods, risks of disease and the fact that they are being exploited by having to sell the cocoa at a very low price.

It shows the cases of two men (34 and 40) whose families had been in the cocoa business but had to give it up because financially it was not profitable. They argue that the government does not care about the farmers.

The government, however, argues that they introduced a reform in 2012 to keep the farmers in business and that this has raised the farmer’s incomes by 30%. It also reads that the industry is booming in West Africa.

Then it shows the case of Indonesia where there were expectations for a lot of growth and the reality has shown that Cocoa harvest is in decline. There are plagues and also there is lack of pods. At the same time, domestic demand is growing and Chine (Asia’s largest consumer) .

The next part is about the biggest Swiss corporations behind chocolate and which has set factories in Indonesia. This Swiss company provides chocolate for other companies that make products like Hershey’s, Magnum, etc.. It also reads about the business in China and how it is growing slowly.

The last part is about the chocoholics in the west and how this is growing. They have even invented some crisps with chocolate coating.

I think I have chosen the longest piece of news possible.

I´ll leave it to this point. I have chosen this news because I love chocolate and the idea of not having it makes me anxious. At the same time, I know there is a lot of exploitation of children and adults in Africa because of chocolate and this makes me sad.

Here is the link.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/nov/21/cocoa-crisis-world-chocolate-stash-melting-away