Our love of chocolate spans the centuries, from ancient medicine to the comforting confectionary we share today (or don’t). Chocolate is everywhere – in our favourite hot cocoa, stashed in our kitchen cupboards, and at every special occasion. But imagine if this cultural phenomenon was only available as a rare luxury? Due to price hikes caused by climate change and unsustainable farming methods, this unpalatable reality might be closer than you think.
Cocoa is a particularly delicate crop that thrives under specific conditions: ample rainfall, fertile soil, and humid tropical climates. These requirements confine production to a narrow geographic belt – around 70 percent of the world’s cocoa beans come from West Africa. Unfortunately, the region is highly vulnerable to climate change, with rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and increasingly severe droughts. The cocoa industry is feeling the effects: in February 2024, global cocoa prices hit a record high of $5,874 per ton.
Despite an estimated 11 percent shortfall in cocoa supplies in 2024, global demand for cocoa continues to rise. To meet demand, the industry has turned to unsustainable farming practices such as deforestation. These damaging methods compromise the future of cocoa production while leaving a sour taste in the mouths of ever-conscious consumers. Large food companies have a role to play in choosing sustainable methods that protect supply.
One of the most promising solutions to improving cocoa’s climate resilience is a return to traditional agroforestry systems. By planting trees alongside cocoa plants, farmers create diverse ecosystems that offer several benefits. Shade from trees stabilizes microclimates, enhancing the resilience of cocoa plants to extreme weather. Trees also prevent soil erosion, conserve moisture, and support biodiversity.
Beyond environmental benefits, agroforestry can provide additional income streams through timber, fruit, or other forest products. Factoring in additional outputs such as fruit and timber, agroforestry systems can provide total system yields up to 10 times higher than monocultures. These additional products improve food security by creating diverse, resilient farming systems.
Working with Mondelēz International’s R&D team, our experts identified new regenerative farming techniques to cut the carbon footprint of one of their most popular snacks. The project explored how, among other important steps, to incentivize farmers to adopt regenerative farming practices, setting out the required steps to implement technologies with the highest emissions reduction potential.
Traditionally, cocoa was grown under the shade of larger trees in diverse forest ecosystems to boost yields and efficiency. However, the full-sun monoculture systems that are common today plant cocoa trees close together, without the shade of other trees. The result is a short-term yield boost for cocoa (around 25 percent) but also long-term problems such as soil erosion, biodiversity loss, food insecurity, and greater vulnerability to climate impacts, pests, and diseases. Cocoa trees become unproductive in 30 years, pushing farmers to clear more forests, perpetuating a damaging cycle – an estimated 70 percent of illegal deforestation in Cote D’Ivoire is linked to cocoa farming. The new EU deforestation regulation seeks to change this by requiring companies to verify that their commodities and products don’t contribute to deforestation, thus protecting the long-term sustainability of the land.
Improving soil fertility on existing farms is critical to reducing further deforestation, given that the loss of fertile soil pushes farmers to clear more forests to restore productivity. The World Agroforestry Centre has pioneered techniques to enrich soil in Côte d’Ivoire, such as underground irrigation, organic amendments like biochar, and integrating legume trees. These innovations are restoring productivity to degraded lands, offering a sustainable path forward.
Another simple yet powerful practice is regular pruning, which improves plant health, increases yields, and boosts farmers’ incomes. By removing diseased branches and improving air circulation, pruning helps to stop the spread of disease and reduces pesticide use. Nestle’s Income Accelerator program has shown that regular pruning can increase cocoa production by 32 percent. Waste products can also be applied as mulch around the trees, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizer.
Most of the world’s cocoa farms are well below peak productivity. It takes a full year for a cocoa tree to produce enough beans for half a pound of chocolate, and trees don’t bear fruit until they reach six to eight years of age. Furthermore, as trees age, their cocoa yield declines. One of the most exciting developments in cocoa farming is the cultivation of new trees that are more productive and climate-resilient. Scientists are discovering new, climate-resilient varieties, while the use of clonal propagation techniques can ensure that new cocoa trees are genetically identical to high-performing parent trees. These high-yield, disease-resistant trees are crucial for improving replanting success and making sure that future farms thrive in a changing climate.
The price of chocolate reflects more than just demand; it tells the story of a changing planet and the impact of the choices that organizations make today. By investing in sustainable practices now, major food companies can ensure that chocolate remains a treat for future generations.
Dr. Rod Coogan is an agri-food expert at PA Consulting. He is a Horticultural and Food Scientist with over 30 years’ experience in product and process innovation and development with broad skills and experience throughout agri-food supply chains, from farm to plate. His experience ranges throughout agri-food supply chains from evaluating regenerative agriculture systems in East Africa and developing carbon reduction techniques and technologies in fruit production systems through to developing new technologies, processes, and products with clients in a wide range of food categories.
