Forest- and farmer-friendly cocoa in West Africa
Forest loss is perhaps the last thing families across the world think about when they give boxes of chocolate during the holiday season. But cocoa – the essential ingredient in chocolate and other consumer products – is in fact a leading driver of deforestation in cocoa-producing countries.
Although cocoa production continues to expand in Asia, Central and South America, two-thirds of the world’s cocoa supply comes from Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana alone. Between 1988 and 2007, West Africa lost 2.3 million hectares of forest to cocoa cultivation, which has caused serious soil degradation, water insecurity and crop failures. Small farmers produce up to 90% of cocoa in these two countries. Yet, they face challenges of decreasing productivity, degraded land and old, pest-infected cocoa trees. All these factors undermine their livelihoods – and their ability to adopt new, forest-smart practices.
Photo credit: Rodney Quarcoo/World Bank