Chocolate under attack
When I discovered that it was Chocolate Week (14 October - 20 October 2013), I thought this was the perfect excuse to gorge without guilt on my first love. I'm not fussy when it comes to the sweet stuff - I'll take it with biscuit, raisins, plain, dark and bitter (yum), hot and peppery, even with a pinch of salt. So you can imagine my shock, horror and despair to learn that cocoa production is on the decline. image © from Permacultureghana According to a study reported in oilprice.com , the warming of the planet will have direct impact on growing cocoa between 2030 and 2050. The cacao plant can only be grown in latitudes within 10 degrees of the equator, and in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire where around half of the world's cocoa is produced, temperatures are expected to rise by 2.3 degrees Celsius by the middle of the century. This is expected to be detrimental to breeding cocoa pods. I also learnt from radio station LBC 97.3 that rubber is muscling in on cocoa...