November 13, 2010 - Well, this eco-friendly article is certain to stir up the pot. Once the drink of royalty (Mayan and Aztec kings), cocoa may be headed back to its old ways – an ingredient only the wealthy may afford.

Yes, it is being reported that a shortage of the decadent treat could very well be on the horizon. We all know that the more rare something is the more it costs to purchase it (think truffles and caviar). Chocolate is appealing to a wide variety of people all over the world. Cocoa is an ingredient in more products than you probably know.

A spokesperson for the Nature Conservation Research Council in Ghana strongly believes cocoa is on the verge of becoming very rare. Now before you go and get upset that your favorite chocolate treat may become too expensive to buy, consider the impact not harvesting enough cocoa can do to a local economy. That is the reality.

The cost of cocoa, the raw ingredient for chocolate, has been escalating massively in the worldwide market place. Sheer demand for chocolate, in particular for dark chocolate which uses more cocoa to produce, has seriously increased this spike in cost.

Why is this topic relevant to going green you ask? Consider then the impact unfair trade and environmental troubles have created for available supply not keeping up with demand and you have your answer.

For instance, West Africa is the worldwide leader in cocoa manufacturing. Now, the profits that are made in the production of cocoa there do not become available for the locals and farmers to reap, hence the shortage.

In the Ivory Coast specifically, cocoa workers and farmers likely earn less than one US dollar a day. Many times, the land these farmers work has become infertile. This means Ivory Coast farmers are in essence leaving behind unbeneficial, deteriorating cocoa orchards for the cities to deal with. No real future for further work for many and a devastating lost for the local economy and environment.

Even simply providing farmers fair prices may thwart the chocolate shortage.

When you consider that in Ghana, cooperatives accept fair trade prices for the cocoa they manufacture, you see the farmers are staying on the land and keeping up production. In Ghana, a cooperative of some 45,000 cocoa farmers/workers owns 45% of Divine Chocolate, a Ghana chocolate company.

Environmental damage and indefensible land use also add to the cocoa predicament. Initially, cocoa trees grew only in the rainforests of the Americas. In that shade induced environment, these trees had a life span of nearly 100 years.  

But current agriculture techniques have basically plowed the forest and plant cocoa trees only in a full sun environment. Under these conditions the trees live maybe 30 years that. The land in that environment rapidly loses it's productiveness. The cocoa trees die, and the farmers must cut down new patches of forest. This is not a fine example of eco-friendly land use and production. Think about that the next time you bite into a chocolate bar. Ask yourself where and how that bar was made.

Now, some farmers still plant cocoa trees under larger shade trees, lengthening the life span of those cocoa trees. In fact, in that environment, natural insect predators living in the mixed species plantations decrease damage to the tress created by insects. The spread of cocoa tree specific diseases is also slowed. But the trees grow slower and produce less in the short term. That is what causes a mix in production behaviors.

There are solutions to this. The shortage of cocoa can be stopped by large chocolate companies sharing the profits. It is a simple solution to a complex issue. If profits are shared, farmers will simply change the way they grow cocoa. If cocoa is grown properly, profits are shared, no shortage will take place. Cutting corners is never a good thing.

Think of blood diamonds. Of course it is a slightly different level of violence, but the concept is similar.

Author: Amy Wermuth