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