The

environmental impact Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...

of cocoa production includes

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...

soil contamination Soil contamination, soil pollution, or land pollution as a part of land degradation is caused by the presence of xenobiotic (human-made) chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment. It is typically caused by industrial activity ...

, and herbicide resistance. The majority of cocoa farms are now located in Côte d'Ivoire and

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Background

Cocoa bean The cocoa bean (technically cocoa seed) or simply cocoa (), also called the cacao bean (technically cacao seed) or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of ''Theobroma cacao'', from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substance ...

s are a high

demand In economics, demand is the quantity of a good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given time. The relationship between price and quantity demand is also called the demand curve. Demand for a specific item ...

consumer item all over the world. They are used in products such as

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

, candy bars, drinks and cocoa powder. However, cocoa farming and the

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

of cocoa beans are extremely fragile and

labour-intensive Labor intensity is the relative proportion of labor (compared to capital) used in any given process. Its inverse is capital intensity. Labor intensity has been declining since the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s, while its inv ...

processes. The cocoa trees are also called Cacao trees. The process begins with a Cacao plant, or ''

Theobroma cacao ''Theobroma cacao'', also called the cacao tree and the cocoa tree, is a small ( tall) evergreen tree in the family Malvaceae. Its seeds, cocoa beans, are used to make chocolate liquor, cocoa solids, cocoa butter and chocolate. The largest pr ...

'', in which the beans are extracted from pods that grow directly on the cocoa trees branches. Each pod contains roughly 30 to 50 beans.The European Chocolate and Cocoa Industry. (n.d.). Cocoa Farming: an Overview. http://www.cocoafarming.org.uk/Cocoa_farming_bw_v8_uk.pdf After the beans are extracted they must go through a time-consuming process of natural

fermenting Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food p ...

and drying. The

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

process of cocoa can damage the environment depending on the practices of the farmer, as well as be limited by the environment itself. Global

Climate Change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, for example, causes longer

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

seasons making it more difficult for farmers to plant and sustain new Cacao trees. Most of the environmental impact comes from carbon dioxide emissions.

Process of farming

Cocoa farming can only occur 15 degrees

north North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

or south of the Equator. It can take approximately three years after planting for the trees to be fruitful enough to harvest the pods. Cocoa pods are pollinated by tiny flies called midges. Ripe cocoa pods, which are

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the ...

in colour, are then cut down from the trees using a

machete Older machete from Latin America Gerber machete/saw combo Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca">San_Agustín_de_las_Juntas.html" ;"title="Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas">Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San ...

. Use of a machete in this fashion, termed machete technology, prevents disease from spreading among cocoa pods, and thereby decreases the need for pesticides. The pods can be very low on branches and easily accessible or higher up on thick branches. Once they are gathered, they are sliced open and the cocoa beans are extracted from the pods. The beans are then spread out, usually between

banana leaves The banana leaf is the leaf of the banana plant, which may produce up to 40 leaves in a growing cycle. The leaves have a wide range of applications because they are large, flexible, waterproof and decorative. They are used for cooking, wrappin ...

, for a number of days to ferment. Next, the

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s are placed in the sun to dry for several more days. After drying, they are gathered, placed into bags and taken to collection offices. From there, they are shipped around the world to be processed into end products.

Environmental impacts

Full sun cocoa

Cocoa farms are generally small, family owned and operated businesses. There are approximately 4.5 million cocoa farms around the world. The majority of cocoa farms are located in Côte d'Ivoire and

. In Ghana, Cocoa contributes 64% of all exports. Traditional cocoa farms are planted in the shade among other crops and trees. They are especially found in the

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equa ...

areas.Bisseleua, D.H.B., Missoup, A.D., Vidal, S. (2009)
Biodiversity Conservation, Ecosystem Functioning, and Economic Incentives under Cocoa Agroforestry Intensification
Conservation Biology, 23(5), 1176–1184. Farming cocoa beans is a long process and many factors can affect the farm's yield. Farms' cocoa crop outputs struggle to match the increasing demand for chocolate. It is estimated that the demand for chocolate will increase twofold by the year 2050. Farmers have shifted towards unsustainable, less environmentally conscious practices to meet these demands.Slomkowski, K. (2005). Chocolate’s Dark Side. E: The Environmental Magazine, 16(6), 33–342. About 90% of cacao grown worldwide is on small family farms. Cocoa bean prices are so low that farmers have to focus on increasing their yields and making more money from their relatively small plots of land. This leads to intensification of land use, sun growth, and use of

child labor Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...

. Some farmers have shifted their

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydropon ...

s out of the shade and into direct sunlight.Piasentin, F., Klare-Repnik, L. (2004). Gro-Cocoa: Global Research on Cocoa. http://www.cabi.org/Uploads/File/Gro%20Cocoa%20pdfs/gro-cocoa5.pdf This practice yields a greater quantity in a short period and at lower

quality Quality may refer to: Concepts *Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something *Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property *Quality (physics), in response theory * Energy quality, used in various science discipl ...

. Cacao trees with no shade tend to accumulate more weedsBentley, J.W., Boa, E., Stonehouse, J. (2004)
Neighbor Trees: Shade, Intercropping and Cacao in Ecuador
Human Ecology, 32(2), 241–270. as well as be more susceptible to

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

s such as Witches Broom and Frosty Pod Rot. If the crops begin to accumulate pests, farmers use large amounts of herbicides to rid the crops of these pests. The herbicides used damage the land and the health of the sprayers applying the herbicide. Excessive spraying of pesticides can also cause the weeds and insects to build up a resistance which will eventually create more harm to the crops.Rice, R.A., Greenburg, R. (2000)
Cacao Cultivation and the Conservation of Biological Diversity
Ambio, 29(3), 167–173. Sun cultivation of cocoa may require clearing overstory as well as understory, which contributes to deforestation and habitat loss.

Deforestation

Cocoa farming also contributes to rainforest and old-growth forest

.England, P. (1993). Forest Protection and the Rights of Cocoa Farmers in Western Ghana. Journal of African Law, 37(2), 164–176. By clearing land in these forests, farmers decrease the

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

and interactions between the many different

organism In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and ...

s that naturally live in the area. Many

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are destroyed and the plant species diversity is drastically reduced. Nutrients begin to leach out of the soil due to poor

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

and inadequate

soil protection Soil conservation is the prevention of loss of the topmost layer of the soil from erosion or prevention of reduced fertility caused by over usage, acidification, salinization or other chemical soil contamination. Slash-and-burn and other unsu ...

, which can increase the erosion of the soil. The more intense the farming practices are, the more damaging they are to the

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

.Asase, A., Ofori-Frimpong, K., Ekpe, P.K. (2009)
Impact of Cocoa Farming on Vegetation in an Agricultural Landscape in Ghana
African Journal of Ecology, 48(2), 338–346. Cocoa farming becomes a destructive circle as farmers wear out the soils and cut further into the forest to obtain fresh land. All of these processes stress the Cacao trees and result in lower yields, giving the opposite effect to what the farmers expect from these practices. Some of the forests in Ghana and other Cocoa producing countries have been declared protected by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

after observing the Tropical Rainforest destruction. However, with a shortage of fresh land to plant Cacao trees, some farmers are beginning to illegally cut down parts of these protected forests. It has been estimated that approximately 50% of these protected forests have been cut down. On 13 September 2017 NGO Mighty Earth released a report documenting findings that Cargill, Olam International and

Barry Callebaut Barry Callebaut is a Belgian-Swiss cocoa processor and chocolate manufacturer, with an average annual production of 2.3 million tonnes of cocoa & chocolate (fiscal year 2021/2022). It was created in 1996 through the merging of the Belgian ...

purchase cocoa grown illegally in national parks and other protected forests in the Ivory Coast to feed demand from large chocolate companies like

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

, Hershey's,

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since ...

Mondelez Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American multinational confectionery, food, holding and beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual revenue of about $26 billion and operates in ...

, Lindt and

Ferrero Ferrero (Italian: , Spanish: ) is a surname of Italian (from Piedmont) and Spanish origin that means 'smith', the person who works with iron, in parallel with surnames like Ferraro, Ferrari and Smith. Notable people with the surname Ferrero inclu ...

. The report accused the companies of endangering the forest habitats of chimpanzees, elephants and the many other wildlife populations by purchasing cocoa linked to

. As a result of cocoa production, 7 of the 23 Ivorian protected areas have been almost entirely converted to cocoa. Cargill, Olam International and Barry Callebaut were notified of the findings of Mighty Earth’s investigation and did not deny that the company sourced its cocoa from protected areas in the Ivory Coast.

Proposed solutions

Through groups and programs such as the

World Cocoa Foundation The World Cocoa Foundation is a non-profit membership organization with 100 member companies, including chocolate manufacturers like Nestlé, The Hershey Company and Mars, Inc. cocoa producers and suppliers such as Barry Callebaut, Olam Intern ...

, Rainforest Alliance, Roundtable for a Sustainable Cocoa Economy, and activities of regional NGOs like Conservation Alliance, IITA and

Solidaridad The Solidaridad Network is an international civil society organisation founded in 1969. Its main objective is facilitating the development of socially responsible, ecologically sound and profitable supply chains. It operates through eight regio ...

cocoa farming can return to its sustainable roots through education programs and help in finding

ecologically Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their biophysical environment, physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosy ...

and economically sound resources to further their farming. As a last resort, some programs will help farmers to access

pest control Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest; any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the damage done and will range ...

products such as biocides as an alternative to the harmful pesticides being used. Other programs promote proper irrigation, composting, suitable

soil management Soil management is the application of operations, practices, and treatments to protect soil and enhance its performance (such as soil fertility or soil mechanics). It includes soil conservation, soil amendment, and optimal soil health. In agricu ...

, and

intercropping Intercropping is a multiple cropping practice that involves growing two or more crops in proximity. In other words, intercropping is the cultivation of two or more crops simultaneously on the same field. The most common goal of intercropping is ...

, meaning planting other trees and fruit crops in the surrounding land of the Cacao trees. Some farmers will burn old, fermented pods and place them back on the soil as a form of composting and

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

.Styles, R. (21 January 2011). Green Business: Divine. http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/green_business/736265/green_business_divine.html To stop the process of deforestation, it is suggested that farmers replant on their current land while using the practices previously mentioned.

Shade-grown cocoa

Cacao pods evolved to grow in the shade of a highly biodiverse rainforest canopy. It has been suggested that Cocoa farmers go back to the original and natural ways of farming, by planting within the natural tree-cover and without cutting down existing trees. When an area has already been clearcut another possibility exists. Planting trees, especially fruit filled trees around and within the

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

, helps with growth of Cacao plants. These trees can provide shade to the Cacao plants and be a source of

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...

replenishment to the environment. Additionally, planting cacao under taller trees protects the more fragile cacao from direct sunlight, which greatly increases the length of its productivity and makes the cacao tree less vulnerable to disease. Another benefit of such companion planting is the increase in potential habitats for birds and insects. If the shade trees are fruit-bearing, this can also provide additional income to the farmer. However, simplifying such shade-cover may threaten biodiversity. Therefore, maintaining the complexity of shade structures is paramount in combatting losses of biodiversity. Shade trees return organic matter to the soil through falling leaf litter and decaying branches. The shade provided by these trees also helps to keep soil moist in dry seasons which results in less damaging irrigation practices. Shade trees will raise the amount of infiltration and slow erosion of the soil. Since shade inhibits the growth of weeds, farmers are able to use less or perhaps no pesticides which can decrease the occurrences of Witches Broom in these crops. Cacao plants that grow in the shade provide the environment with more biodiversity, allowing natural populations and habitats to flourish. Finally, shade can be extremely helpful in keeping and lengthening the productivity of old growth Cacao plants.

References

External links

* Anim-Kwapong, G. J., Frimpong, E. B. (2004
Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment Under the Netherlands Climate Change Studies Assistance Programme Phase 2 (NCCSAP2)
Vulnerability of agriculture to climate change- impact of climate change on cocoa production. Ghana, Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana. * Asase, A., Ofori-Frimpong, K., Ekpe, P.K. (2009). Fa. African Journal of Ecology, 48(2), 338–346. * Bentley, J.W., Boa, E., Stonehouse, J. (2004)
Neighbor Trees: Shade, Intercropping and Cacao in Ecuador
Human Ecology, 32(2), 241–270. *Bisseleua, D.H.B., Missoup, A.D., Vidal, S. (2009)
Biodiversity Conservation, Ecosystem Functioning, and Economic Incentives under Cocoa Agroforestry Intensification
Conservation Biology, 23(5), 1176–1184. *England, P. (1993)
Forest Protection and the Rights of Cocoa Farmers in Western Ghana
Journal of African Law, 37(2), 164–176. *The European Chocolate and Cocoa Industry. (n.d.). Cocoa Farming: an Overview. https://web.archive.org/web/20131229002738/http://www.cocoafarming.org.uk/cocoa_farming_bw_v8_uk.pdf *Gyimah-Brempong, K., Konadu Apraku, K. (1987)
Structural Change in Supply Response of Ghanaian Cocoa Production: 1933–1983
The Journal of Developing Areas, 22(1), 59–70. *Padwick, N. (2010). Fair Farming. Farmers Weekly, 152(9), 88–89. *Piasentin, F., Klare-Repnik, L. (2004). Gro-Cocoa: Global Research on Cocoa. https://web.archive.org/web/20100706222044/http://www.cabi.org/Uploads/File/Gro%20Cocoa%20pdfs/gro-cocoa5.pdf *Rice, R.A., Greenburg, R. (2000)
Cacao Cultivation and the Conservation of Biological Diversity
Ambio, 29(3), 167–173. * *Styles, R. (21 January 2011). Green Business: Divine. http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/green_business/736265/green_business_divine.html *World Cocoa Foundation. (n.d.) Sustainability Principles and Goals. https://web.archive.org/web/20120216033534/http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/sustainability-principles-and-goals/ * Profile on Roundtable for a Sustainable Cocoa Economy. http://shapingsustainablemarkets.iied.org/roundtable-sustainable-cocoa-economy {{Human impact on the environment Agriculture and the environment Cocoa production Chocolate industry Crops