Long the world\u2019s undisputed cocoa powerhouses, accounting for more than 60 percent of global supply, Ghana and its West African neighbour Ivory Coast are both facing catastrophic harvests this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expectations of shortages of cocoa beans \u2013 the raw material for chocolate \u2013 have seen New York cocoa futures more than double this year alone. They have hit new record highs almost daily in an unprecedented trend that shows little sign of abating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 20 farmers, experts and industry insiders told the Reuters news agency that a perfect storm of rampant illegal gold mining, climate change, sector mismanagement and rapidly spreading disease is to blame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its most sobering assessment to date, according to data compiled since 2018 and obtained by Reuters, Ghana\u2019s cocoa marketing board Cocobod estimates that 590,000 hectares (1.45 million acres) of plantations have been infected with swollen shoot, a virus that will ultimately kill them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ghana today has some 1.38 million hectares (3.41 million acres) of land under cocoa cultivation, a figure Cocobod said includes infected trees that are still producing cocoa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cProduction is in long-term decline,\u201d said Steve Wateridge, a cocoa expert with Tropical Research Services. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t get the lowest crop for 20 years in Ghana and lowest for eight years in Ivory Coast, if we hadn\u2019t reached a tipping point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is an imbroglio with no easy fixes that has shocked markets and could spell the beginning of the end of West Africa\u2019s cocoa supremacy, the experts told Reuters. That may open the door for ascendant producers, particularly in Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n