The World Chocolate Crisis is real. Please note the capitalization, to emphasize the serious nature of this global resource shortage. How real?
Back in 2010, Ghana sold more than $1.6 billion US worth of cocoa beans, according to the Forum for Agricultural Risk Management in Development.
One farmer from the Ivory Coast told Reuters back in March (2017): "It's a drought here. The trees are not doing well and there is practically no fruit on the plantations."
The other concern, disease, has long been a risk for cocoa farmers. Once a pest or disease latches onto a specific breed of cocoa tree, an entire farming region can be in danger. In 1970, a fungus so thoroughly devastated the cocoa farming industry in Costa Rica that it has yet to recover. Source
‘Unlike other tree crops that have benefited from the development of modern, high yielding cultivars and crop management techniques to realise their genetic potential, more than 90 per cent of the global cocoa crop is produced by smallholders on subsistence farms with unimproved planting material,’ said Doug Hawkins, from Hardman Agribusiness. ‘All the indicators are that we could be looking at a chocolate deficit of 100,000 tonnes a year in the next few years.’ Source
A study by the Centre for Tropical Agriculture claims that if temperatures continue to rise, the world’s two main producers - Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire which together produce 60% of the world's cocoa - would become unsuitable for cacao plants if rainfall decreases and temperatures rise by just 1.2 degrees Celsius by 2030.
Cacao trees need very specific conditions with high humidity and abundant rain. There is also a maturing process in some varieties of between 5-7 years, meaning crop disease is also not quickly recovered from. While some areas like Ghana have become too dry and others, like Costa Rica, have battled fungal disease, there has quietly been a chocolate super hero at work at Mae Jo University, about 10 minutes from our home here in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.
Associate Professor Dr. Sanh La-Ongsri has dedicated much of his career to breed a new cacao strain adapted to the local Northern Thai climate. The variety, officially known as IM1 Coco Hohm Hybrid (Hohm means fragrant in Thai) has been bred from Peruvian and Filipino strains to suit local conditions.
Southern Thailand too, has a cacao variety called Trintario which is what the industry calls a bulk bean - sold to chocolate factories for blending and coco butter production and grown primarily for bulk and yield rather than specific taste.
The Coco Hohm Chiang Mai strain is the real boutique strain and is the already being commercially produced.
So Thailand, which gave up its opium fields to become a significant player in the world's boutique coffee market in just 20 short years, is poised to tackle the global chocolate shortage head on.
In the last few years, Chiang Mai has birthed not one, but two, serious players in the boutique chocolate market: Dr Sahn's own family chocolate company Markrin Thailand and Siamaya Chocolate.
This week, our acquaintance here in Chiang Mai, Mr Ori Garres, is on a cacao tree delivery mission in Chaiyaphum. Soil testing in the Chaiyaphum area around Petchabun is proving PERFECT for the Trintario variety. His meter tall trees will be fruiting in 2-3 years and there is already a co-operative in place to buy the nibs from the farmers.
Why should the farmers change to cacao? For a corn farmer currently getting 6 baht/kilo and needing to replant every year and BURN a lot of corn waste, the 30 baht a kilo on offer for cacao nibs, the fact that trees can survive for up to 70 years, the global market demand and the co-operative for buying their yield is very attractive offer.
Raw organic cacao is in high demand as a health food - lots more to tell you about that which I'm saving for a separate post. Follow me to make sure you don't miss it!
My personal interest in cacao, apart from a distinct, personal love of fine, bitter-sweet, organic, dark chocolate? Our indigenous Karen community will be planting cacao and raising it organically this next season - an investment in their long term community future. And my business Pure Thai Natural Co Ltd has a new organic cacao Face Masque, Face Scrub and Body Scrub about to be unveiled in the next 2 weeks. Yay - exciting!
Somehow, it feels GOOD to me that the old-paradigm world chocolate market is moving away from its slave-colonial-imperialist origins and reconnecting with indigenous communities, fair trade, health and sustainability. Somewhere, out in the cosmic ether, I can feel Ixcacao, the Mayan Chocolate Goddess, gently nodding in agreement.
I had no idea about cacao production and climate. I had some knowledge about chocolate but didn't have any idea about that.. Thanks for detail information...
Always happy to inform.... :)
Good news for a healthy conscious Chocolate fan like me.
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It's wonderful news for healthy chocolate lovers all around the world!
It's wonderful news
For healthy chocolate lovers
All around the world!
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I didn't realise that cacao needed such a specific climate. Isn't it interesting how these sorts of resources, which were once so expensive and hard to come by, have become so cheap and easily obtained in our current, all consuming way of life? Yet they are now reminding us that they are not such an easy resource and could use a bit more respect. However, this is great news for Thailand and I look forward to hearing more on it. I wonder if any areas of Australia would be suitable for growing cacao.
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The labour costs in Australia make it a total non-viable option commercially. There ARE pockets around the Daintree etc that might work for small, personal growers tho. :)
They way things are going, it may not continue to be the case. Wages haven't risen for years in most companies and some are even getting rid of the workforce to replace them with people who will take a lower wage. Businesses are either going under, or they're paying below minimum wage in cash to stay afloat. Unemployment is so high that people will take anything and family support is being reeled back each year. Centerlink is inundated with claims and most of the time you can't get through to them on the phone, not even to be put in a queue. Something has got to happen to balance things out or Australia will be dead in the water. They've relied so heavily on exports and now nobody is buying because its cheaper elsewhere.
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The wages legislation puts you out of the global ballpark by miles and miles and miles.... everything in Oz is so stupidly expensive. Happy to not be living there anymore and seeing how other countries do it is quite the eye-opener.
Exciting times. New strains and varieties are going to be SUPER important in these times... biodiversity is more important than ever. Good to see a viable, long lived and sustainable crop being an option for the Karen.
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I'm very excited about it. Costing at the moment to see how much we need to raise to plant this variety around the new Karen Field Hospital on "the other side" i.e. in Karen State, in Burma. With a view to being able to self-support for Field Hospital staff in the future. It's sensitive politically and I need the Thai Provincial Governor on my team to make this fly. I have access. Just getting some website & legal ducks in a row at this end first. Hope to meet him in later September and get some special tax and employment law exemptions under Thailand's Board of Investment Privilege Scheme. It's what I'm working on when I should be tying up the Truth Challange. LOL. @richardcrill
I do love dark chocolate and just make my own raw chocolate now. I had no idea about the climate factor, thank you for continuing to educate me I really appreciate that. Looking forward to hearing more and how amazing that the Karen community may start to grow cacao xx
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STOPGereat idea to get karen family growing cacao
! A high value medicine that dealers needs ethical sourcing... maybe u can dig for diamonds and gold next ;) well u neva know!