tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/cocoa-11211/articlesCocoa – The Conversation2024-03-27T21:30:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2261832024-03-27T21:30:44Z2024-03-27T21:30:44ZEaster eggs are more expensive this year and climate change may be a culprit<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584839/original/file-20240327-16-8y52v8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/shopping-trolley-filled-multicolored-chocolates-on-2136461241">Anuta Scherbina/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Chocolate eggs and bunnies cost more than ever this Easter – but the farmers who make these treats possible are in dire straits.</p>
<p>Cocoa is currently <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-25/cocoa-tops-9-000-as-supply-fears-keep-sparking-fresh-records?srnd=undefined">more expensive than copper</a>, its price having soared 60% this month alone. Demand for the crop is expected to grow by <a href="https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/chocolate-market#:%7E:text=The%20global%20chocolate%20market%20size,key%20driver%20of%20the%20market.">more than 4%</a> a year this decade but bad harvests in west Africa mean chocolate makers are scrambling for scarce beans. </p>
<p>The crisis is bigger than cocoa – food production globally is facing an increasingly hostile climate. Amid the turmoil, one academic describes how things could start to change.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>Two countries in west Africa, Cote D'Ivoire and Ghana, grow 60% of the world’s cocoa. The arrival of El Niño last year (a warm phase in a natural cycle of Earth’s climate centred on the Pacific Ocean) has brought dry weather to the region and drove an outbreak of swollen shoot disease that has cost Ghanian farmers <a href="https://thecocoapost.com/ghana-loses-over-500000-hectares-of-cocoa-farms-to-swollen-shoot-disease/">500,000 hectares</a> of cropland.</p>
<p>Michael E Odijie, an economist at UCL, describes how cocoa production has <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/cocoa-beans-are-in-short-supply-what-this-means-for-farmers-businesses-and-chocolate-lovers-225992">hit several environmental limits</a></strong> simultaneously, raising production costs.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cocoa-beans-are-in-short-supply-what-this-means-for-farmers-businesses-and-chocolate-lovers-225992">Cocoa beans are in short supply: what this means for farmers, businesses and chocolate lovers</a>
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<p>This is a situation that could be dawning on other crops.</p>
<h2>The darker side of chocolate</h2>
<p>“Historically, farmers have tended to abandon old farms and start anew in fresh forests,” Odijie says, referring to the fact that cocoa trees become more susceptible to disease and so are more expensive to maintain as they age. </p>
<p>“Unfortunately, finding new forests is now increasingly difficult.”</p>
<p>Making a profit from cocoa is hard despite the price surge. Low output, combined with high inflation and currency devaluation, has left farmers worse off, Odijie explains. Many have given their land over to illegal mining instead which degrades the soil and water, making future cultivation a remote prospect.</p>
<p>Growing conditions are deteriorating in other ways. A study published in 2022 warned of a <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-triggering-global-collapse-in-insect-numbers-stressed-farmland-shows-63-decline-new-research-170738">“hidden collapse” in insect numbers</a></strong> that was most severe on tropical farms with scant neighbouring habitats. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-triggering-global-collapse-in-insect-numbers-stressed-farmland-shows-63-decline-new-research-170738">Climate change triggering global collapse in insect numbers: stressed farmland shows 63% decline – new research</a>
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<p>On such plots, wildlife has less shade to escape the increasingly harsh climate.</p>
<p>“Flying insects are key pollinators of many major food crops, including fruits, spices and – importantly for chocolate lovers – cocoa,” say Tim Newbold and Charlie Outhwaite, the UCL biodiversity scientists behind the research.</p>
<p>The pair analysed three-quarters of a million samples from 6,000 sites worldwide and found that the most climate-stressed farms had lost 63% of their insects. Bugs are now so scarce that some cocoa farmers in Ghana have resorted to pollinating the flowers of the cacoa tree <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1439179121001286">by hand</a>.</p>
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<img alt="A row of trees with cocoa pods hanging from them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584844/original/file-20240327-26-oy102c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584844/original/file-20240327-26-oy102c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584844/original/file-20240327-26-oy102c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584844/original/file-20240327-26-oy102c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584844/original/file-20240327-26-oy102c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584844/original/file-20240327-26-oy102c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584844/original/file-20240327-26-oy102c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Forests have been depleted in key cocoa growing regions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chocolate-cacao-tree-farm-green-yellow-2256239597">Clark Ahlstrom/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Even if you only relate to food production as a consumer, you will notice the impact of rising temperatures at the checkout. A new study by German researchers found that food prices could rise 3.2% a year between now and 2035.</p>
<p>“As climate change continues to worsen, this <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/food-prices-will-climb-everywhere-as-temperatures-rise-due-to-climate-change-new-research-226345?notice=Article+has+been+updated.">price inflation</a></strong> will mean more and more people around the world don’t have a varied and healthy diet, or simply don’t have enough food,” say health and nutrition experts Jessica Boxall and Michael Head of the University of Southampton.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/food-prices-will-climb-everywhere-as-temperatures-rise-due-to-climate-change-new-research-226345">Food prices will climb everywhere as temperatures rise due to climate change – new research</a>
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<h2>Pay farmers more</h2>
<p>“Perhaps the most severe issue of all is the lack of fair compensation for sustainable cocoa production,” Odijie says.</p>
<p>Research suggests that cocoa farms could be <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-planting-trees-can-protect-cocoa-plants-against-climate-change-94638">better for nature</a></strong> and more resilient to climate change if farmers planted a greater variety of shady native trees on their land. You may be able to enjoy cocoa from such farms in chocolate bars stamped with a third-party certificate. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-planting-trees-can-protect-cocoa-plants-against-climate-change-94638">How planting trees can protect cocoa plants against climate change</a>
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<p>“While cocoa certification helps restore biodiversity, it doesn’t necessarily increase <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/buying-affordable-ethical-chocolate-is-almost-impossible-but-some-firms-are-offering-the-next-best-thing-225239">the money farmers receive</a></strong> for their crop,” says Michael Rogerson, a lecturer in operations management at the University of Sussex.</p>
<p>“Large chocolate producers prioritise short-term profit over meaningful structural change and this can result in [them] benefit[ing] from poor cocoa farmer pay and low transparency in their own self-certified reporting.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/buying-affordable-ethical-chocolate-is-almost-impossible-but-some-firms-are-offering-the-next-best-thing-225239">Buying affordable ethical chocolate is almost impossible – but some firms are offering the next best thing</a>
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<p>Major cocoa processors and chocolate producers pledged to eradicate child labour in their supply chains by 2005. Nearly two decades later, exploitation is still rife, Rogerson says.</p>
<p>Odijie argues that growers should <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/cocoa-prices-are-surging-west-african-countries-should-seize-the-moment-to-negotiate-a-better-deal-for-farmers-214305">use the cocoa shortage as negotiating leverage</a></strong> against these companies and demand industry-wide solutions.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cocoa-prices-are-surging-west-african-countries-should-seize-the-moment-to-negotiate-a-better-deal-for-farmers-214305">Cocoa prices are surging: west African countries should seize the moment to negotiate a better deal for farmers</a>
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<p>“What would it cost for cocoa farmers to cultivate cocoa beans sustainably, and ensure a living income, without contributing to deforestation or resorting to child labour?” he asks.</p>
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<img alt="Women squat in a row sorting cocoa beans." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584842/original/file-20240327-24-anhtbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584842/original/file-20240327-24-anhtbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584842/original/file-20240327-24-anhtbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584842/original/file-20240327-24-anhtbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584842/original/file-20240327-24-anhtbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584842/original/file-20240327-24-anhtbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584842/original/file-20240327-24-anhtbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Farm workers in Côte d'Ivoire extracting and washing cocoa beans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/women-ivory-coast-working-countryside-cocoa-1067515892">Boulenger Xavier/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire devised a way to make cocoa buyers cover that cost in 2019: the “living income differential”. This was a premium that buyers would be expected to pay on top of the market price for cocoa, to ensure growers could earn a sustainable wage from their produce. </p>
<p>The initiative floundered in a saturated market. It’s time to revive the idea, Odijie says, now the supply crunch has put cocoa producers in a stronger negotiating position.</p>
<p>“Both Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire must recognise this pivotal moment,” he says.</p>
<p>“They must take the lead, and frame the current production challenges as deep-seated structural problems requiring solutions, rather than as short-term issues.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226183/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
And despite soaring cocoa prices, farmers aren’t seeing the benefit.Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, UK editionLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2143052023-10-04T13:43:08Z2023-10-04T13:43:08ZCocoa prices are surging: west African countries should seize the moment to negotiate a better deal for farmers<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/cocoa-prices-are-surging-west-african-countries-should-seize-the-moment-to-negotiate-a-better-deal-for-farmers-214305&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p>The global price of cocoa is spiking, a direct response to <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/07/29/chocolate-inflation-wholesale-cocoa-west-africa-ghana-production/">dwindling cocoa output</a> in west Africa. In September, cocoa futures reached a <a href="https://www.confectioneryproduction.com/news/44853/ghana-and-ivory-coast-cocoa-prices-surge-to-46-year-high-as-concerns-remain-over-supply-deficits/">44-year price peak</a> due to mounting concerns over reduced supplies from the region. </p>
<p>The price surge could prove to be a critical moment for cocoa farming and policy in west Africa.</p>
<p>The cocoa-producing belt of west Africa is responsible for <a href="https://www.oecd.org/swac/publications/39596493.pdf">generating over 80%</a> of the total global output. Between them, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.732831/full#:%7E:text=Most%20of%20the%20world's%20cocoa,2019%3B%20Fairtrade%2C%202020">contribute</a> more than 60% to the global output. Ghana is the <a href="https://www.confectioneryproduction.com/news/42498/icco-reports-show-increase-in-ghana-and-ivory-coast-cocoa-crops-but-key-export-challenges-persist/">second-biggest producer</a> in the world and cocoa is a vital component of the country’s economy. </p>
<p>The global price spike has led west African governments to increase the guaranteed producer prices to farmers. Ghana recently <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/ghana-hikes-20232024-cocoa-farmgate-price-supplies-tighten-2023-09-09/">raised</a> the state-guaranteed cocoa price paid to farmers by two thirds. The announcement means that Ghana’s cocoa farmers will be paid 20,943 cedis (US$1,837) per tonne for the upcoming 2023-2024 season, up from 12,800 cedis. </p>
<p>Cameroon, the world’s fourth-largest cocoa producer, raised the price cocoa farmers get to 1,500 CFA francs (US$2.50) per kilogram, a 25% jump from the previous rate of 1,200 CFA francs. This increase is even more significant than Ghana’s when factoring in Cameroon’s single-digit inflation. Additionally, the Cote d'Ivoire government has announced a <a href="https://thecocoapost.com/ivory-coast-sets-2023-24-cocoa-farmgate-price-at-1000-fcfa/">rise</a> in the producer price.</p>
<p>As an economics researcher who has extensively <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/history/people/academic-staff/dr-michael-ehis-odijie">studied and written</a> about cocoa production in west Africa, I contend that the recent shortages can be harnessed to strengthen the position of cocoa producers. This will enable them to address the structural challenges ingrained in the cocoa production value chain. Rising production costs have not been recognised in the value of cocoa beans. Farmers therefore haven’t been able to earn enough income and this has led to unsustainable farming practices. </p>
<p>In my view, west African countries should use the cocoa shortage as negotiating leverage against multinational corporations to address these structural issues. Both Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire must recognise this pivotal moment. They must take the lead, and frame the current production challenges as deep-seated structural problems requiring solutions, rather than as short-term issues.</p>
<h2>What’s driving the change?</h2>
<p>Ghana’s cocoa regulator recently <a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/ghana-may-not-meet-demand-for-cocoa-after-weak-harvest-626238">indicated</a> that its farmers might not be able to meet some cocoa contract obligations for another season. Ghana’s <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/ghanas-2022-2023-cocoa-output-expected-to-be-lower-by-11-than-target-sources">projected cocoa yield</a> for the 2022/23 planting season was the lowest in 13 years, falling 24% short of the initial estimates of 850,000 metric tonnes. </p>
<p>This trend has been repeated across the region, with production falling in Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon.</p>
<p>Reduced output means demand can’t be met and global prices rise. </p>
<p>The reduction in cocoa output is attributed to short-term and long-term factors. </p>
<p>Commentators typically emphasise the short-term factors:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>poor weather conditions</p></li>
<li><p>black pod disease, which causes cocoa pods to rot</p></li>
<li><p>the decline in the number of cocoa farmers, some of them selling their land to <a href="https://thecocoapost.com/illegal-mining-an-existential-threat-to-cocoa-production-in-ghana/">illegal miners</a> </p></li>
<li><p>a <a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/february-2023/one-year-later-impact-russian-conflict-ukraine-africa#:%7E:text=The%20Bank%20estimates%20that%20fertilizer,exacerbate%20food%20security%20throughout%202023.">shortage of fertilisers and pesticides</a>, especially since the conflict in Ukraine has curtailed Russia’s export of potash and other fertilisers. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>A number of long-term structural issues have beset cocoa farming in west Africa for decades. They shouldn’t be overshadowed by concerns with short-term problems.</p>
<p>The first is the <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/12/524">declining availability</a> of forest land and its connection to increasing production costs.</p>
<p>Over the last two decades, depletion of forest land has led farmers to turn to grasslands for replanting cocoa plants. This requires extensive land preparation, regular weeding around the cocoa trees, pruning, and the application of fertilisers and pesticides. What’s more, the plants are highly susceptible to disease. All these things result in increased labour costs.</p>
<p>None of these additional burdens have been incorporated into the pricing for sustainable cocoa production. In light of the new cost structure, cocoa beans have been undervalued for decades. Farmers have become poorer and are exploring alternative sources of livelihood. </p>
<p>The cost of sustainably cultivating cocoa in grasslands must be reflected in the price that farmers receive. Relying solely on market forces will not achieve this. For instance, every year, typically in September, the Ghana Cocoa Board <a href="https://thecocoapost.com/ghana-pegs-farmgate-cocoa-price-at-ghs1308-for-2023-24-crop/">announces</a> the official producer price for cocoa beans for the upcoming cocoa season on behalf of the government. This official price is based on the anticipated export market price, with an understanding in Ghana that farmers should receive approximately 70% of it. However, the resulting market price, and consequently the producer price derived from it, often falls short of covering the costs of sustainable cocoa cultivation.</p>
<h2>A path forward</h2>
<p>What would it cost for cocoa farmers to cultivate cocoa beans sustainably, and ensure a living income, without contributing to deforestation or resorting to child labour? </p>
<p>If the market price falls below this cost (which isn’t static), then the farmers face exploitation, giving rise to many of the problems that plague the industry.</p>
<p>A few years ago, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-efforts-by-cote-divoire-and-ghana-to-help-cocoa-farmers-havent-worked-162845">pioneered the introduction</a> of the “living income differential” – a premium that cocoa buyers would pay on top of the market price to ensure that farmers earned a sustainable income from their produce. Despite its noble intent, the initiative <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/africas-fields-plan-pay-fair-wages-chocolate-withers-2023-04-04/">faltered</a>. It was not well thought through. And it came at a time when these countries had diminished bargaining clout in a saturated market. Now is a favourable moment.</p>
<p>The crisis in the sector puts cocoa producers in a stronger negotiating position. </p>
<p>Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire could collaborate with other regional countries, such as Nigeria and Cameroon, to negotiate a better position for their cocoa farmers, ensuring sustainable cultivation. There are many strategies these countries can explore, including supply management (such as buffer stocks, export controls, or quotas), price premiums and value addition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214305/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael E Odijie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghana and other west African cocoa growing countries must harness their combined bargaining strength to address the challenges plaguing cocoa farming.Michael E Odijie, Research associate, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2060822023-05-22T20:06:43Z2023-05-22T20:06:43ZThe real cost of your chocolate habit: new research reveals the bittersweet truth of cocoa farming in Africa’s forests<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527448/original/file-20230522-15-8t65z3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4085%2C3278&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Chocolate sales <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/09/business/chocolate-sales-ctrp/index.html">have</a> <a href="https://www.pymnts.com/earnings/2023/mondelez-chocolate-sales-jump-18-as-consumers-seek-affordable-comforts/">boomed</a> in recent months. As the cost-of-living crisis bites, consumers are increasingly reaching for chocolate as a simple and <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/chocolate-sales-stronger-ever-170000682.html">affordable</a> pleasure. </p>
<p>The most important ingredient in chocolate is cocoa beans, which come from plants grown in the tropics. <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/02/volatile-cocoa-prices-are-pushing-african-farmers-further-into-poverty.html">About 70%</a> of the world’s cocoa comes from West Africa. The countries of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Ghana are two of the biggest producers.</p>
<p>Meeting the world’s insatiable appetite for chocolate has wrought a huge environmental cost, as the incredibly rich and diverse rainforests of West Africa are razed to make way for cocoa farms. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-023-00751-8">Research</a> by my colleagues and me, released today, sheds new light on the problem. By generating a new high-resolution map of cocoa growing areas in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, we found the area under cocoa production is truly enormous – and may be associated with up to 37% of forest loss in protected areas. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man picks cocoa pod from a tree" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527443/original/file-20230522-15-jxc8gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527443/original/file-20230522-15-jxc8gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527443/original/file-20230522-15-jxc8gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527443/original/file-20230522-15-jxc8gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527443/original/file-20230522-15-jxc8gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527443/original/file-20230522-15-jxc8gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527443/original/file-20230522-15-jxc8gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man picks cocoa pods from a tree on his Côte d’Ivoire farm. Cocoa is a primary driver of deforestation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ben Curtis, AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The price of cocoa farming</h2>
<p>The Upper Guinean forests of West Africa have been <a href="https://eros.usgs.gov/westafrica/land-cover/deforestation-upper-guinean-forest">classified</a> as a “global biodiversity hotspot”, due to their exceptional concentrations of plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth. But much of this forest has now been destroyed.</p>
<p>Since 1950, Côte d’Ivoire <a href="https://www.mightyearth.org/2022/02/14/major-chocolate-companies-failed-in-pledge-to-end-deforestation-comprehensive-new-study-shows/">has lost</a> up to 90% of its forest cover and Ghana has lost 65%. Cocoa has been a primary driver of this deforestation, together with other crops, mining and logging. </p>
<p>But the exact contribution of cocoa plantations to the problem is not well understood. This is due in part to a lack of an accurate, high-resolution map of cocoa-growing areas. </p>
<p>Without a map, we don’t know where the chocolate we consume comes from. In particular, we don’t know whether the cocoa was grown in formerly forested areas, or even illegally in protected areas. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/child-labour-on-farms-in-africa-its-important-to-make-a-distinction-between-whats-harmful-and-what-isnt-201433">Child labour on farms in Africa: it's important to make a distinction between what's harmful, and what isn't</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="forest in Ghana" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527444/original/file-20230522-5662-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527444/original/file-20230522-5662-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527444/original/file-20230522-5662-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527444/original/file-20230522-5662-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527444/original/file-20230522-5662-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527444/original/file-20230522-5662-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527444/original/file-20230522-5662-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">West Africa’s forests have been classified as a global biodiversity hotspot.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">OLIVIER ASSELIN/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What we did</h2>
<p>We set out to determine the location and extent of cocoa plantations by using artificial intelligence (AI).</p>
<p>We used a type of AI known as a “neural network”, which allows computers to recognise and predict patterns in data. When a neural network is trained on satellite images showing different land uses, it can apply this “understanding” to identify the same land uses in satellite images of other geographic areas. </p>
<p>In our study, we trained the neural network to recognise cocoa plantations across Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. We did this using satellite images, together with the known locations of more than 100,000 cocoa farms. </p>
<p>We then checked the accuracy of the information provided by the neural network, by engaging field teams to confirm the results at 2,000 random locations on the ground. </p>
<p>This combination of advanced technology and hard fieldwork allowed us to create the first high-resolution map of cocoa production across West Africa. And what the map tells us is worrying.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chocolate-chemistry-a-food-scientist-explains-how-the-beloved-treat-gets-its-flavor-texture-and-tricky-reputation-as-an-ingredient-198222">Chocolate chemistry – a food scientist explains how the beloved treat gets its flavor, texture and tricky reputation as an ingredient</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="man empties bucket of cocoa seeds onto pile" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527440/original/file-20230522-15-7zk935.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527440/original/file-20230522-15-7zk935.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527440/original/file-20230522-15-7zk935.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527440/original/file-20230522-15-7zk935.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527440/original/file-20230522-15-7zk935.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527440/original/file-20230522-15-7zk935.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527440/original/file-20230522-15-7zk935.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The research set out to determine the extent of cocoa plantations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rebecca Blackwell/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>We found that the land area devoted to cocoa is enormous, comprising more than 7 million hectares of plantations across both countries. The result is far greater than official figures – up to 40% higher in Ghana’s case.</p>
<p>What’s more, much of the cocoa plantation area exists in vast areas of what was once native forest. And more than 1.5 million hectares of land under cocoa production is located in protected areas. </p>
<p>Deforestation in protected areas is a major issue globally. Given where we found cocoa growing, and where forest loss has been observed, we estimate more than 37% of deforestation in protected areas can be linked to cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire. For Ghana, the figure is 13%. </p>
<h2>How do we fix this?</h2>
<p>Our map demonstrates the massive role that cocoa may be playing in forest destruction in West Africa, including in protected areas. </p>
<p>This is a complex problem, with no easy fix. Cocoa is grown by an estimated two million mostly small-scale farmers, who typically live below the poverty line on less than US$1 a day. Expanding their cocoa farms into forest is one way farmers and their families can maintain or improve their livelihoods. </p>
<p>To fix this problem, we must help farmers manage existing farms in a more productive and sustainable way. Stronger law enforcement is also needed, to safeguard protected areas. Both will require action from governments and companies. </p>
<p>More money from chocolate sales should end up with the farmer. And consumers may also have to pay more for their chocolate.</p>
<p>Only determined changes on all these fronts will preserve the remaining forests of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206082/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wilma Hart receives funding from the Lindt Cocoa Foundation, the Joint Cocoa Research Found, BiodivClim ERA-Net COFUND Programme and the Queensland Government through the Advance Queensland Women's Research Assistance Program. </span></em></p>By generating new high-resolution maps, researchers found cocoa plantations were causing far worse forest destruction in West Africa than previously thought.Wilma Hart, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2014332023-04-30T09:08:16Z2023-04-30T09:08:16ZChild labour on farms in Africa: it’s important to make a distinction between what’s harmful, and what isn’t<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515440/original/file-20230315-18-ui0gow.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many children help out on family farms in Africa</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nana Kofi Acquah/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Children across the vast expanse of rural Africa hoe, dig, plant, carry, tend livestock, cook, scrub, care for their siblings, and undertake many other farm and domestic tasks. Most of their work is on the farms of parents or relatives, and in most rural communities, learning to work is a normal part of growing up.</p>
<p>We examined a number of dimensions of children’s work in African agriculture in papers published in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0030727020930330">2020</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1468018121991813">2022</a>. It is certainly the case that some children are harmed by the work they do, and others may be forced to work, exploited or trafficked. </p>
<p>Yet, based on this and other work informed by extensive literature review and initial research, children who are harmed by working represent a minority of working children. And critically, neither their interests, nor those of other rural children, are necessarily served by ongoing efforts to eradicate child labour from African agriculture.</p>
<p>We are researchers in development studies with long-standing interests in the complex intersections of agriculture and social development in rural Africa. Between us we have researched and published extensively on poverty and vulnerability, land, rural youth, social protection, and policy across West and East Africa.</p>
<p>As part of our ongoing academic work we recently <a href="https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/childrens-work-in-african-agriculture">co-edited a book</a>, Children’s Work in African Agriculture: The Harmful and the Harmless. It is the first book that directly and singularly addresses children’s work in African agriculture. It puts the notions of “harm” and “harmful work” at centre stage, and argues that in most cases the work children do on farms does not result in harm. </p>
<p>Through a combination of thematic and case-based chapters the book seeks to re-frame the debate about children’s work and harm in African agriculture. We argue such a re-framing can help rural children in two ways. </p>
<p>First, by disrupting the dominant child labour discourse that pushes all children’s work, whether it be harmful or harmless, into the category of harmful child labour. </p>
<p>Second, by opening new avenues to more effectively address that portion of children’s work that is harmful. For example, by asking how the existing framework of international conventions, instruments and organisational mandates can be made more reflective of, and relevant to, the diversity of circumstances within which rural children and their families live and work. </p>
<p>But more fundamentally, re-framing can be a powerful tool if it more explicitly links the continued existence of children’s harmful work to multiple, interacting forms of power: discursive, economic, political and so on. The point is simple enough: we can expect little from policies, strategies and interventions that do not focus in on, disrupt and realign these power relations. </p>
<h2>Key insights: harm and the school-work dichotomy</h2>
<p>For the purposes of this article we highlight insights from two chapters. </p>
<p>Chapter 2 introduces the concept of “harm” that is foundational to understanding the “rights and wrongs of children’s work”. The authors - <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/roy-maconachie-142892">Roy Maconachie</a>, <a href="https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/neil-howard">Neil Howard</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13600818.2021.2004393">Rosilin Bock</a> – draw on their many years of research, activism and practice around children’s work in Africa. </p>
<p>They note that harm remains a contested concept, despite being central to efforts to define and eradicate child labour, and having been theorised within various academic disciplines. And harm arising from children’s work is likely to remain difficult to identify, assess and understand. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, progress could be made with an approach to harm which incorporates its subjective dimensions, including children’s lived experience of harm, and is focused on well-being. Such an approach would involve processes that prioritise the perspectives and voices of children themselves, as well as their families and communities.</p>
<p>Chapter 4 on children’s work and schooling is written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mairead-dunne-1194300">Máiréad Dunne</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sara-humphreys-1194304">Sara Humphreys</a> and <a href="https://www.ids.ac.uk/people/carolina-szyp/">Carolina Szyp</a>. Máiréad and Sara are international experts on the sociology of education, while Carolina is a young researcher.</p>
<p>The chapter highlights how the relationship between school and work is grossly oversimplified in much of what is written about child labour. For example, it is commonly asserted that a child’s place is in school, and any work that interferes with school harms the child, and must therefore be considered as child labour. </p>
<p>However, when the quality of schooling is low, as in much of rural Africa, children may have better opportunities for learning, skill development and future livelihood enhancement through their work on the family farm.</p>
<p>The simplistic school-work dichotomy is further undermined by the fact that for many children, periods of work are formally scheduled during the school day. They clean, farm, carry water and so on, either for the school or for individual teachers. There is also an assumption that while work is harmful, school is safe. </p>
<p>The reality is that harm is experienced at school, and while travelling between home and school, as bullying, gender violence and physical abuse. Girls and children with disabilities may be particularly vulnerable.</p>
<p>When children are not in school, or when they combine school and work, parents are blamed for not appreciating the value of schooling. But research suggests that they are well aware of the realities – both good and bad – of schooling. The problem is that the school-work dichotomy, and equating children’s work with child labour, leaves no room for the very real and difficult trade-offs and compromises that rural children and their families must navigate daily. </p>
<h2>Don’t cause further harm</h2>
<p>Reframing the debate about child labour in African agriculture, and how best to address it, is particularly timely. There are ongoing initiatives to eradicate child labour from a handful of global agricultural value chains, including the <a href="https://theconversation.com/child-slavery-in-west-africa-understanding-cocoa-farming-is-key-to-ending-the-practice-170315">cocoa chain in West Africa</a>. As long as such initiatives fail to appreciate that much of the children’s work is harmless, and indeed beneficial, they have the potential to cause significant negative consequences – in fact, to harm – rural children and their families.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201433/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Sumberg received funding from Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the UK government.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Sabates-Wheeler received funding from Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the UK government.</span></em></p>Children working on family farms is often mistaken for harmful child labour.James Sumberg, Emeritus Research Fellow, Institute of Development StudiesRachel Sabates-Wheeler, Research Fellow, Institute of Development StudiesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2028482023-04-06T06:11:50Z2023-04-06T06:11:50ZHere’s why having chocolate can make you feel great or a bit sick – plus 4 tips for better eating<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518983/original/file-20230403-20-jmdrkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C17%2C5879%2C3907&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/delicious-easter-holiday-chocolate-bunny-eggs-1661076946">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australians are <a href="https://www.retail.org.au/media/sweet-spending-boon-predicted-for-easter-retail">predicted</a> to spend around A$1.7 billion on chocolates, hot cross buns and other special foods this Easter season. </p>
<p>Chocolate has a long history of production and consumption. It is made from cacao beans that go through processes including fermentation, drying, roasting and grounding. What is left is a rich and fatty liquor that is pressed to remove the fat (cocoa butter) and the cacao (or “cocoa”) powder which will then be mixed with different ingredients to produce dark, milk, white and other types of chocolates. </p>
<p>There are several health benefits and potential problems that come in these sweet chocolatey packages. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/at-chocolate-time-weve-discovered-what-the-brands-that-score-best-on-child-labour-and-the-environment-have-in-common-201682">At chocolate time, we've discovered what the brands that score best on child labour and the environment have in common</a>
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</p>
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<h2>The good news</h2>
<p>Cacao beans contain <a href="https://foodstruct.com/food/cocoa-bean">minerals</a> like iron, potassium, magnesium, zinc and phosphorus and some vitamins. They are also rich in beneficial chemicals called <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23150750/">polyphenols</a>. </p>
<p>These are great antioxidants, with the potential to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5465250/">improve heart health</a>, increase <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25164923/">nitric oxide</a> (which dilates blood vessels) and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3488419/">reduce blood pressure</a>, provide food for gut microbiota and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/7/1908">promote gut health</a>, boost the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5465250/">immune system</a> and reduce inflammation. </p>
<p>However, the concentration of polyphenols in the chocolate we eat depends largely on the cocoa solid amounts used in the final product. </p>
<p>In general terms, the darker the chocolate, the more cocoa solids, minerals and polyphenols it has. For example, dark chocolates may have around <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10942912.2011.614984">seven times more polyphenols</a> compared to white chocolates and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10942912.2011.614984">three times more polyphenols</a> compared to milk chocolates. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518984/original/file-20230403-18-cku8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="selection of dark chocolate squares" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518984/original/file-20230403-18-cku8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518984/original/file-20230403-18-cku8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518984/original/file-20230403-18-cku8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518984/original/file-20230403-18-cku8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518984/original/file-20230403-18-cku8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518984/original/file-20230403-18-cku8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518984/original/file-20230403-18-cku8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dark chocolate is less likely to give you problems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/broken-slices-chocolate-close-564089023">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/health-check-the-good-and-bad-of-easter-eggs-chocolate-and-hot-cross-buns-37920">Health Check: the good and bad of Easter eggs, chocolate and hot cross buns</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>But also some bad news</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/treat-or-treatment-chocolate-is-good-but-cocoa-is-better-for-your-heart-3084">health benefits of cocoa solids</a> are easily offset by the high sugar and fat content of modern-day chocolates. For example, milk and white chocolate eggs are on average 50% sugar, 40% fat (mostly saturated fats) – which means a lot of added kilojoules (calories). </p>
<p>Also, there may be some side effects that come with ingesting chocolate. </p>
<p>Cocoa beans include a compound called theobromine. While it has the anti-inflammatory properties responsible for some of the health benefits of chocolate, it is also a mild brain stimulant that acts in a similar way to caffeine. The mood boost it offers may also be partly responsible for how much we <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2015.00030/full?crsi=662496658&cicada_org_src=healthwebmagazine.com&cicada_org_mdm=direct">like chocolate</a>. Dark chocolate has higher theobromine compared to milk and white chocolate. </p>
<p>But accordingly, overindulging in chocolate (and therefore theobromine) may lead to feeling restless, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3672386/">headaches</a> and nausea. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-white-stuff-on-my-easter-chocolate-and-can-i-still-eat-it-181274">What's the white stuff on my Easter chocolate, and can I still eat it?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What else is in your chocolate?</h2>
<p>Milk and dairy-based chocolates may also cause stomach upset, abdominal pain and bloating in people with <a href="https://dietitiansaustralia.org.au/health-advice/lactose-intolerance">lactose intolerance</a>. This happens when we don’t produce enough lactase enzymes to digest milk sugar (lactose). </p>
<p>People with lactose intolerance can usually tolerate up to 6 grams of lactose without showing symptoms. Milk chocolate can have around <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK310258/">3 grams of lactose</a> per 40 grams (the size of a standard chocolate bar). So two chocolate bars (or the equivalent in milk chocolate eggs or bunnies) may be enough to cause symptoms. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518981/original/file-20230403-24-w2xk2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="little girl with bunny ears on and chocolate on face" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518981/original/file-20230403-24-w2xk2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518981/original/file-20230403-24-w2xk2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518981/original/file-20230403-24-w2xk2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518981/original/file-20230403-24-w2xk2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518981/original/file-20230403-24-w2xk2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518981/original/file-20230403-24-w2xk2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518981/original/file-20230403-24-w2xk2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lactose sensitivities tend to increase with age.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/little-blond-girl-dirty-chocolate-bunny-1937877997">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s worth noting that lactase enzyme activity dramatically declines as we age, with the highest activity in newborns and children. So lactose sensitivity or intolerance may not be such an issue for your kids and your symptoms may increase over time. Genetics also plays a major role in how sensitive people are to lactose.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6815241/">Allergic reactions</a> to chocolate are usually due to the added ingredients or cross-contamination with potential allergens such as nuts, milk, soy, and some sweeteners used in the production of chocolate. </p>
<p>Symptoms can be mild (acne, rashes and stomach pain) or more severe (swelling of the throat and tongue and shortness of breath). </p>
<p>If you or your family members have known allergic reactions, make sure you read the label before indulging – especially in a whole block or basket of the stuff. And if you or your family members do experience symptoms of an allergic reaction after eating chocolate, <a href="https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/allergic-reactions-emergency-first-aid">seek medical attention</a> immediately.</p>
<h2>4 take home tips</h2>
<p>So, if you are like me and have a weakness for chocolate there are a few things you can do to make the experience a good one.</p>
<ol>
<li>keep an eye out for the darker chocolate varieties with higher cocoa solids. You may notice a percentage on labelling, which refers to how much of its weight is from cocoa beans. In general, the higher this percentage, the lower the sugar. White chocolate has almost no cocoa solid, and mostly cocoa butter, sugar and other ingredients. Dark chocolate has 50–100% cocoa beans, and less sugar. Aim for at least 70% cocoa<br></li>
<li>read the fine print for additives and possible cross-contamination, especially if allergies might be an issue</li>
<li>the ingredients list and nutrition information panel should tell you all about the chocolate you choosing. Go for varieties with lower sugar and less saturated fat. Nuts, seeds and dried fruits are better ingredients to have in your chocolate than sugar, creme, syrup, and caramel<br></li>
<li>finally, treat yourself – but keep the amount you have within sensible limits! </li>
</ol>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-chocolate-when-money-really-did-grow-on-trees-196173">The history of chocolate: when money really did grow on trees</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202848/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Khalesi is supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship (Award No. 102584) from the National Heart Foundation of Australia.</span></em></p>Good things can come in chocolatey packages, but read the fine print if you want to avoid potential side effects of eating Easter treats.Saman Khalesi, Postdoctoral Fellow of the National Heart Foundation & Senior Lecturer and Discipline Lead in Nutrition, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2030962023-04-05T13:53:51Z2023-04-05T13:53:51ZEaster bunnies, cacao beans and pollinating bugs: A basket of 6 essential reads about chocolate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519391/original/file-20230404-14-reloqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=422%2C0%2C4914%2C3173&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Easter has its bunnies, but chocolate comes out for every holiday.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/chocolate-bunny-family-royalty-free-image/177875356">garytog/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/surprising-easter-fun-facts-stats-2019-4#as-many-as-91-million-chocolate-bunnies-are-sold-in-the-us-for-easter-annually-8">Tens of millions of chocolate bunnies</a> get sold in the U.S. every Easter. Here are six articles about chocolate from The Conversation’s archive – great reading while you’re nibbling the ears off your own bunny (if you’re one of the <a href="https://www.insider.com/surprising-easter-fun-facts-stats-2019-4#as-many-as-78-of-americans-eat-the-ears-of-their-chocolate-bunny-first-11">three-quarters of Americans who start</a> at the top).</p>
<h2>1. Food scientist on cocoa chemistry</h2>
<p>Chocolate bunnies don’t grow on trees – but cacao pods do. It takes a lot of processing to get from the raw agricultural input to the finished output.</p>
<p>Food scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5iZjEckAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Sheryl Barringer</a> from The Ohio State University wrote about various chemical reactions that are part of the transformation of beans into chocolate. One is the Maillard reaction, the same thing that gives the browned bits on roasted meats or a bread’s golden crust their flavor. <a href="https://theconversation.com/chocolate-chemistry-a-food-scientist-explains-how-the-beloved-treat-gets-its-flavor-texture-and-tricky-reputation-as-an-ingredient-198222">Barringer also explains that weird white stuff</a> – known as bloom – that might appear on your Easter chocolates if they hang around for a while. (Don’t worry, it’s still edible.)</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chocolate-chemistry-a-food-scientist-explains-how-the-beloved-treat-gets-its-flavor-texture-and-tricky-reputation-as-an-ingredient-198222">Chocolate chemistry – a food scientist explains how the beloved treat gets its flavor, texture and tricky reputation as an ingredient</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Chocolate is a fermented food</h2>
<p>Food science Ph.D. candidate <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=QjIM6yUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Caitlin Clark</a> from Colorado State University focuses her research on the microbes responsible for much of chocolate’s flavor. As a fermented food, chocolate depends on yeast and bacteria to help turn a raw ingredient into the treat you can recognize.</p>
<p>Clark described how the microorganisms that occur naturally in a given geographical location can give high-end chocolates their “terroir” – “<a href="https://theconversation.com/chocolates-secret-ingredient-is-the-fermenting-microbes-that-make-it-taste-so-good-155552">the characteristic flair imparted by a place</a>” you might be more used to thinking about with regard to wine.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chocolates-secret-ingredient-is-the-fermenting-microbes-that-make-it-taste-so-good-155552">Chocolate's secret ingredient is the fermenting microbes that make it taste so good</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cacao pods and flowers on branch tree close up" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519395/original/file-20230404-2112-yh79aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tiny flies spread pollen from one cacao tree to another.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cacao-pods-and-flower-on-branch-royalty-free-image/1165785501">dimarik/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Pollinators are important part of process</h2>
<p>Cacao growers rely on another tiny ally to pollinate their crop. Entomologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=qvmWZYwAAAAJ">DeWayne Shoemaker</a> from the University of Tennessee described the mini flies – particularly biting midges and gall midges – that get the job done. “Pollinators must pick up pollen from the male parts of a flower of one tree and deposit it on the female parts of a flower on another tree,” Shoemaker wrote.</p>
<p>But up to <a href="https://theconversation.com/tiny-cacao-flowers-and-fickle-midges-are-part-of-a-pollination-puzzle-that-limits-chocolate-production-154334">90% of cacao flowers don’t get pollinated</a> at all. People can hand-pollinate the little flowers, but it remains a mystery which other insects might do the job in the wild.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tiny-cacao-flowers-and-fickle-midges-are-part-of-a-pollination-puzzle-that-limits-chocolate-production-154334">Tiny cacao flowers and fickle midges are part of a pollination puzzle that limits chocolate production</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. Child labor is chocolate’s bitter secret</h2>
<p>Harvesting and processing cacao is labor-intensive. To meet this need, some farmers turn to child labor. Cultural anthropologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1ErMxzgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Robert Ulin</a> from the Rochester Institute of Technology described how the global chocolate industry is tied to inequality via exploitative labor practices.</p>
<p>“The largest chocolate companies signed a protocol in 2001 that <a href="https://theconversation.com/some-chocolate-has-a-dark-side-to-it-child-labor-179271">condemned child labor and childhood slavery</a>,” Ulin wrote. But he noted that consumers may want more information to make sure their purchase power supports “fair labor practices in the chocolate sector.” </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/some-chocolate-has-a-dark-side-to-it-child-labor-179271">Some chocolate has a dark side to it – child labor</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dog and woman, both with Easter bunny ears on" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519398/original/file-20230404-18-7hqbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Do not share your chocolates with your pooch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/dog-and-woman-with-costume-and-easter-decorations-royalty-free-image/1359250422">F.J. Jimenez/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. Not safe for furry family members</h2>
<p>Eating a ton of chocolate is probably not a healthy choice for anyone. But even a little bit of chocolate can be deadly for dogs and cats. </p>
<p>In an article about all kinds of holiday foods that are unsafe for pets, veterinarian and researcher <a href="https://experts.okstate.edu/le.fanucchi">Leticia Fanucchi</a> from Oklahoma State University explained the chemicals in this human delicacy that can cause fatal “<a href="https://theconversation.com/holiday-foods-can-be-toxic-to-pets-a-veterinarian-explains-which-and-what-to-do-if-rover-or-kitty-eats-them-196453">chocolate intoxication</a>.” Don’t delay getting veterinary help if your pet does raid your Easter basket.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/holiday-foods-can-be-toxic-to-pets-a-veterinarian-explains-which-and-what-to-do-if-rover-or-kitty-eats-them-196453">Holiday foods can be toxic to pets – a veterinarian explains which, and what to do if Rover or Kitty eats them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>6. An enslaved chocolatier in colonial America</h2>
<p>An enslaved cook named Caesar, born in 1732, was one of the first chocolatiers in the American colonies. Historical archaeologist <a href="https://berkeley.academia.edu/KelleyFantoDeetz">Kelley Fanto Deetz</a> from the University of California, Berkeley described how Caesar “would have had to <a href="https://theconversation.com/oppression-in-the-kitchen-delight-in-the-dining-room-the-story-of-caesar-an-enslaved-chef-and-chocolatier-in-colonial-virginia-151356">roast the cocoa beans on the open hearth</a>, shell them by hand, grind the nibs on a heated chocolate stone, and then scrape the raw cocoa, add milk or water, cinnamon, nutmeg or vanilla, and serve it piping hot.”</p>
<p>Cocoa was a hot commodity for Virginia’s white elite during this period, when it was a culinary component – along with pineapples, Madeira wine, port, champagne, coffee and sugar – of the Columbian Exchange.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/oppression-in-the-kitchen-delight-in-the-dining-room-the-story-of-caesar-an-enslaved-chef-and-chocolatier-in-colonial-virginia-151356">Oppression in the kitchen, delight in the dining room: The story of Caesar, an enslaved chef and chocolatier in Colonial Virginia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203096/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Two food scientists, an entomologist, an anthropologist, a veterinarian and a historian walk into a bar (of chocolate) and tell bitter and sweet stories of this favorite treat.Maggie Villiger, Senior Science + Technology EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1969682023-01-06T13:12:05Z2023-01-06T13:12:05ZDeforestation: proposed EU import ban may fail to protect tropical rainforests and farmers – here’s how it should work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502408/original/file-20221221-15-5mb79p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5464%2C3623&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many of the products we buy are linked to deforestation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-deforestation-rainforest-being-removed-1274894119">Richard Whitcombe/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most European consumers’ shopping baskets tend to include items linked to <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.abm9267">deforestation in tropical regions</a>, involving agricultural commodities such as beef, soybeans, palm oil, cocoa, rubber, coffee, timber and paper. These so-called “forest-risk” commodities are used in thousands of consumer goods ranging from hamburgers to chocolate bars.</p>
<p>Yet this may be about to change. In December, the EU <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_7444">provisionally agreed</a> on a new regulation to ensure that supply chains are free from processes and products that cause deforestation. The regulation, which is expected to come into force in mid-2023, states that companies will be unable to sell products in the EU that were produced on land cleared after 2020. Companies must prove that their products are produced legally.</p>
<p>But these requirements may harm small-scale farmers and fail to make a visible difference to global deforestation. We offer five <a href="https://zerodeforestationimpacts.com/">tips</a> to ensure that the EU can reduce global deforestation while avoiding unintended outcomes.</p>
<h2>1. Local benchmarking</h2>
<p>The new regulation involves a benchmarking process that determines whether commodity producing regions have a high, standard or low risk of deforestation. Products from higher risk regions require more stringent due diligence procedures.</p>
<p>But large tropical countries, such as Brazil and Indonesia, have a variety of deforestation risks. The Cerrado, a vast region of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, has less stringent legal and voluntary protections than the Amazon rainforest. Most <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab6497/meta">deforestation for soy</a> takes place in the Cerrado as a result. A single risk rating at a country scale could mask these variations and fail to distinguish between higher and lower risk regions.</p>
<p>A benchmarking scale at the state or province level could differentiate these risks and is therefore likely to be more appropriate for larger countries. One state in the Cerrado, Maranhão for example, could have a high risk rating for deforestation, while another, such as Mato Grosso do Sul, could have a low one. Deforestation risks at at the state or province scale may be more similar and the monitoring of deforestation more feasible. </p>
<p>Greater engagement with companies in these areas may also be encouraged by strong local governance. Deforestation has historically been prevalent across Brazil’s Mato Grosso state, but in 2015, the state launched its <a href="http://pci.mt.gov.br/">Produce-Conserve-Include strategy</a>. State departments and private companies have collaborated here to align local policies and incentives with the goals of reaching deforestation reduction targets and stimulating investment.</p>
<p>The strategy aims to deliver inclusive and sustainable development in Mato Grosso. The region is targeting a 90% reduction in deforestation by 2030 while simultaneously increasing grain production from 50 to 92 million tonnes.</p>
<h2>2. Traceability</h2>
<p>Companies sourcing products from regions at a higher risk of deforestation must be able to trace the origin of their products to individual farms to comply with the new EU regulation. But in sectors such as cocoa farming, where there are many small farms and informal markets, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abn3132">this approach</a> is costly and often not feasible. Companies may be encouraged to remove small farms from their supply chains or purchase land for production directly.</p>
<p>Tracing supply to villages or particular forests would be a fairer and more practical option. The Dutch organisation <a href="https://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/">IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative</a> apply this idea through their <a href="https://sourceup.org/">Sourceup</a> platform. The platform highlights producing regions where commodities meet specific sustainability criteria.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man harvesting cocoa." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502410/original/file-20221221-17-ken8xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502410/original/file-20221221-17-ken8xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502410/original/file-20221221-17-ken8xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502410/original/file-20221221-17-ken8xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502410/original/file-20221221-17-ken8xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502410/original/file-20221221-17-ken8xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502410/original/file-20221221-17-ken8xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Companies must be able to trace products back to the farms producing them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/farmer-man-cocoa-plantation-tending-harvesting-1749994166">elcatso/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Common standards</h2>
<p>The EU’s regulation relies on threats and punishment to ensure compliance rather than incentivising behavioural change among producers. </p>
<p>It requires that all products entering the EU market must not contribute to deforestation. This may level the playing field among companies from regions exporting products into the EU. But consumers in China and the domestic markets of “forest-risk” commodity-producing regions in countries such as Brazil and Indonesia <a href="https://supplychains.trase.earth/explore">purchase far more</a> of these products than European consumers. </p>
<p>Some commodity producers may avoid selling products to the EU and instead pivot towards these other markets. This would reduce EU imports of products linked to deforestation but fails to address deforestation at its roots. Promoting similar standards in these markets will be key to avoid division between different markets. </p>
<h2>4. Combat deforestation at source</h2>
<p>The contribution of these approaches towards reducing deforestation will depend on how companies integrate them into their supply chains. </p>
<p>Rates of deforestation <a href="https://theconversation.com/zero-deforestation-in-the-amazon-is-now-possible-heres-what-needs-to-happen-193833">tend to fall</a> when the majority of the companies in a region voluntarily stop sourcing products linked to deforestation. A commitment – called the “soy moratorium” – by global traders and the Brazilian industry to stop purchasing soy produced on forest lands cleared after 2006 caused direct deforestation for <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac97f6/meta">soy</a> in the Brazilian Amazon to fall by 57% between 2006 and 2015.</p>
<p>Yet leakage (where deforestation is pushed to other regions) and low global market coverage <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33213-z">weakens the global effectiveness</a> of these regional supply chain policies. The EU’s new regulation will help to address some of these challenges, but channelling European finance towards regions that take action to deliver sustainable development would be a further positive step. This would reduce industry opposition in producing regions by showing that the EU is willing to invest in the changes it requires from these regions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Aerial shot of agricultural machinery harvesting soybean in Brazil." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502943/original/file-20230103-12-wp3eya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502943/original/file-20230103-12-wp3eya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502943/original/file-20230103-12-wp3eya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502943/original/file-20230103-12-wp3eya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502943/original/file-20230103-12-wp3eya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502943/original/file-20230103-12-wp3eya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502943/original/file-20230103-12-wp3eya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deforestation for soy in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 57% between 2006 and 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/do-sul-mato-grosso-brazil-february-1662165952">lourencolf/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. Rewarding inclusion</h2>
<p>Small farms could be excluded from export markets if the EU regulation fails to encourage companies to improve the sustainability of commodity producers’ operations. But if coupled with training in sustainable agricultural practises, price premiums and outreach to promote conservation, the regulation could <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378021001369">benefit</a> these farmers. Rewarding companies that encourage smaller suppliers to adapt could deliver widespread and permanent reductions in tropical deforestation.</p>
<p>For example, companies could be required to report the number and types of small farming communities that they source from on an annual basis. This is already the case for palm oil production, where industry-wide <a href="https://rspo.org/as-an-organisation/membership/acop/page/24/#acop">reports</a> are used to monitor changes in the composition of companies’ supply chains over time.</p>
<p>The EU’s regulation will be insufficient to halt global deforestation on its own. These steps would maximise the impact of regulation and avoid unintended consequences on small-scale farmers. But further efforts, underpinned by new <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01718-8">research</a> and involving international collaboration across sectors, will be needed to achieve transformative progress.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachael Garrett receives funding from the European Research Council and Swiss National Science Foundation. She serves on the UN Science Panel on Voluntary Sustainability Standards and the UN Science Panel for the Amazon, as well as the scientific advisory boards of the Transparency for Sustainability Economies Initiative (Trase), Evidensia, and Conservation Finance Future. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janina Grabs has received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation and receives funding from the Umweltbundesamt (German Environment Agency). She serves on the Academic Advisory Council for the UN Forum on Voluntary Sustainability Standards and is a member of the International Technical Advisory Panel for the Transparency at Origin Program of the International Coffee Organization (ICO), as well as an observer to the ICO's Coffee Public-Private Taskforce.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joss Lyons-White is funded by the European Research Council and has previously received funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council and the Royal Geographical Society with IBG. He is a member of the Soil Association's Palm Oil and Deforestation Task and Finish Working Group.</span></em></p>The EU have introduced a new regulation on the import of products linked to deforestation – but will this reduce deforestation globally?Rachael Garrett, Moran Professor of Conservation and Development, University of CambridgeJanina Grabs, Assistant Professor of Business and Society, ESADEJoss Lyons-White, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1772642022-03-09T13:26:59Z2022-03-09T13:26:59ZMistletoes, locust bean trees and birds work together in Nigeria’s forest ecology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450617/original/file-20220308-15-4vk8lh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mistletoes parasitising African locust bean trees in Amurum Forest Reserve.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Abidemi Raji</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mistletoes are <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.32.081501.114024">found</a> in a wide range of forest ecosystems. As parasites, they are a fascinating group of plants. They get their nutrition from host plants and are ecosystem engineers, making an <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa8fff">impact</a> along food chains. </p>
<p>They affect population dynamics, diversity, and distributions of other plants as well as invertebrates, birds and mammals. Their broad geographic distributions, and their long and unique flowering and fruiting periods, make them an attractive <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.32.081501.114024">resource</a> for wildlife. The fruit and nectar are food for birds, which also nest and roost on the plant, providing pollination and seed dispersal <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2005.01358.x">services</a> in the process. </p>
<p>In West Africa, mistletoes are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3794408/">found</a> on many indigenous trees and several tree crops of economic importance. These hosts include shea, neem, sweet orange, cocoa, rubber and the African locust bean tree. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340756116_PARKIA_BIGLOBOSA_AFRICAN_LOCUST_BEAN_TREE">African locust bean</a> (<em>Parkia biglobosa</em>) is regarded as an important tree crop, used for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/parkia-biglobosa#:%7E:text=Parkia%20biglobosa%2C%20popularly%20known%20as,diseases%20%5B83%E2%80%9385%5D.">medicine</a> and food. The trees also play a valuable role in nutrient cycling by fixing atmospheric nitrogen in soils. They are susceptible to mistletoe infection and agroforestry managers usually eradicate the parasitic plant.</p>
<p>But if mistletoes provide food and shelter for species that are particularly important in an ecosystem, then removing them might not be a good strategy. </p>
<p>We therefore <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10336-021-01890-0">investigated</a> an aspect of mistletoe’s ecological benefits that was not well researched. We studied how birds use mistletoes that grow on <em>P. biglobosa</em> in Amurum Forest Reserve, Nigeria, across its mosaic of habitats. </p>
<p>We recorded all visits by birds to trees with mistletoe: when they visited, how long they spent in the trees and how they behaved. As predicted, <em>Tapinanthus dodoneifolius</em> mistletoes on <em>P. biglobosa</em> were an important provider of food and shelter for birds. In addition, the ecological role of this mistletoe on <em>P. biglobosa</em> in times of food scarcity, especially in the dry season, appears important. </p>
<p>This broader understanding of mistletoe significance and ecology could inform any action in the management of African locust bean forests, and in conservation.</p>
<h2>Our research</h2>
<p>We carried out <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10336-021-01890-0">our study</a> in <a href="https://www.qgis.org/en/site/about/case_studies/nigeria_jos.html">Amurum Forest Reserve</a> in Jos, Plateau State, central Nigeria. The reserve has three major habitat types, differing in plant species. It has about 278 bird species, 31% of the total recorded in Nigeria. This makes it one of Nigeria’s <a href="https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/5638600">biodiversity hotspots</a>. </p>
<p>Some of the plant species, including <em>P. biglobosa</em>, in the reserve host mistletoes, attached to their stem as parasites. The locust bean trees in the study area are infected by three mistletoe species: <em>Tapinanthus dodoneifolius</em>, <em>T. bangwensis</em> and <em>T. sesselifolius</em>. </p>
<p>Only <em>T. dodoneifolius</em> was fruiting during our study, so we only observed birds visiting this species. </p>
<p>The Amurum Forest Reserve had a relatively high density of mistletoe-infected <em>P. biglobosa</em> trees. Of 663 trees, 398 (60%) were parasitised with <em>T. dodoneifolius</em> mistletoes and 265 (40%) were not. Ninety-four (14.2%) of the total number of trees were recorded in the rocky habitat, with 49 infected and 45 non-infected. Seventy-one (10.7%) of the total were in the gallery forest, with 59 infected and 12 non-infected. We recorded 498 (75.1%) of the total in the savanna, with 290 infected and 208 non-infected. </p>
<p>In 432 hours of observations, we recorded 725 individual birds, comprising 71 species, and belonging to 31 families and four orders, visiting both the locust bean trees and their associated <em>T. dodoneifolius</em> mistletoes. Fruit eaters, insect eaters, nectar feeders and omnivores all visited mistletoe flowers or fruits on the locust bean trees. A total of 352 individual bird visits (from 54 species) were recorded directly on the mistletoes. </p>
<p>The rate of mistletoe infection on the trees in our study did not differ significantly across habitat types. This suggests that the probability of infection does not depend on habitat type but might be related to host plant quality, host availability and bird behaviour. </p>
<h2>Bird use of mistletoes on locust bean trees</h2>
<p>Our findings corroborate the <a href="https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/B08-105">host quality hypothesis</a>: mistletoes favour nitrogen-fixing and leguminous plants as hosts. </p>
<p>Bird species in our study had similar chances of accessing all habitat types. Therefore, they could move seeds from one habitat to another to an available host. This supports larger numbers of birds and increases the chances that the mistletoe and the host plant’s fruits will be dispersed. </p>
<p>The number of mistletoes on the host plant also determines birds’ preferences for particular trees (measured as time spent by birds on plants in a tree), as found in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3599349?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">other studies</a>. Birds were attracted to a dense build-up of berries of <em>T. dodoneifolius</em> mistletoes on the host and tended to spend a lot of time feeding on them, thereby enhancing dispersal. Mistletoes do not all produce fruit or ripen at the same time. Fruit dispersers therefore find their fruit reward available all year round in some species or at times of general food scarcity. </p>
<p>We observed that the height of the host tree and the number of mistletoes on it influenced the bird activity. Aside from eating fruit, we also saw birds perching, pecking, and foraging on insects, seeds, leaves, and nectar on both the mistletoe and host. This benefits the bird, mistletoe and host. </p>
<h2>Implications of our findings</h2>
<p>Our study supported the idea we started with – that <em>T. dodoneifolius</em> mistletoes on locust bean trees are a keystone producer, based on the bird species use and visitation. Keystone producers are species that have a large impact or influence on the ecosystem. These mistletoes on the trees appear to have an important role in times of food scarcity, especially in the dry season. They are important resources for birds in the reserve.</p>
<p>Understanding relationships like these can help identify critical resources and potential keystone species to inform conservation planning. Reforestation programmes should consider the parasitic relationship between mistletoes and their hosts and their ecological benefits for bird diversity, fruit dispersal and pollination, and ultimately ecosystem stability.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177264/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Islamiat Abidemi Raji receives funding and study permission from the A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute, Jos, Nigeria.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colleen T. Downs receives funding from University of KwaZulu-Natal (ZA) and the National Research Foundation (ZA).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adams Chaskda and Shiiwua Manu do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Reforestation programmes should consider the parasitic relationship between mistletoes and their hosts and their ecological benefits for bird diversity.Islamiat Abidemi Raji, Researcher, University of KwaZulu-NatalAdams Chaskda, Lecturer/Researcher, University of JosColleen T. Downs, NRF SARChI Research Chair in Ecosystem health and biodiversity in KZN and the E. Cape, University of KwaZulu-NatalShiiwua Manu, Professor of Ornithology, University of JosLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1780632022-03-06T08:21:29Z2022-03-06T08:21:29ZGhana’s Cedi is under stress: some long, medium, and short term solutions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449746/original/file-20220303-23-13d1lw3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Ghanaian currency is facing its worst run of depreciation in years</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">MaxpIxel/Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>An economy with strong fundamentals is one that is resilient, has a well-developed exports base, is industrialised, and creates jobs. That kind of economy can mobilise resources domestically, without much reliance on external support, and can even borrow at a lower cost. The citizens of this kind of economy have good roads, good transportation, good health, and good educational systems. They are well-resourced and free from civil unrest.</p>
<p>For decades, African countries have chalked up successes but these have not been significant enough to transform their economies. Most countries on the continent are still far from achieving these indicators of an economy with strong fundamentals. They often export primary commodities and import finished products.</p>
<p>The Ghanaian economy is no exception. It is still very much the Guggisberg economy. Sir Gordon Guggisberg was a British empire colonial administrator in what was then Gold Coast (1919-1927). He designed an economy to focus on the export of raw materials and importation of finished goods. Hence the moniker. </p>
<p>A century later, cocoa and gold are still Ghana’s major exports. Ghana is Africa’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2021/06/23/updated-top-10-gold-producing-countries/?sh=122bfca2ce2e">top gold exporter</a> at 138.7 tonnes. It has since added oil and gas, and some non-traditional commodities. </p>
<p>Ghana’s reliance on exporting raw materials and importing finished products contributed to the country’s persistent demand for, and less supply of, foreign currencies. This is why, for a long time, Ghana’s cedi has been depreciating against the other major trading currencies.</p>
<h2>Why is the cedi depreciating so fast?</h2>
<p>Ghana is an import-dependent economy. Because of this, the country continues to buy foreign currency to meet its import demands, with less supply of foreign exchange from its exports. Sometimes, the country records a net gain with exports earnings exceeding import costs, but these are paper gains. The actual money is repatriated by the foreign companies that operate in the country. The retention law is not effective to restrain them from repatriating all their profits.</p>
<p>The depreciation of the cedi has always been seasonal. It’s at its worst between February to March. This is the period during which Ghana-based multinationals repatriate profits. Also, local businesses that had imported goods on credit ahead of the Christmas season settle their debts. These are the major causes of the cedi depreciation. </p>
<p>And the fundamentals have not improved significantly over the years.</p>
<p>The exchange rate was quite stable, especially during the peak of the COVID-19 period (2020-2021), because imports slowed due to border closures by most countries. But as of 28th February 2022, the Ghanaian cedi was the worst performing currency among 15 top currencies in Africa, depreciating by 7.6% within the first two months of 2022.</p>
<h2>So what has sped up the decline?</h2>
<p>The first reason for the recent depreciation is the increased demand for foreign currencies since most businesses in Ghana are now recovering from the COVID-19 shock. This is not limited to Ghana. Most businesses globally are recovering and getting into serious production.</p>
<p>The second reason is the country’s inability to borrow from the international capital market. Because Ghana isn’t able to generate enough foreign exchange through exports, successive governments have tried to manage the depreciation of the cedi through borrowing from the international capital market, issuing dollar-denominated domestic bonds, and depleting the country’s foreign exchange reserves.</p>
<p>Whenever Ghana’s sovereign bond is no longer profitable and there are not enough reserves to shore up the Cedi, the currency depreciates. The events of March 2019 provide a perfect picture. That month the US Federal Reserve increased its interest rate making it more profitable to attract investors. Investors responded by selling sovereign bonds of developing countries like Ghana.</p>
<p>The world economy is bouncing back after the pandemic, pushing global inflation up. Inflation has moved from 3.1% in 2020 to 3.8% in 2022. The US inflation has risen from 1.35% in December 2021 to 7.46% in February 2022. The US Federal Reserve has responded by increasing the interest rate, making US sovereign bonds very attractive. Many investors are now selling their bonds in developing countries like Ghana to purchase those of advanced-economies like the US. </p>
<h2>Effects of the depreciation</h2>
<p>Depreciation of any currency makes its imports more expensive and exports cheaper. Some countries intentionally devalue their currencies to make their exports cheaper. However, because Ghana‘s export sector is not significantly developed, the country is not able to take advantage of the Cedi’s depreciation by exporting more and earning more foreign exchange. The effect of currency depreciation has been an increase in the cost of imported goods. Most of the imported goods are intermediate goods that are used for local production. This has led to rising inflation.</p>
<p>For example, the ex-pump prices of fuel depend a lot on the exchange rate since a greater part of the refined fuel is imported. Currently, there is increased global demand for crude oil as most industries are now recovering from the effects of COVID. At the same time, the supply of crude oil has slowed down after the <a href="https://theconversation.com/russia-invades-ukraine-5-essential-reads-from-experts-177815">Russian invasion of Ukraine</a>. The international crude oil price is expected to continue increasing for some time. </p>
<p>The combined effect of cedi depreciation and increases in international crude oil prices means that the ex-pump price of fuel in Ghana is expected to keep rising, at least until the end of the year 2022. </p>
<p>In response to high inflation, the Bank of Ghana will increase its policy rate in an attempt to control the growth of credit. This will lead to an increase in the cost of borrowing. Higher borrowing costs will eventually lead to increased costs of production, which will further increase inflation. </p>
<h2>Solutions</h2>
<p>The long-term solution is for the country to industrialise, add value to its exports, increase local production and cut down on imports so that there will be enough foreign exchange in the country. The government’s policy of modernising agriculture, and the one-district-one-factory should be improved to speed up the process of industrialisation.</p>
<p>The medium-term solution is for the government to be able to raise more domestic revenue to be able to service its debts, and finance its development without a heavy reliance on borrowing.</p>
<p>The short-term solution is for the government to borrow externally and bring foreign currency into the country. This can only happen after the government demonstrates to the investment community its ability to mobilise domestic revenue to service debt. </p>
<p>As a matter of urgency, the government must revise the design of the electronic levy (e-levy) and pass it within the shortest possible time to access Eurobonds. According to the international credit rating agencies, the passage of the e-levy and the reversal of the 50% benchmark values at the ports will signal to international investors that government of Ghana is on the fiscal consolidation path and that it can raise domestic revenue to service its debt. </p>
<p>In the short term, government can also demonstrate its ability to mobilise domestic revenue by paying attention to other sources of revenue such as property tax, tax exemptions, and natural resources.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178063/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adu Owusu Sarkodie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Ghanaian currency is facing structural hurdles.Adu Owusu Sarkodie, Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of GhanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1628452021-06-29T15:35:03Z2021-06-29T15:35:03ZWhy efforts by Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana to help cocoa farmers haven’t worked<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408344/original/file-20210625-14-21a4xy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">West African cocoa farmers are largely poor despite the value of their crop</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cocoa_farmer_David_Kebu_Jnr_holding_the_finished_product,_dried_cocoa_beans_ready_for_export._(10687070725).jpg">Irene Scott/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://www.voicenetwork.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/190905-VOICE-Position-on-West-African-Cocoa-Floor-Price.pdf">cocoa pricing agreement</a> designed to protect farmers in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana from destitution is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/ivorycoast-ghana-cocoa-idUSL5N2O3518">being circumvented</a> by multinationals, the main buyers of cocoa beans. </p>
<p>Cocoa is the plant from which chocolate is made. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana together account for <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/263855/cocoa-bean-production-worldwide-by-region/">65% of global cocoa production</a>, but farmers in these two countries earn less than <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghanas-cocoa-farmers-are-trapped-by-the-chocolate-industry-124761">6% of the chocolate industry’s total revenue</a>.</p>
<p>The cocoa bean value chain has five major segments. The first is cocoa bean production, which involves local farmers. The second is sourcing and marketing, which involves local and international traders and exporters of cocoa beans and semi-processed products. The third is processing, which involves grinders and chocolate manufacturers. The fourth is distribution, which involves retailers. And finally, there are the consumers. </p>
<p>Cocoa growers’ share of the final product has reduced over the years as traders, brands and retailers have taken a bigger cut. For example, according to <a href="https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/legacy/Cocoa-commodity-briefing-6May16.pdf">Fairtrade</a>, when cocoa prices were high in the 1970s, cocoa accounted for up to 50% of the value of a chocolate bar. This fell to 16% in the 1980s and today farmers receive around 6% of the value. Cocoa farmers in Ghana now make roughly $1 a day (this often includes being subsidised by the Ghanaian government). Those in Côte d’Ivoire make <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/cocoa-chocolate-supply-chain-business-bar-africa-exports/">around</a> $0.78 a day.</p>
<p>The living-income differential <a href="https://www.voicenetwork.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/190905-VOICE-Position-on-West-African-Cocoa-Floor-Price.pdf">programme</a>, launched last year, was designed by both countries to help cocoa farmers escape poverty by adding a premium to the prevailing market price. But only a month after the launch of the programme, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ivory-coast-says-chocolate-traders-failing-pay-farmers-living-wage-premium-2021-06-18/">authorities in the two countries disclosed</a> that confectionery multinationals were refusing to pay farmers the agreed living wage. </p>
<p>The US multinational <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ivory-coast-says-chocolate-traders-failing-pay-farmers-living-wage-premium-2021-06-18/">Mondelz</a>, for instance, was recently accused of paying a negative country differential. Last year another US firm, <a href="https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2020/11/23/Hershey-move-of-buying-cocoa-on-futures-market-threatens-LID-agreement-with-Ghana-and-Cote-d-Ivoire">Hershey</a>, bought from futures exchanges to avoid paying the differential and other companies are changing their buying patterns as well. </p>
<p>I have <a href="https://www.academia.edu/36081141/Sustainability_winners_and_losers_in_business-_biased_cocoa_sustainability_programmes_in_West_Africa">studied the relationship</a> between growers in the two countries and global buyers in <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghanas-cocoa-farmers-are-trapped-by-the-chocolate-industry-124761">previous articles</a>. As it is currently structured, the living-income differential programme is sending the wrong signal to cocoa farmers. And multinational buyers will benefit from it at the expense of farmers.</p>
<h2>The main problem</h2>
<p>Just before the October 2020 cocoa growing season, Ghana <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/cocoa-ghana-idUSL5N2GL5J1">announced</a> that the guaranteed sum paid to cocoa farmers would increase by 28% per tonne for the new growing season. Côte d’Ivoire implemented a 21% increase in the price of the main crop of the 2020/2021 season. </p>
<p>These announcements were part of the living-income differential programme, which made headlines in 2019 when the two countries came together to form an agreement to provide a living wage to more than a million small scale cocoa farmers.</p>
<p>On the surface, the agreement looked like a cartel; it was even dubbed “COPEC”, a snide reference to the oil exporting cartel OPEC. But there are many problems with this arrangement. Both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire were betting on the willingness of multinational companies to exhibit compassion by declaring their support. Instead of restricting supply to increase prices, the mechanism simply adds a premium of $400 per tonne to prevailing world market prices (which are mainly affected by the amount of cocoa in the market), without addressing market leakages and the effect of the premium on both world market prices and future supplies.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, there has been a general decrease in demand since the programme was launched, along with reports of confectionery multinationals’ buying indirectly to avoid the premium. Hershey openly diversified its cocoa sources the moment the living income differential came online. Other confectionery multinationals are doing the same indirectly, because the official demand is now significantly lower than in previous years. Multinationals are blaming this on the effect of COVID-19 on cocoa demand. </p>
<p>However, this explanation could be an excuse, because there is some evidence that confectionery sales have actually increased during <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/31/chocolate-sales-soar-uk-shoppers-comfort-eat-at-home-covid">the lockdown</a>. Both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire are likely to have a great deal of unsold cocoa at the end of the season, which will further reduce the market price.</p>
<p>Indeed, the Ivorian government has already announced a reduction of producer prices by 9% <a href="https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2021/04/19/Cote-d-Ivoire-lowers-guaranteed-price-paid-to-its-cocoa-farmers-while-demanding-more-output">by April 2021</a>; Ghana may not follow suit but the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-21/biggest-cocoa-harvest-in-decade-spurs-record-debt-sales-by-ghana">debt incurred by the Cocoa Board</a> could well increase. Both countries <a href="https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2021/06/24/Ghana-and-Cote-d-Ivoire-launch-new-threats-to-cocoa-companies-over-LID-payments">have promised</a> to name and shame companies that are not complying with the payments.</p>
<p>The obvious problem with the differential is that it is bound to increase cocoa supply (because more farmers will move into cocoa production) and reduce demand through official channels. Both outcomes will further increase the supply of cocoa and drive prices downward. The $400 premium or more could be wiped out of cocoa prices as a result of the extra supply that the programme creates.</p>
<p>One bargaining position available to African countries is to exclude from sustainability programmes any firms that fail to comply with the programme. Multinationals claim that sustainability programmes are for the good of farmers, but they actually perform practical commercial functions such as guaranteeing supply and giving certain firms the stamp of ethical sourcing needed to placate environmental and humanitarian groups and possibly avoid lawsuits. </p>
<h2>Solving the problem</h2>
<p>One solution to the above problem, which both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire are trying to solve, is to control and restrict supply instead of simply adding a price premium.</p>
<p>In 1987, when <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-07-12-mn-3402-story.html">cocoa prices collapsed</a>, the then president of Côte d’Ivoire, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, responded by implementing a withholding scheme. The country then controlled roughly 40% of the market. However, this was not enough to control cocoa prices. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/160925?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">Scholars</a> have often suggested that Houphouët-Boigny failed to control cocoa prices in the 1980s because new supplying countries (such as Malaysia) made up for the shortfall. </p>
<p>Restricting supply is the one sure way to influence price. However, this measure must be implemented differently from Houphouët-Boigny’s rash decision in 1987. Together, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire control 65% of the world cocoa market; they would only need to team up with three other countries (Indonesia, Nigeria and Cameroon) to gain a share large enough to fully control cocoa prices. </p>
<p>However, given the current structure of the sector in both countries, this would be difficult to achieve for two reasons. First, the IMF has already liberalised the marketing system in both countries, so what Houphouët-Boigny did in 1987 would now be almost impossible. The second, and perhaps most important, reason is that the so-called sustainability programmes organised by multinationals in both countries are in effect productivity programmes, in that they are structured to increase production and supply. Hence, they are inimical to any attempt to control supply.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162845/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael E Odijie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire’s best option is to control and restrict supply instead of simply adding a price premium.Michael E Odijie, Research associate, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1557992021-03-14T09:09:26Z2021-03-14T09:09:26ZHow commodity exporting countries like Ghana have been hit by COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387699/original/file-20210304-23-1m39wl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many countries in Africa are dependent on commodities export. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Synergos/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ghana generates over <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/country/gha">80% of its export revenues</a> from three primary commodities - gold, crude oil and cocoa exports. It is <a href="https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ditccom2019d1_en.pdf">classified by UNCTAD</a> as commodity dependent, making it vulnerable to sharp drops in commodity prices.</p>
<p>Since the <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/covid-19">COVID-19 pandemic</a> demand for oil dropped precipitously due to a sudden reduction in industrial production, trade, travel, and movement of freight. <a href="https://www.worldoil.com/news/2020/10/13/iea-forecasts-a-serious-ongoing-oil-demand-hit-from-covid-19">Prices fell</a> dramatically as a result. </p>
<p>Revenues from the newly established oil and gas industry have had a profound impact on Ghana’s macroeconomy, even though oil and gas accounted for <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/ghana/overview">just 3.8% of Ghana’s GDP</a> in 2018. </p>
<p>Cocoa, a key ingredient in chocolate, a luxury food product, has also seen a decline in demand. Ghana is the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/497844/production-of-cocoa-beans-in-ghana/">second largest cocoa bean supplier</a> globally, with an estimated <a href="https://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/files_mf/laven201297.pdf">1 million Ghanaian smallholder farmers</a> and their communities depending directly on cocoa for their livelihoods. </p>
<p>The only commodity that did well of Ghana’s main exports was gold. The country is the <a href="https://www.miningglobal.com/automation-and-ai/ghana-beats-south-africa-continents-gold-production-crown">largest gold producer in Africa</a>. Demand – and the price – of gold increased. </p>
<p>Ghana achieved strong economic growth in terms of real GDP in the 2000s and reached lower middle-income status in November 2010. Middle-income countries generally have a diversified economic structure but Ghana remains heavily dependent on primary commodity exports for foreign exchange earnings. </p>
<p>As a result the impact of the fall in the price of oil and cocoa has been severe. Ghana’s credit rating was downgraded to <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/s-p-cuts-ghana-on-mounting-fiscal-challenges-amid-covid-19-60311142">B- in September 2020</a> and the International Monetary Fund approved the <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/04/13/pr20153-ghana-imf-executive-board-approves-a-us-1-billion-disbursement-to-ghana-to-address-covid-19#:%7E:text=IMF%20Executive%20Board%20approves%20a%20US%241%20billion%20disbursement%20to,address%20the%20COVID%2D19%20Pandemic&text=On%20April%2013%2C%202020%2C%20the,is%20already%20impacting%20Ghana%20severely.">disbursement of US$1 billion</a> to improve confidence of the country’s creditors. At the end of 2020, GDP growth was confirmed at <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Countries/GHA">0.9%</a>. </p>
<p>The COVID-19 crisis hit Ghana and other commodity dependent economies through <a href="https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/gdsinf2020d3_en.pdf">three mutually reinforcing impact channels</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>A price channel: the collapse of commodity prices in the wake of a global recession.</p></li>
<li><p>A supply chain channel: disruptions of global commodity-based supply chains.</p></li>
<li><p>A financial channel: the overlap of financial and commodity price cycles resulting in procyclical capital flows and debt servicing costs.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02255189.2020.1857225">our paper</a>, we looked at how the interplay of these three channels can be particularly damaging. And how this played out in the case of Ghana.</p>
<p>None of these channels is unique to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the size and the speed with which the demand for commodities collapsed was unique, as was the simultaneous shock to demand and disruptions to global supply chains. </p>
<h2>What’s different this time round?</h2>
<p>The pandemic caused a massive and instant reduction of global economic activity. Between February and March 2020, <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres20_e/pr858_e.htm">global merchandise trade shrank by 8%</a>. Between January and April 2020, industrial production dropped by 30% in the EU and and 20% in the US – two major trading destinations for Ghana. </p>
<p>The significant decline in economic activity led to reduced demand for commodities, representing a substantial demand shock, and leading to a sharp drop in commodity prices. This wasn’t true for all commodities. But supply chain disruptions due to hold ups at ports when importers or exporters went into lock down disrupted commodity exporters’ revenues streams.</p>
<p>The squeeze in revenue streams reduced commodity dependent economies’ access to foreign exchange and made debt servicing and financing of essential imports (including medical supplies) difficult. </p>
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<p>These dynamics were accompanied by an unprecedented <a href="http://www.oecd.org/investment/COVID19-and-global-capital-flows-OECD-Report-G20.pdf">net-portfolio outflow</a> in March 2020 as financial investors moved their assets to safety and a downgrading of credit ratings for many commodity exporters. <a href="https://mofep.gov.gh/press-release/2020-09-14/global-ratings-lowers-ghanas-long-term-rating-to-b-with-a-stable-outlook">Ghana</a> was one such country. </p>
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Read more:
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<p>As market-based credit became unavailable or unaffordable, sovereign wealth funds suffered a triple-drain: a decline in value of financial assets that the funds had invested in, a commodity price slump squeezing funding allocation, and a liquidation of assets by governments to increase their fiscal space. Ghana, running out of fiscal space, was forced to tap into its <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL8N2G05I9">Petroleum Fund and indicated a planned liquidation of US$0.2 billion</a>.</p>
<h2>Mitigation strategies</h2>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have a long-term negative effect on commodity dependent countries’ finances in two ways. </p>
<p>First, there is likely to be a reduction of productive capacity of primary commodities. This could be either due to a loss of existing productive capacity or due to lack of investments and key inputs as suppressed prices make investments unattractive. <a href="https://www.rystadenergy.com/newsevents/news/press-releases/covid-19-and-low-oil-prices-could-cancel-more-than-half-of-2020s-licensing-rounds-globally/">Planned oil explorations</a> in Ghana are now unlikely to proceed. The result is a reduction of future revenue streams.</p>
<p>Second, there is likely to be an increase in the debt burdens of countries. This results in an increasing outflow of revenue dedicated to debt servicing in the future. In 2019, a staggering <a href="https://www.oxfamitalia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Passing-The-Buck-On-Debt-Relief.pdf">39% of Ghana’s revenues</a> were spent on debt servicing. This has <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-how-debt-burdens-could-cripple-africa-s-covid-19-response-96821">increased to 55%</a> over the COVID-19 crisis. </p>
<p>Based on our findings we suggest a number of strategies for commodity dependent countries like Ghana.</p>
<p>One, a long-term resilience strategy would be to create local clusters of production and processing to make supply chains more resilient to disruptions. It would also contribute to promoting export diversification towards higher value products. </p>
<p>But restructuring supply chains and economies requires large-scale investments and capacity building, so this will take time.</p>
<p>In the short-term, the ability of the Ghanaian economy to cushion the impact of the crisis, mitigate the risk of long-term adverse consequences, and preserve the ability to invest for future generations, depends on the availability of loans. </p>
<p>Because credit ratings and credit availability move in lockstep with global commodity cycles, market-based sources of credit are unavailable in times of crisis. Hence, commodity dependent economies like Ghana are particularly reliant on concessional loans – and on the international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) providing them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155799/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghana remains heavily dependent on primary commodity exports for foreign exchange earnings.Sophie van Huellen, Lecturer,Department of Economics, SOAS, University of LondonNana Amma Asante-Poku, Research Fellow, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of GhanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1503602021-02-23T06:31:26Z2021-02-23T06:31:26ZHaving trouble sleeping? Here’s the science on 3 traditional bedtime remedies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383184/original/file-20210209-21-179mreh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C7547%2C5042&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sleep is essential for good <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5449130/">health</a>. Poor sleep quality, or not enough sleep, can negatively affect our mood, cognitive function, and <a href="https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/physrev.00010.2018?fbclid=IwAR2KNNRKpxCF8VXhxm6J-Pog5M_yDblBLxQwyzStvEIGut6LzQN8qWHo66I&">immune system</a>. </p>
<p>Stress can impact our sleep, and stress and anxiety associated with the COVID pandemic have meant many of us are not sleeping as well as we used to. A <a href="https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/files/pdfs/agm/SHF-AnnualReport-DRAFT_4_131020.pdf">survey</a> of 2,555 people across 63 countries found 47% of people were experiencing poorer sleep than usual during the pandemic, compared with 25% before COVID hit. </p>
<p>We also know stress is associated with poor dietary habits. People who are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2049080120304131">feeling stressed</a> and tired may be more likely to reach for energy drinks and caffeinated beverages. But a high intake of <a href="https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/full/10.5664/jcsm.3170">caffeine</a> as well as sugar-sweetened and energy drinks can keep us awake. So it’s something of a vicious cycle.</p>
<p>Similarly, people who are <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-its-tempting-to-drink-your-worries-away-but-there-are-healthier-ways-to-manage-stress-and-keep-your-drinking-in-check-134669">feeling stressed</a> may be more likely to drink alcohol. Alcohol before bed, especially in excess, can also <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X18302719?via%3Dihub#bib0070">disrupt our sleep</a>.</p>
<p>So what can you drink to improve your sleep?</p>
<p><strong>Chamomile</strong></p>
<p>Chamomile tea has been used in traditional medicine for centuries to treat a range of sleep ailments, such as insomnia. </p>
<p>The plant extract contains <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/6/1305/htm">apigenin</a>, a chemical compound that binds to the same receptors in the brain as benzodiazepines (drugs used to treat anxiety and insomnia), producing a sedative effect.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cant-sleep-and-feeling-anxious-about-coronavirus-youre-not-alone-134407">Can't sleep and feeling anxious about coronavirus? You're not alone</a>
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<p>Studies have shown chamomile (consumed in the form of an extract or a tea) leads to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ptr.6349">significant improvement</a> in sleep quality. </p>
<p>However, although the evidence is positive, these studies were relatively small and we need larger, well-designed clinical trials to reinforce these observations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A pot of chamomile tea." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383186/original/file-20210209-19-1m8f592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383186/original/file-20210209-19-1m8f592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383186/original/file-20210209-19-1m8f592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383186/original/file-20210209-19-1m8f592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383186/original/file-20210209-19-1m8f592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383186/original/file-20210209-19-1m8f592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383186/original/file-20210209-19-1m8f592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If you’re having trouble sleeping, it might be worth trying a cup of chamomile tea before bed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Irene Ivantsova/Unsplash</span></span>
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<p><strong>Milk</strong></p>
<p>A warm cup of cow’s milk is a popular bedtime beverage in Western cultures, particularly for children. </p>
<p>Milk is a source of <a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2015/fo/c5fo00407a/unauth#!divAbstract">the essential amino acid tryptophan</a>, which our bodies need to produce compounds including serotonin and melatonin in the brain. These compounds are involved in the sleep-wake cycle, which could explain why milk helps us sleep better — if indeed it does.</p>
<p>Scientists have studied the effects of milk and milk products (such as yogurt and cheese) on sleep quality for decades, but the evidence is still <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/24/9440/htm">inconclusive</a>. </p>
<p>It may simply be the ritual of drinking warm milk before bedtime that relaxes the brain and body, rather than the effects of compounds present in the milk itself. We’ll need more research evidence before we can be confident one way or the other.</p>
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<p><strong>Cocoa</strong></p>
<p>Hot cocoa (commonly dissolved in milk) is also regarded as a sleep-promoting drink. The cocoa bean is a rich source of many beneficial chemicals, including compounds called flavonoids. </p>
<p>Flavonoids have a range of potential <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/mnfr.202001019">health benefits</a>, and may be used to treat some <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/9/2/99/htm">neurodegenerative disorders</a>.</p>
<p>There’s limited research on the effects of cocoa on sleep quality. But a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0899900720300344">study in mice</a> suggested natural cocoa may improve stress-induced insomnia. </p>
<p>In humans, consuming cocoa is associated with <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2017.00036/full">a reduction in blood pressure</a> (in healthy people and those with high blood pressure). This lowering of blood pressure, which relaxes the smooth muscles that line our arteries, could produce a calming effect, making it easier to go to sleep.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man sits on the couch reading a newspaper, with a mug in hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385746/original/file-20210223-14-1m4awpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385746/original/file-20210223-14-1m4awpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385746/original/file-20210223-14-1m4awpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385746/original/file-20210223-14-1m4awpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385746/original/file-20210223-14-1m4awpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385746/original/file-20210223-14-1m4awpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385746/original/file-20210223-14-1m4awpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some people like to drink a glass of milk or a cup of cocoa before bed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While these sleep remedies are unlikely to be harmful, the overall evidence on improvement in quality of sleep is weak. You may like to try them, but you shouldn’t see any of them as a quick fix. </p>
<p>At the end of the day, several lifestyle factors can influence our sleep quality, including screen time, physical activity, stress and diet.</p>
<p>If you are consistently struggling to sleep, it’s best to consult with your general practitioner.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-our-brain-needs-sleep-and-what-happens-if-we-dont-get-enough-of-it-83145">Why our brain needs sleep, and what happens if we don’t get enough of it</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150360/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nenad Naumovski has received a funding from Capitol Chilled Foods Australia (Canberra Milk) that was registered with the University of Canberra (Reg: UC:R00140). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wolfgang Marx is currently funded by an Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and a Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia early-career fellowship. Wolfgang has previously received funding from the NHMRC, Clifford Craig Foundation, Cancer Council Queensland and university grants/fellowships from La Trobe University, Deakin University, University of Queensland, and Bond University, received industry funding and has attended events funded by Cobram Estate Pty. Ltd, received travel funding from Nutrition Society of Australia, received consultancy funding from Nutrition Research Australia, and has received speakers honoraria from The Cancer Council Queensland and the Princess Alexandra Research Foundation. The Food & Mood Centre has received Grant/Research support from the Fernwood Foundation, Wilson Foundation, the A2 Milk Company, and Be Fit Foods
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Bulman and Nathan M D'Cunha do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What is it about chamomile tea, milk and cocoa that could help us sleep better, and what does the evidence say?Nenad Naumovski, Associate Professor in Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of CanberraAmanda Bulman, PhD Candidate, University of CanberraNathan M D'Cunha, PhD Candidate, University of CanberraWolfgang Marx, Postdoctoral research fellow, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1513562020-12-21T13:19:40Z2020-12-21T13:19:40ZOppression in the kitchen, delight in the dining room: The story of Caesar, an enslaved chef and chocolatier in Colonial Virginia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375993/original/file-20201218-15-8782r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C3%2C2463%2C1460&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Stratford Hall in Westmoreland, Virginia, where enslaved cook and chocolatier Caesar lived and worked in the kitchen.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Stratford_Hall%2C_Virginia.jpg">Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The holidays are here, and among the many treats of the season are chocolate and hot cocoa. While these traditions provide a hefty dose of sugar, there’s a bittersweet side to chocolate’s history, too.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.stratfordhall.org/">Stratford Hall Plantation</a> in Westmoreland County, Virginia, a plantation museum where, as a historian, I work as the director of programming and education, ushers in the holiday season with a <a href="https://www.stratfordhall.org/events-programs/">chocolate program</a>, highlighting Colonial chocolate-making and its historical ties to American slavery. </p>
<p>This sober look into our nation’s past helps illuminate those whose labor and contributions have been long ignored, and examines the darker attributes of this favorite sweet. There is no better place to set in context the history of chocolate and slavery than at a plantation where cocoa was processed and served by enslaved laborers.</p>
<h2>Hot commodity for the elite</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/a3bzy8/colonial-america-was-obsessed-with-chocolate-that-probably-tasted-pretty-bad">Americans have enjoyed chocolate since the Colonial days</a>, when they would sip the rich cocoa as a hot drink. Cocoa made its way to North America on the same <a href="https://www.slavevoyages.org/">ships that transported rum and sugar</a> from the Caribbean and South America. The harvesting and shipment of cocoa, like other plantation crops, was an integral part of the transatlantic trade and was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07409710701260214">heavily reliant on the labor of enslaved Africans</a> throughout the diaspora. </p>
<p>Beginning as early as the 17th century, cocoa was <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-chocolate-united-states-180964827/">shipped</a> into the Colonies, and by the early 1700s, Boston, Newport, New York and Philadelphia were processing cocoa into chocolate to export and to sell domestically. Chocolate was popular in the <a href="https://blog.britishmuseum.org/the-18th-century-chocolate-champions/">coffeehouse culture</a> and was processed for sale and consumption by enslaved laborers in the North. </p>
<p>Farther south, in Virginia, cocoa was becoming a hot commodity as well, and was so popular that it is estimated that approximately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470411315.ch23">one-third</a> of Virginia’s elite was consuming cocoa in some form or another. For the wealthy, this treat was sipped multiple times a week; for others it was out of reach. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hLdNg1rV8rM?wmode=transparent&start=1430" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">At Stratford Hall, Dontavius Williams demonstrates Colonial chocolate-making as Caesar would have done it.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On plantations throughout the Colonies, during the 18th century, cocoa was making its way into the kitchens and onto the tables of the most wealthy families. The art of chocolate-making – <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/a3bzy8/colonial-america-was-obsessed-with-chocolate-that-probably-tasted-pretty-bad">roasting beans, grinding pods onto a stone over a small flame</a> – was a labor-intensive task. An enslaved cook would have had to roast the cocoa beans on the open hearth, shell them by hand, grind the nibs on a heated chocolate stone, and then scrape the raw cocoa, add milk or water, cinnamon, nutmeg or vanilla, and serve it piping hot. </p>
<h2>Christmas contrast</h2>
<p>One of the first chocolatiers in the Colonies was an enslaved cook named Caesar. Born in 1732, Caesar was the chef at Stratford Hall, <a href="https://www.stratfordhall.org/the-lee-men/">the home of the Lees of Virginia</a>, and in his kitchen sat one of only three chocolate stones in the Colony. The other two were located at the governor’s palace and at the <a href="https://christchurch1735.org/robert-king-carter-papers/html/C33inven.mod.html">Carter family</a> estate, belonging to one of the wealthiest families in Virginia.</p>
<p>Caesar was responsible for cooking multiple meals a day for the Lees and any free person who came to visit. He was talented, cooking elaborate and refined meals for Virginia’s gentry. He also learned the art of making chocolate. It is unknown where or how he learned this art. His predecessor, an indentured Englishman named <a href="https://newsadvance.com/archives/exploring-family-roots-at-stratford-hall/article_32396a03-eae0-5fca-9067-06977a2d8faf.html">Richard Mynatt</a> who cooked for the Lees during the 1750s, may have learned chocolate-making from other cooks in Virginia and passed it on to Caesar. Or perhaps the Lees, with their obsession with culinary arts, took Caesar to watch the art at one of the coffeehouses in Williamsburg, or even at the governor’s palace. </p>
<p>Chocolate and Christmas had a unique relationship to enslaved cooks throughout the Colonies. While the special treat sweetened the season for the white families, the enslaved communities living and laboring in field quarters had a very different <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/25/american-slaves-christmas-was-a-respite-from-bondage-and-a-reinforcement-of-it">experience on Christmas</a>. </p>
<p>The work was oppressive in the plantation kitchens at Christmas time. The field laborers were typically given the day off, while those working in the big house kitchen and as domestic laborers were expected to work around the clock to ensure a perfect holiday for the white family. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/memo-from-a-historian-white-ladies-cooking-in-plantation-museums-are-a-denial-of-history-127797">biggest task at hand was to cook and serve Christmas dinner</a>, and chocolate was a favorite addition to the three-course formal dinner.</p>
<p>Caesar would have had to direct the execution of such a feast. Oyster stew, meat pies, roasted pheasant, puddings, roasted suckling pig and Virginia ham are some of the <a href="https://www.historyisfun.org/jamestown-settlement/a-colonial-christmas/christmas-traditions/">many dishes</a> that would be served in just one course. The night would finish with the sipping of chocolate: toasted, ground and spiced by Caesar, and served in <a href="https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/18th-century-drinking-chocolate/">sipping cups</a> made specifically for drinking chocolate. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375992/original/file-20201218-19-uk5n2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Detail from a 1782 inventory of Phillip Ludwell Lee's estate, listing the name of chocolatier and chef, Caesar." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375992/original/file-20201218-19-uk5n2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375992/original/file-20201218-19-uk5n2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375992/original/file-20201218-19-uk5n2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375992/original/file-20201218-19-uk5n2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375992/original/file-20201218-19-uk5n2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375992/original/file-20201218-19-uk5n2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375992/original/file-20201218-19-uk5n2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Detail from a 1782 inventory of Philip Ludwell Lee’s estate, listing the name of chocolatier and chef Caesar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.stratfordhall.org/">Stratford Hall</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Stress and fear during holidays</h2>
<p>But it is Caesar’s art of chocolate-making that gives his story distinction. As one of the Colony’s earliest chocolatiers, his status as an enslaved African American puts his story on the map of American culinary history. </p>
<p>Decades before the two well-known enslaved chefs, Monticello’s <a href="https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/james-hemings">James Hemings</a> and George Washington’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2020/11/19/washington-thanksgiving-hercules/">Chef Hercules</a>, became known for their culinary skills, Caesar was running one of the Colonies’ most prestigious kitchens inside of Stratford Hall, and making chocolate for the Lees and their guests. </p>
<p>Caesar lived in the kitchen, and his son, Caesar Jr., lived nearby and was the postillion – a formal position dedicated to riding the horses that drew the carriages. When Christmas came, Caesar may have had his son help out in the kitchen along with other enslaved cooks and waiters. </p>
<p>The stress of cooking the most important dinner of the year was combined with the fear of what was to come on Jan. 1. New Year’s Day was commonly known as <a href="https://time.com/5750833/new-years-day-slavery-history/">heartbreak day</a>, when enslaved folks would be sold to pay off debts or rented out to a different plantation. Jan. 1 represented an impending doom, and the separation of families and loved ones. </p>
<p>One can imagine, after cooking a lavish three-course meal, that Caesar, as he transitioned to the grinding of chocolate for the Lees to sip, worried about the sadness that would soon take over the community. </p>
<p>Caesar disappeared from the records by the end of the 18th century. By 1800, his son Caesar Jr. was still owned by the Lees, but as that year ended, Christmas came and went, and Caesar Jr. was put up for <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Light_Horse_Harry_Lee/ozFUDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=henry+Lee+collateral+1801&pg=PA268&printsec=frontcover">collateral by Henry Lee</a> for <a href="http://economics.yale.edu/sites/default/files/banks_and_slavery_yale.pdf">payment</a> of his debts.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>The world Caesar lived in was one fueled by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Columbian-exchange">Columbian Exchange</a>, which was built from enslaved labor and rich with culinary delights: pineapples, Madeira wine, port, champagne, coffee, sugar and cocoa beans. These items traveled from plantation to dining room via the Atlantic trade, and were central to securing the reputation of Virginia’s plantation elite. The more exotic and delicious the food, the more domestic fame one would reap.</p>
<p>Having cocoa delivered directly to your home, and having a chocolatier in the kitchen, were exceptional. It was through Caesar’s culinary arts that <a href="https://leefamilyarchive.org/">Stratford Hall</a> became well-known throughout Colonial Virginia as a culinary destination.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151356/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelley Fanto Deetz works for Stratford Hall. She received funding from Mars Wrigley. </span></em></p>There’s a bittersweet history to chocolate in America. At one plantation museum in Virginia, the story of enslaved chocolatier Caesar shows the oppression that lay behind the elite’s culinary treat.Kelley Fanto Deetz, Visiting Scholar, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1426922020-08-27T15:10:31Z2020-08-27T15:10:31ZA brief history of chocolate – and some of its surprising health benefits<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355094/original/file-20200827-16-1wdtphh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C14%2C4837%2C3239&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chocolate-dark-bitter-chunks-cacao-butter-1173134788">k.nykyforova</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Chocolate in all its forms is something that I, along with many others like to indulge in on an almost daily basis. But chocolate as it’s enjoyed today is quite different from when it <a href="https://www.wired.com/2010/07/0707chocolate-introduced-europe/">first arrived</a> in Europe from South America around the 16th century. </p>
<p>To the indigenous Aztec people, cocoa was consumed as a drink and held great cultural and medicinal significance. It was almost viewed as a <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/5/5/1573">panacea</a> that could cure various ailments, including fever, diarrhoea, fatigue, angina and tooth decay.</p>
<p>The Aztec belief that cocoa was a divine elixir was probably due to the notion that it was a gift from Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god of <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/Quetzalcoatl/">wind and wisdom</a>. Perhaps this is why Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus named the plant <a href="http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:320783-2"><em>Theobroma cacao</em></a>, from the ancient Greek words “theos” meaning god and “broma” meaning food – “food of the gods”.</p>
<p>It’s more likely though that the reason for any potential benefits is due to the high concentration of polyphenols found in natural cocoa – known as cocoa flavanols. Polyphenols are antioxidant compounds in fruit and vegetables that protect the body from free radicals, which in excess have been linked to <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12291-014-0446-0.pdf">various diseases</a>. So while cocoa may not be the cure-all it was once believed to be, research shows it’s more than just a guilty pleasure.</p>
<h2>A rich past</h2>
<p>The person thought to be responsible for beginning the integration of cocoa into Europe was <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/130/8/2057S/4686320">Hernan Cortes</a>, a Spanish conquistador (soldier and explorer) following his return from the “New World”.</p>
<p>In 1518, Cortes and his men arrived in what is now Mexico and headed towards the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. During their time in Mexico, the Spaniards tasted a bitter drink known as “<a href="http://nahuatlstudies.blogspot.com/2015/01/chicolatl-not-xocolatl.html">chikolatl</a>”. The drink contained roasted cocoa beans that were crushed, then boiled in water with spices and chilli. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354657/original/file-20200825-18-a0bzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Aztec woman making chocolate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354657/original/file-20200825-18-a0bzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354657/original/file-20200825-18-a0bzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=982&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354657/original/file-20200825-18-a0bzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=982&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354657/original/file-20200825-18-a0bzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=982&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354657/original/file-20200825-18-a0bzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1234&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354657/original/file-20200825-18-a0bzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1234&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354657/original/file-20200825-18-a0bzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1234&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Aztec woman generates pouring chocolate from one vessel to another.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chocolate#:~:text=The%20Aztecs%20believed%20that%20cacao,with%20spices%20or%20corn%20puree.">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first exposure to the drink was not a favourable experience for the Spaniards – deeming it too bitter and almost unpalatable. But having seen Montezuma II, king of the Aztecs, consume the drink around <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/130/8/2057S/4686320">50 times a day</a>, Cortes was interested in the potential of cocoa and sought to bring it back to Spain following his conquest.</p>
<p>Once in Europe cocoa beans were crushed and mixed with honey and sugar, becoming a popular drink among <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2016/01-02/chocolate-in-europe/#:%7E:text=Sacred%20to%20the%20Maya%20in,drink%20in%20all%20of%20Europe.&text=In%20May%201502%2C%20Christopher%20Columbus,voyage%20to%20the%20New%20World.">the elite</a>. Eventually, in the 19th century, the first chocolate bar was made by <a href="http://museums.bristol.gov.uk/narratives.php?irn=13619">Joseph Fry and Sons</a>, creating what we know as chocolate today.</p>
<h2>From bean to bar</h2>
<p>While cocoa beans in their natural form contain a high amount of antioxidant compounds, the processes involved in turning beans into a bar reduces the cocoa flavanol content, lowering the antioxidant properties of the cocoa.</p>
<p>Indeed, <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf801670p?casa_token=lcO6BpbsFZEAAAAA%3Ak45pRr8FRUV83oa7rD8arYFKAvJE4sk_IGqbU7RdedxGho_i2xcdk_-C70Hqw2YTiWtQgf0RdkijiA&">research</a> shows that natural cocoa powder contains almost ten times more flavanols than cocoa that has been through this process. </p>
<p>As for chocolate bars, dark chocolate almost always contains a higher concentration of flavanols than <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf201398t?casa_token=6LmaTxFWPrEAAAAA:4ER160pNryCfJUt0_W-eOwTlUkheJzlT_lGOsZR8rYxLgWNr6s61DYMClatYO0R5gUpCYEhu7D8PUA">milk chocolate</a>. For example, a 25g serving of high percentage (more than 75%) dark chocolate can contain more than 80mg cocoa flavanols compared with around 10mg or lower per 25g for a milk chocolate bar. </p>
<h2>Health benefits</h2>
<p>Research has found that dark chocolate and cocoa products containing at least 200mg of cocoa flavanols can improve <a href="https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2014.3654">blood vessels elasticity</a>, which helps with blood flow. And regularly consuming cocoa flavanols – even doses of <a href="https://journals.lww.com/jhypertension/Abstract/2015/02000/Cocoa_consumption_dose_dependently_improves.15.aspx">80mg a day</a> – improves blood vessels’ ability to dilate or expand, which helps the body regulate blood pressure and blood flow to organs.</p>
<p>This is thought to be because cocoa flavanols increase the concentration of bioactive nitric oxide. This is a molecule involved in the widening of blood vessels that also has anti-inflammatory properties and reduces the <a href="https://www.cvphysiology.com/Blood%20Flow/BF011">formation of blood clots</a>, all of which can have beneficial effects on <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150910110832.htm#:%7E:text=Consuming%20cocoa%20flavanols%20lowers%20blood,risk%20of%20developing%20cardiovascular%20diseases.">blood pressure</a>. </p>
<p>Cocoa flavanols can also increase blood flow to the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27849355/#:%7E:text=Abstract,BNDF%20levels%20(in%20animals).">brain</a>, which may improve <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0269881109106923?casa_token=cdaHPGD2n2UAAAAA:uI-a0xeSwbhUs_VUfQ_wFoPbC1lHYY4W_WtGSqiAUqd7Ahecp8mrqXPETtrJZ7fUFLZh1ovP5PA">cognitive performance</a>. And they may help to reduce <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3575938/">cognitive decline</a> by protecting the brain from free radical damage.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Chocolate with cacao beans" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354651/original/file-20200825-15-yun97v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C57%2C5414%2C3579&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354651/original/file-20200825-15-yun97v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354651/original/file-20200825-15-yun97v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354651/original/file-20200825-15-yun97v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354651/original/file-20200825-15-yun97v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354651/original/file-20200825-15-yun97v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354651/original/file-20200825-15-yun97v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chocolate in all its forms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chocolate-cacao-beans-158318549">Andreas Kraus/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Alongside cardiovascular and cognitive benefits, cocoa flavanols may also help improve <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijsnem/aop/article-10.1123-ijsnem.2020-0057/article-10.1123-ijsnem.2020-0057.xml">muscle recovery</a> following <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-017-0849-1">strenuous exercise</a>, thanks to their potent antioxidant and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4696435/">anti-inflammatory benefits</a>. A <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijsnem/aop/article-10.1123-ijsnem.2020-0057/article-10.1123-ijsnem.2020-0057.xml">recent study</a> found that a single high dose of 1245mg cocoa flavanols (15g of a high flavanol cocoa powder) slightly improved muscle recovery.</p>
<p>So next time you are in the mood for some chocolate, perhaps select a high percentage dark variety or a natural cocoa powder for any potential health benefits.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liam Corr does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cocoa may not be the panacea it was once believed to be, but it’s more than just a guilty pleasure.Liam Corr, PhD Researcher in the Department of Health Sciences, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1302952020-04-07T02:48:50Z2020-04-07T02:48:50ZTurning to Easter eggs to get through these dark times? Here’s the bitter truth about chocolate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325930/original/file-20200407-74220-k5rqv6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4694%2C3253&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pxfuel</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The coronavirus might make Easter celebrations a little subdued this year, but that doesn’t mean going without chocolate eggs. In fact, South Australia’s chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier reportedly said people should <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/coronavirus-sa-dr-nicola-spurrier-gives-easter-pigout-pass/news-story/3f77065a4a46361487eb399a06c415b6">partake in the Easter treats</a> “to cheer ourselves up … I’ve certainly got a good supply of chocolate eggs already”.</p>
<p>But before you fill your shopping trolley (online or virtual) with chocolate, we urge you to think twice about whether it’s ethically produced.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-chocapocalypse-looming-why-we-need-to-understand-whats-at-stake-101548">Is ‘chocapocalypse’ looming? Why we need to understand what’s at stake</a>
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<p>Most chocolate consumed globally, including in Australia, comes from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-chocapocalypse-looming-why-we-need-to-understand-whats-at-stake-101548">Ivory Coast and Ghana</a> in West Africa - which together account for about 60% of global cocoa supply.</p>
<p>Cocoa farming is a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-014-0282-4">major driver of deforestation</a> in the region. Despite growing global demand for chocolate, farmers <a href="https://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/pdf/10.1596/29014">live in poverty</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-modern-slavery-bill-is-a-start-but-it-wont-guarantee-us-sweeter-chocolate-102765">child labour</a> continues to plague the industry.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More work is needed by big chocolate companies to ensure cocoa is produced sustainably and fairly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CHRISTOF KRACKHARDT</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Spotlight on Nestlé</h2>
<p>The US Department of Labor has estimated that <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/our-work/child-forced-labor-trafficking/child-labor-cocoa">2 million children</a> carry out hazardous work on cocoa farms in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340394344_A_Sticky_Chocolate_Problem_Impression_management_and_the_shaping_of_corporate_image">Our research</a> has examined Nestlé, which <a href="https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/business/news/14134353.nestle-to-use-sustainable-cocoa-in-its-chocolate/">claims</a> its chocolate produced for specific markets is sustainably sourced and produced. A number of its chocolate products are certified through the <a href="https://utz.org/what-we-offer/certification/products-we-certify/cocoa/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAjfvwBRCkARIsAIqSWlNZBYVygX7OW50BepsLoIRCaghfZKG58lt5AnFciy0pyIRsJB71Rg8aAh3CEALw_wcB">UTZ</a> and <a href="https://fairtrade.com.au/Fairtrade-Products/Chocolate-cocoa">Fairtrade</a> schemes.</p>
<p>Nestlé has adopted the Fair Labor Association (FLA) <a href="https://www.fairlabor.org/our-work/code-of-conduct">code of conduct</a> that forbids child or forced child labour, and requires certain health and safety standards, reasonable hours of work and fair pay. Nestlé’s <a href="https://www.nestlecocoaplan.com">Cocoa Plan</a> also outlines the company’s commitment to sustainability in its Ivory Coast cocoa supply chain. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ghanas-cocoa-farmers-are-trapped-by-the-chocolate-industry-124761">Ghana’s cocoa farmers are trapped by the chocolate industry</a>
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<p>But a <a href="https://www.fairlabor.org/report/standard-supply">2016 FLA report</a> said 80% of Nestlé’s cocoa procurement took place outside this plan. Of this part of the supply chain, just 30% was monitored by certification systems. </p>
<p>For the 70% of Nestlé cocoa farms outside certification programs, there was no evidence of training on labour standards or monitoring of working conditions. Assessors also found issues such as child labour, and health and safety issues.</p>
<p>More recently, Nestlé <a href="https://www.nestlecocoaplan.com/article-tackling-deforestation-progress-report-2020">has stated</a> its cocoa plan now covers 44% of its global cocoa supply, and the company is committed to sourcing 100% of cocoa under the plan by 2025.</p>
<p>On the issue of child labour, Nestlé <a href="https://www.nestle.com/sites/default/files/2019-12/nestle-tackling-child-labor-report-2019-en.pdf">last year reported</a> it was “not proud” to have found more than 18,000 children doing hazardous work since a monitoring and remediation system began in 2012.</p>
<p>However the company would continue trying to eradicate the practice, including “helping children to stop doing unacceptable activities and, where needed, helping them to access quality education.”</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Cocoa producers in West Africa are often poorly paid and subject to dangerous working conditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Sweet sorrow: an industry problem</h2>
<p>Other big chocolate players, such as Mars, Cadbury (owned by Mondelēz International), Hershey and Ferrero are also exposed to problems facing cocoa farming.</p>
<p>Many are taking action. <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKCN1TY1R5-OZABS">Mars recently supported</a> Ghana and the Ivory Coast in setting a floor price for cocoa, to increase the money paid to farmers. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/ferrero-pledges-to-end-slavery-on-farms-that-supply-its-cocoa-by-2020-ahead-of-its-peers-can-it-deliver">In 2012</a>, Ferrero <a href="https://www.ferrerocsr.com/News-CSR/Ferrero-Takes-Action-Against-Child-Labour">promised</a> to remove slavery from its cocoa supply by 2020. </p>
<p>Others have made moves towards <a href="https://ethicalwarrior.com.au/blog/chocolate/are-child-slaves-making-your-chocolate">better certification</a>, including Hershey, <a href="https://www.thehersheycompany.com/en_us/sustainability/shared-business/cocoa-supply-chain-traceability.html">which says</a> it pays certification premiums to farmer groups who meet labour standards.</p>
<p>But despite years of pledges, progress across the sector is slow. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/business/hershey-nestle-mars-chocolate-child-labor-west-africa/">last year reported</a> major chocolate companies had missed deadlines to remove child labour from their cocoa supply chains in 2005, 2008 and 2010. It said brands such as Hershey, Mars and Nestlé could still not guarantee their chocolates were produced without child labour.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Child labour issues continue to plague the chocolate industry.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Public Domain Pictures</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bad for the planet</h2>
<p>Cocoa farming is a major driver of deforestation as farmers <a href="http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/jwsr/article/view/731/951">cut down trees</a> to clear farmland. For example in 2017, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/13/chocolate-industry-drives-rainforest-disaster-in-ivory-coast">the Guardian reported </a> cocoa traders selling to Mars, Nestlé, Mondelez and other big brands had sourced beans grown illegally inside protected rainforest areas in the Ivory Coast.</p>
<p>Rising demand for chocolate - <a href="https://theprint.in/economy/india-china-to-sweeten-chocolate-sales-in-asia-as-global-production-falters/350115/">particularly in India and China</a> – also encourages farmers to increase cocoa yield by using fertilisers and pesticides.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0963996918301273">2018 study</a> found the chocolate industry in the UK produces the equivalent of more than <a href="https://www.popsci.com/chocolate-carbon-emissions/#page-3">2 million tonnes</a> of carbon dioxide each year. It took into account chocolate’s ingredients, manufacturing, packaging and waste.</p>
<p>And <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-takes-21-litres-of-water-to-produce-a-small-chocolate-bar-how-water-wise-is-your-diet-123180">research last year</a> by the CSIRO showed it takes 21 litres of water to produce a small chocolate bar. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tips-to-reduce-your-waste-this-easter-but-dont-worry-you-can-still-eat-chocolate-113916">Tips to reduce your waste this Easter (but don't worry, you can still eat chocolate)</a>
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<p>In response to the problem, <a href="https://www.mars.com/news-and-stories/press-releases/action-plan-deforestation-free-cocoa-supply-chain">Mars</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cocoa-deforestation-chocolate/nestle-says-cuts-deforestation-in-its-cocoa-supply-chain-idUSKBN21E1S6">Nestlé</a> have pledged to make their cocoa supply chain sustainable by 2025. Ferrero has <a href="https://www.ferrerocsr.com/our-responsibility/agricultural-practices/sustainable-raw-materials/?lang=EN">committed to source</a> 100% sustainable cocoa beans by 2020, and <a href="https://www.cocoalife.org/progress/CFIprogress2019">Mondelēz intends</a> to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10% by 2025, based on 2018 levels.</p>
<p>But pledges do not necessarily transform into action. At a United Nations climate change conference in November 2017, big chocolate producers and the governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast <a href="https://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/initiative/cocoa-forests-initiative/">committed to</a> stopping deforestation for cocoa production. A year later, satellite mapping <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/07/africa-cocoa-industry-failing-deforestation-pledge-campaigners">reportedly revealed</a> thousands more hectares of rainforest in West Africa had been razed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span></span>
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<h2>What’s a chocolate lover to do?</h2>
<p>Given the above, you might be tempted to stop buying chocolate brands that source cocoa from West Africa. <a href="https://www.upboostllc.com/blog/don-t-ban-cocoa-imports-invest-u-s-aid-better">But this would cut off the incomes of poor cocoa farmers</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, choose chocolate independently certified by the <a href="https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/chocolate">Rainforest Alliance</a>, <a href="https://utz.org/what-we-offer/certification/products-we-certify/cocoa/">UTZ</a> or <a href="http://fairtrade.com.au/Fairtrade-Products/Chocolate-cocoa">Fairtrade</a>. This increases the chance that the cocoa was produced with minimal environmental damage, and workers are treated well.</p>
<p>If you can, check if the company has direct connections with producers, which means farmers are <a href="https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/chocolate">more likely to be fairly paid</a>.</p>
<p>If all this sounds too hard to work out yourself, websites such as <a href="https://thegoodshoppingguide.com/subject/chocolate/">The Good Shopping guide</a>, <a href="https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/easter-eggs">Ethical Consumer</a> or <a href="https://guide.ethical.org.au/guide/">Shop ethical!</a> can help you find Easter eggs that are both ethically made, and delicious.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/it-takes-21-litres-of-water-to-produce-a-small-chocolate-bar-how-water-wise-is-your-diet-123180">It takes 21 litres of water to produce a small chocolate bar. How water-wise is your diet?</a>
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</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130295/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Before you stock the pantry with chocolate this Easter, think twice about whether it’s ethically produced.Stephanie Perkiss, Senior Lecturer, University of WollongongCristiana Bernardi, Lecturer in Accounting, The Open UniversityJohn Dumay, Associate Professor - Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1345572020-04-05T08:32:58Z2020-04-05T08:32:58ZGhana’s cocoa production relies on the environment, which needs better protection<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323206/original/file-20200326-132965-wedx4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ghana's forests require better care if cocoa farming is to be sustainable.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cocoa production has been the <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/I8329EN/i8329en.pdf">backbone</a> of Ghana’s economy since the 1870s. It dominates the agricultural sector and contributes about <a href="https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/report/downloadreportbyfilename?filename=Cocoa%20Report%20Annual_Accra_Ghana_3-15-2012.pdf">30%</a> of the country’s export earnings. Cocoa employs about 800,000 farmers <a href="https://www.cocobod.gh/home_section.php?sec=1">directly</a>. It also supports the livelihoods of others in the commerce, service and industrial sectors of the Ghanaian economy. This makes it an important generator of revenue. </p>
<p>Most <a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/AFRICAEXT/Resources/258643-1271798012256/YAC_chpt_12.pdf">studies</a> of cocoa production have focused on its economic benefits. Less attention has been paid to its environmental impacts. But cocoa farming has enormous environmental consequences. This is because it can only take place in Ghana’s forest agro-ecological zone. In this zone, the rainfall is ideal for cocoa at 1500-2000mm, with a dry season of about four months. Also, cocoa trees thrive under shade.</p>
<p>But with rising <a href="https://www.cbi.eu/market-information/cocoa/trade-statistics/">demand</a> for cocoa on the world market, large <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/05/ghana-is-losing-its-rainforest-faster-than-any-other-country-in-the-world/">areas</a> of forest cover have been lost to its cultivation.</p>
<p>The expansion and cultivation of new parcels of forest land, the replacement of old cocoa trees and the abandonment of old cocoa farmlands due to loss of soil fertility, have <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/05/ghana-is-losing-its-rainforest-faster-than-any-other-country-in-the-world/">depleted</a> the country’s forest cover. Between 2010 and 2015, 117,240 hectares of forest <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09744053.2019.1635416?src=recsys&journalCode=rafr20">were cleared</a>. </p>
<p>This loss is a threat to the very industry that is causing it.</p>
<p>Over the years researchers, policy makers and practitioners in Ghana’s agricultural and environmental sectors have underestimated the environmental impacts of agricultural activities such as cocoa production. </p>
<p>The link between low productivity in the cocoa sector and environmental impacts is contributing to uncertainty in the sector’s long-term sustainability. There is, therefore, an urgent need for more research, policies and strategies that will help minimise the environmental impacts of cocoa production. </p>
<p>We undertook a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09744053.2019.1635416">study</a> to assess these environmental impacts. We focused particularly on practices such as the clearing of cocoa farms and the use of insecticides and fertilisers. </p>
<h2>Cocoa and the environment</h2>
<p>There is ample <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/books/theobroma-cacao-deploying-science-for-sustainability-of-global-cocoa-economy/cocoa-plant-people-and-profit-in-ghana">evidence</a> to show that in Ghana, the gains made from the cocoa industry can only be sustained if the natural environment is protected. </p>
<p>Despite its enormous economic benefits, the sector is threatened by the degradation of forest resources. Cocoa is an understorey crop; this means it grows well under the shade in the forest zones. The soil structure and fertility in these areas also support cocoa production. Finally, the ideal rainfall and temperature requirements can only be found in the forest zones. Degrading the forest zone is a major threat to cocoa production in Ghana because it cannot simply move to another area. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.intechopen.com/books/theobroma-cacao-deploying-science-for-sustainability-of-global-cocoa-economy/cocoa-plant-people-and-profit-in-ghana">Evidence</a> also suggests that negative environmental practices are reducing cocoa productivity though they are intended to increase productivity. </p>
<p>For example, clearing virgin forest to make farmland poses a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09744053.2019.1635416">serious threat</a> to biodiversity. </p>
<p>Some <a href="http://ir.knust.edu.gh/bitstream/123456789/8398/1/thesis.pdf">studies</a> highlight the consequences of using chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides to boost cocoa harvests and to get rid of diseases and pests. These chemicals can destroy organisms that enhance soil fertility and pollute water bodies near cocoa farms. There is a need to minimise the environmental costs of these farming practices. </p>
<p>Another major source of deforestation from cocoa production is through the construction of feeder roads. <a href="https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Project-and-Operations/ADB-BD-IF-99-298-EN-GHANA-PCR-COCOA-REHAB.PROJECT.PDF">Research</a> has shown that a total of 3,000 km of new feeder roads have been constructed since 1999 to link cocoa farms to marketing outlets. </p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>To produce cocoa in an environmentally sound manner, local authorities should take on the responsibility of enforcing regulations regarding forest clearing and agro-chemical application. Local level representatives, traditional leaders and community-based organisations are closer to the issues of chemical pollution and forest resource depletion. They are in the best position to address the issues. </p>
<p>For example, these groups and individuals can help monitor the agricultural practices of farmers in their local areas. The community based approach to environmental <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26270043?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">management</a> has worked in Latin America and the Caribbean region. </p>
<p>Institutions such as the District Assemblies, Forestry Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency must get the technological equipment they need for monitoring and enforcing environmental regulations. This equipment may include drones for monitoring and GPS devices for mapping out the location of cocoa farms. </p>
<p>Working with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Ghana Cocoa Board should train cocoa farmers in the responsible use of agro-chemicals to forestall the contamination of water bodies. Farmers should also be encouraged to use <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311932.2016.1242181">organic fertilisers</a> such as poultry manure, as well as biological control of pests and diseases because these approaches are known to be eco-friendly. </p>
<p>The environmental impacts of some unsustainable farming practices can also be addressed by enforcing land use regulations on farming along water bodies. Ghana’s Zoning Guidelines and Planning <a href="http://www.luspa.gov.gh/files/ZONING-GUIDELINES-AND-PLANNING-STANDARDS.pdf">Standards</a> call for a buffer of at least 100 feet on both sides of bodies of waters.</p>
<p>One challenge is that the literacy rate of cocoa farmers in Ghana is low. Environmental strategies are more effective where the target groups have a high level of environmental literacy. This means that efforts should be made to improve cocoa farmers’ environmental literacy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134557/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Takyi is affiliated with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Owusu Amponsah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The rising demand on the world market for cocoa has put pressure on Ghana’s forests.Stephen Appiah Takyi, Lecturer, Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)Owusu Amponsah, Senior Lecturer, Department of planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1271422019-11-24T06:02:15Z2019-11-24T06:02:15ZAfrica should focus on industrialisation. Free trade will follow<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303123/original/file-20191122-74572-1k4ftrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Workers in an assembly line</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://au.int/en/cfta">African Continental Free Trade Area</a> is a continental agreement which came into force in May 2019. It covers trade in goods and services, investment, intellectual property rights and competition policy. Of the 55 African Union member states, only Eritrea has yet to sign it.</p>
<p>The immediate objective of the free trade area is principally to boost trade within Africa by eliminating up to 90% of the tariffs on goods and reducing non-tariff barriers to trade. </p>
<p><a href="https://unctad.org/en/pages/PressRelease.aspx?OriginalVersionID=520">In 2017</a>, the exports and imports between African countries represented only 16.6% of Africa’s total exports. This figure is low compared with exports within other regions: 68.1% in Europe, 59.4% in Asia, and 55.0% in America. </p>
<p>Proponents of the free trade area say that increasing intra-Africa trade will provide larger markets for African producers and encourage manufacturing. It will also help achieve a better connection between production and consumption. The <a href="https://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/aldcafrica2019_en.pdf?user=46">United Nations Conference on Trade and Development</a> argues that the phase of transition to the free trade area alone could boost intra-African trade <a href="https://unctad.org/en/pages/newsdetails.aspx?OriginalVersionID=2128">by 33%</a> and increase manufacturing in Africa.</p>
<p>This line of argument is that free trade leads to industrialisation and structural change. But in my view it works the other way round: industrialisation leads to free trade.</p>
<h2>Industrialisation should come first</h2>
<p>Low intra-Africa trade is indeed an indication that African countries do not consume what they produce. But this is a problem of production (product focus), not trade. The export products of most African countries, which follow the colonial pattern, influence the trade strategies, trade agreements and trade- related infrastructure.</p>
<p>For example, it is cheaper for Côte d’Ivoire to export products to the Netherlands than to some other African countries. This is simply because Côte d’Ivoire’s main export product is cocoa beans and the Netherlands (as well as France and other European countries) is the main destination for the product. Côte d’Ivoire has developed its trade strategy and infrastructure accordingly. If Côte d’Ivoire alters its production focus, its target market will be altered and it will build a trade strategy accordingly. </p>
<p>African countries have to change their production focus to change their trade focus. For example, Nigeria recently started to export cement products. In my <a href="https://www.academia.edu/40890497/Is_traditional_industrial_policy_defunct_Evidence_from_the_Nigerian_cement_industry">research</a> I showed how this led the government of Nigeria to invest in alternative freight schemes, upgrade terminals and create a cross-border trade facilitation committee to aid the cement industry’s export strategy. It also set up a senior trade committee to resolve the non-tariff barriers imposed by Nigeria’s neighbours and countries of interest to the cement sector. </p>
<p>Trade-related infrastructure is specific to the products that countries have to sell. It’s similar to traders renting their shops according to the products they sell. Developing free trade that is not product-based would be like a prospective trader renting a shop in the hope of developing a certain product in the future. The problem with such an approach is that the features of the shop confine the trader to certain lines of business. </p>
<p>Likewise, negotiating and signing a free trade agreement could confine a country’s efforts to industrialise. </p>
<p>This is important because manufacturing plays a key role in the processes of economic transformation required for high quality growth, job creation and improving incomes. Yet the share of manufacturing in GDP has been falling in sub-Saharan Africa over <a href="https://set.odi.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Export-Based-Manufacturing-in-Africa_Full-paper.pdf">the past three decades</a>. </p>
<h2>The problem of coordination</h2>
<p>In my <a href="https://www.academia.edu/38542800/The_need_for_industrial_policy_coordination_in_the_African_Continental_Free_Trade_Area">research</a> I showed how the African free trade area could impede industrial policy through a lack of coordination between the policies of different countries. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.cpes.org.uk/dev/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Chang_Andreoni_2016_Industrial-Policy.pdf">This is how</a> industrialisation works: a government decides to promote a particular sector (as Nigeria did in 2002 <a href="https://www.academia.edu/40890497/Is_traditional_industrial_policy_defunct_Evidence_from_the_Nigerian_cement_industry">for cement</a>) and grant players in the sector several incentives. These could be a domestic market (through protection), subsidies and tax breaks to reduce the risk of investment. Industrial policy does not always succeed. But when it does, the sector will eventually be able to start exporting. At this point, the government will help the sector with trade strategies – finding and accessing a market – and create an appropriate trade infrastructure. </p>
<p>The free trade area could deprive states of the policy space to select and protect specific sectors. It could create numerous coordination problems when states use their ‘sensitive products’ to pursue industrialisation. </p>
<p>For example, industrial policies could be duplicated by countries in the free trade area. This would undermine the advantage of having a large market. There could be contradictory policies, such as one country attempting to reduce intensive agriculture while another seeks to increase it. One country might make decisions that create problems for the industrial policies of other countries. These contradictions have occurred at the regional level, but they are easier to solve when fewer countries are involved. </p>
<p>Industrialisation would flourish under the African free trade area if industrial policies were to be implemented at the continental level, as opposed to the state level, with no state sensitive products. But even the European Union has not attained such a high level of integration. And there are political interests that suggest it would be impossible in Africa. </p>
<p>There are other obvious problems with the agreement. </p>
<p>One is implementation. <a href="https://ecdpm.org/wp-content/uploads/ECDPM-2016-Political-Economy-Regional-Integration-Africa-Synthesis-Report.pdf">Even regional integration in Africa</a> faces hurdles, though it involves fewer countries and less commitment. Expecting more than 50 African countries to implement free trade efficiently is idealistic. Nigeria recently <a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-border-closure-has-implications-for-africas-economic-integration-125592">closed its borders</a>, violating both the spirit of the Africa Union agreement and the letter of its commitment to the Economic Community of West African States. Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya and Eritrea did the same earlier this year. </p>
<p>It is more reasonable to concentrate on building regions and industrialising before attempting the African free trade area.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127142/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael E Odijie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A large free trade area could hinder the development of manufacturing, which countries need for economic growth.Michael E Odijie, Post Doctoral Researcher, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1247612019-10-10T14:42:45Z2019-10-10T14:42:45ZGhana’s cocoa farmers are trapped by the chocolate industry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296044/original/file-20191008-128661-slkx76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cocoa production is an important cog in Ghana's economy</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The chocolate <a href="https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/chocolate-market">industry</a> is worth more than $80 billion a year. But some cocoa farmers in parts of West Africa are poorer now than they were in the 1970s or 1980s. In other areas, artificial support for cocoa farming is creating a debt problem. Farmers are also still under pressure to supply markets in wealthy countries instead of securing their own future. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.academia.edu/36081141/Sustainability_winners_and_losers_in_business-_biased_cocoa_sustainability_programmes_in_West_Africa">research</a> published last year I explored sustainability programmes designed to support cocoa farming in West Africa. My aim was to identify winners and losers.</p>
<p>I looked at initiatives such as <a href="https://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/about-wcf/cocoaaction/">CocoaAction</a>, a $500 million <a href="https://www.academia.edu/36081141/Sustainability_winners_and_losers_in_business-_biased_cocoa_sustainability_programmes_in_West_Africa">“sustainability scheme”</a> launched in 2014, and concluded that they were done in the interests of large multinationals. They did not necessarily relieve poverty or develop the region’s economies. In fact they created new problems. </p>
<p>To sustain their livelihoods, the cocoa farmers of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana need to diversify away from cocoa production. But multinational chocolate companies need farmers to keep producing cocoa. </p>
<h2>Diversification</h2>
<p>Farmers choose to diversify their crops for a host of reasons. These include a reduction in the resources they need to produce a crop (such as suitable land), and a reduction in the price they can get for the crop.</p>
<p>Cocoa farming requires tropical forestland. This is limited; it is not possible to keep expanding to new land to keep producing cocoa. So when the land is exhausted, farmers would benefit from diversifying to products like rubber and palm oil. They do not need to grow cocoa for its own sake.</p>
<p>A great deal of diversification occurred <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13504509.2019.1641763?casa_token=SEeqiEebBHIAAAAA:YtWBLoutBFu_HLn6m1HeAo6L07Vd-knX1GE7PivCGXZAlTvgWZlF_idDLuqj1VbdmR-2DaVISHTCQfw">during the cocoa crisis</a> of the 1970s in Ghana. Cereal output increased from 388,000 tonnes in 1964/1965 to over 1 million tonnes in 1983/83, and decreased when cocoa was <a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/AFRICAEXT/Resources/258643-1271798012256/Ghana-cocoa.pdf">“revitalised”</a>. The same was the case with coconut, palm oil and groundnut.</p>
<p>But such diversification is more recently being prevented by multinationals and other stakeholders who want cocoa cultivation to continue. Multinationals that depend on cocoa as a raw material openly (and rightly) regard diversification as a risk to their business. So they keep spending on cocoa farming inputs. </p>
<h2>Why there’s a limit to cocoa</h2>
<p>In West Africa, cocoa has historically been cultivated using slash and burn farming. Forest was cut down and burned before planting, and then, when the plot became infertile, the farmer moved to fresh forestland and did the same again. </p>
<p>The new land offered fertile soil, a favourable microclimate and fewer pests and diseases. Growing the cocoa took less labour and yielded more.</p>
<p>This explains the link between cocoa farming and deforestation in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. A recent <a href="http://www.mightyearth.org/an-open-secret-illegal-ivorian-cocoa/">investigation</a> showed that since 2000, Ivorian cocoa has been dependent on protected areas. Almost half of Mont Peko National Park, for example, which is home to endangered species, as well as Marahoue National Park has been lost to cocoa planting since 2000.</p>
<p>In Côte d’Ivoire, the area covered by forest <a href="http://www.mightyearth.org/an-open-secret-illegal-ivorian-cocoa/">decreased</a> from 16 million hectares – roughly half of the country – in 1960 to less than 2 million hectares in 2005. </p>
<p>Forestland is finite. Slash and burn is no longer an option, because so much of the forest is gone. In West Africa, planters are now staying on the same piece of land and reworking it.</p>
<p>This has created its own set of <a href="https://www.academia.edu/36081141/Sustainability_winners_and_losers_in_business-_biased_cocoa_sustainability_programmes_in_West_Africa">problems</a>.</p>
<h2>Rising costs and threats</h2>
<p>In both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, several <a href="https://www.academia.edu/36081141/Sustainability_winners_and_losers_in_business-_biased_cocoa_sustainability_programmes_in_West_Africa">estimates</a> of the cost of maintaining a cocoa farm show that the investment costs required for replanting have approximately doubled. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Goetz_Schroth2/publication/261713726_Chocolate_forests_and_monocultures_-_an_historical_review_of_cocoa_growing_and_its_conflicting_role_in_tropical_deforestation_and_forest_conservation/links/00b49535482f8bcb1d000000/Chocolate-forests-and-monocultures-an-historical-review-of-cocoa-growing-and-its-conflicting-role-in-tropical-deforestation-and-forest-conservation.pdf">One estimate</a> of labour investment put the replanting effort at 260 days per hectare, compared with 74 days per hectare for planting using slash and burn. </p>
<p>The extra labour needed for sedentary cultivation is leading to <a href="https://ilpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/20151126-Child-labour-in-the-West-African-Cocoa-Sector-ILPI.pdf">child trafficking</a> and child labour in cocoa cultivation. Child trafficking generally occurs when planters are searching for cheaper sources of labour for replanting. </p>
<p>Planters who have successfully diversified into other crops have stopped using child labour. In the cocoa industry, however, the use of child labour is increasing. For example, the number of <a href="https://ilpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/20151126-Child-labour-in-the-West-African-Cocoa-Sector-ILPI.pdf">child labourers</a> in the Ivorian cocoa industry increased by almost 400,000 between 2008 and 2013. </p>
<p>There has also been a massive increase in the use of fertilisers and pesticides to aid cocoa production without slash and burn. </p>
<p>The increased input (labour, fertilisers and pesticides) for replanting land amounts to a higher production cost. It cannot be adjusted by price setting. Cocoa producers have no control over price; they are price takers. So the higher production cost reduces the profit made by cocoa farmers. </p>
<p>This explains why cocoa producers in Côte d’Ivoire are <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/542291468243910934/pdf/PAD5080PAD0IDA00Box377382B00PUBLIC0.pdf">poorer now </a> than they were decades ago.</p>
<p>In Ghana, the government, through the cocoa marketing board, <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/I8329EN/i8329en.pdf">COCOBOD</a>, has managed the transition from slash and burn to sedentary farming. The government created a mass spraying programme to control diseases and pests. It also subsidised fertiliser and created a pricing policy that has sometimes amounted to a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a06abe2a-c1ab-11e8-84cd-9e601db069b8">government subsidy</a> (<strong>this link needs users to subscribe</strong>). Due to the extra free input provided by the government, sometimes supported by NGOs and multinational corporations, farmers have not become poorer in Ghana. But the approach has led to <a href="https://goldstreetbusiness.com/general-news/cocobod-looking-to-refinance-ghc6-bn-debt/">huge debt for COCOBOD</a>. For example, COCOBOD incurred GHc2 billion (US$367 million) debt for subsidising the price of cocoa <a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/COCOBOD-incurred-GHC2-billion-debt-in-2017-for-cocoa-price-subsidy-689641#">for the year 2017</a>.</p>
<p>Although cocoa planters are faring well in Ghana, it is not clear that Ghana’s cocoa sector is really a success story. The shift to debt financing has artificially produced <a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/AFRICAEXT/Resources/258643-1271798012256/Ghana-cocoa.pdf">the success</a>.</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Cocoa “sustainability” activities are not the way forward. Cocoa sustainability is a new form of colonisation in Africa, because its real goal is to prevent African planters from diversifying away from cocoa into other crops. These programmes keep the cocoa industry going under deteriorating conditions. </p>
<p>The way forward is to switch from cocoa to crops that do not require forestland (new or exhausted), extra fertilisers or more labour. </p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-017-7294-5_2">Research</a> has shown that cocoa planters in Côte d’Ivoire who have diversified into other crops, such as rubber, have succeeded in escaping poverty. </p>
<p>But that is seen as a major threat to the supply of raw material to Western multinationals. One representative of a large chocolate multinational explained “<a href="https://www.academia.edu/36081141/Sustainability_winners_and_losers_in_business-_biased_cocoa_sustainability_programmes_in_West_Africa">my enemy is not my competitor in the purchase of cocoa, but the rubber industry</a>.” </p>
<p>In conclusion, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have to think about what is best for them instead of what is best for the chocolate industry and consumers in the developed world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael E Odijie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is time for Ghana to consider the future of its cocoa farmers rather than multinational chocolate producers.Michael E Odijie, Research associate, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1078802019-03-18T10:44:11Z2019-03-18T10:44:11ZRestoring tropical forests isn’t meaningful if those forests only stand for 10 or 20 years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264261/original/file-20190317-28496-115eioj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A regenerating stand of rainforest in northern Costa Rica.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Fagan</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tropical forests globally are being lost at a rate of <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/06/2017-was-second-worst-year-record-tropical-tree-cover-loss">61,000 square miles a year</a>. And despite conservation efforts, the global rate of loss is <a href="http://forestdeclaration.org/goal/goal-1/">accelerating</a>. In 2016 it reached a <a href="http://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/goal_1-stop_forest_loss%E2%80%93forest_declaration.pdf">15-year high</a>, with 114,000 square miles cleared. </p>
<p>At the same time, many countries are pledging to restore large swaths of forests. The <a href="http://www.bonnchallenge.org/">Bonn Challenge</a>, a global initiative launched in 2011, calls for national commitments to restore 580,000 square miles of the world’s deforested and degraded land by <a href="http://www.bonnchallenge.org/content/challenge">2020</a>. In 2014 the <a href="http://forestdeclaration.org/">New York Declaration on Forests</a> increased this goal to 1.35 million square miles, an area about twice the size of Alaska, by 2030. </p>
<p>Ecological restoration is a process of <a href="https://www.ser.org/page/SERStandards/International-Standards-for-the-Practice-of-Ecological-Restoration.htm">helping damaged ecosystems recover</a>. It produces many benefits for both wildlife and people – for example, better habitat, erosion control, cleaner drinking water and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0128339">jobs</a>. </p>
<p>That’s why the Bonn Challenge is so exciting for <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1F41tKkAAAAJ&hl=en">geographers</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XgB4WgEAAAAJ&hl=en">ecologists</a> like <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=b5a0WscAAAAJ&hl=en">us</a>. It brings restoration into the center of global discussions about combating climate change, preventing species extinctions and improve farmers’ lives. It connects governments, organizations, companies and communities, and is catalyzing <a href="https://news.globallandscapesforum.org/26882/bonn-challenge-new-solutions-urged-for-financing-landscape-restoration/">substantial investments in forest restoration</a>.</p>
<p>However, a closer look shows that a struggle remains to fully realize the Bonn Challenge vision. Some reforestation efforts provide only limited benefits, and studies have shown that maintaining these forests for decades is critical to maximize the economic and ecological benefits of establishing them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264262/original/file-20190317-28505-1x4f88u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264262/original/file-20190317-28505-1x4f88u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264262/original/file-20190317-28505-1x4f88u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264262/original/file-20190317-28505-1x4f88u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264262/original/file-20190317-28505-1x4f88u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264262/original/file-20190317-28505-1x4f88u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264262/original/file-20190317-28505-1x4f88u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264262/original/file-20190317-28505-1x4f88u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reforestation project in northern Costa Rica: a plantation of native trees with valuable wood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Fagan</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Putting trees back on the land</h2>
<p>So far, 48 nations and 10 states and companies have made Bonn Challenge <a href="http://www.bonnchallenge.org/">commitments</a> to restore 363,000 square miles by 2020 and another 294,000 square miles by 2030. The United States and a Pakistani province have already <a href="http://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/goal_5-restore_forests%E2%80%93forest_declaration.pdf">fulfilled their commitments</a>, restoring a total of 67,000 square miles.</p>
<p>Restoring forests poses political and economic challenges for national governments. Letting forests grow back inevitably means pulling land out of farming. Natural forest regeneration mainly occurs where farmers have <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5588e.pdf">abandoned poor quality land</a>, or where governments discourage poor farming practices – for example, near wetlands or on steep slopes. Opportunities for natural regeneration elsewhere are limited.</p>
<p>As a result, much forest landscape restoration under the Bonn Challenge focuses on improving existing landscapes using trees. Restoration activities may include creating timber or fruit plantations; agroforestry, or planting rows of trees in and around agricultural fields; and silviculture, or improving the condition of degraded forests. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YnAeqzffr4w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The U.N. Decade of Ecosystem Restoration seeks to restore some 5 billion acres of deforested and degraded landscapes and seascapes between 2021 and 2030.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One early success, the “<a href="https://infoflr.org/news-media/pakistans-billion-tree-tsunami-restores-350000-hectares-forests-and-degraded-land">Billion Tree Tsunami</a>” in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has exceeded its 350,000-hectare pledge through a combination of protecting forest regeneration and planting trees. Similarly, Rwanda has restored 700,000 of the 2 million hectares it pledged, primarily through agroforestry and reforesting erosion-prone areas, and <a href="https://infoflr.org/bonn-challenge-barometer/rwanda/2018/policies">created thousands of green jobs</a>. </p>
<h2>Green deserts</h2>
<p>However, these “restored forests” are often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-017-1356-2">poor replacements for natural habitat</a>. For animals dwelling in tropical forests, agroforestry and tree plantations can look more like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-010-9936-4">green deserts</a> than forests.</p>
<p>Many tropical forest wildlife species are only found in <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2011/09/old-growth-forests-are-irreplaceable-for-sustaining-biodiversity/">mature tropical forests</a> and <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/104/47/18555.full.pdf">cannot survive</a> in open agroforests, monoculture tree plantations or young natural regeneration. Truly restoring tropical forest habitat takes a diversity of forest species, and time. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, these working “forests” do have ecological value for some species, and can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2015.12.010">spare remaining natural forests</a> from axes, fire and plows. In addition, scientists have estimated that restored forests could sequester up to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1710465114">16 percent of the carbon</a> needed to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, while generating some <a href="https://www.iucn.org/downloads/policy_brief_on_forest_restoration_1.pdf">US$84 billion</a> in assets such as timber and erosion control.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264171/original/file-20190315-28468-1l63iic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264171/original/file-20190315-28468-1l63iic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264171/original/file-20190315-28468-1l63iic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264171/original/file-20190315-28468-1l63iic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264171/original/file-20190315-28468-1l63iic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264171/original/file-20190315-28468-1l63iic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264171/original/file-20190315-28468-1l63iic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Logging and degradation of tropical forests is the main reason why forestry and land use account for 10–15 percent of the world’s total human-induced CO2 emissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/601/31550389533_6de26fee78_b.jpg">GRID-Arendal</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Restored, but for how long?</h2>
<p>Benefits for wildlife and Earth’s climate from forest restoration <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0171368">accrue over decades</a>. However, many forests are unlikely to remain protected for this long.</p>
<p>In a 2018 study we showed that forests that naturally regenerated in Costa Rica between 1947 and 2014 had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12607">only a 50 percent chance of enduring for 20 years</a>. Most places where forests regrew were subsequently re-cleared for farming. Twenty years represents about a quarter of the time needed for forest <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2236">carbon stocks</a> to fully recover, and less than one-fifth of the time required for many forest-dwelling <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2009.05.035">plants and animals</a> to return.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, 20 years may be more than most new forests get. Studies in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.09.012">Brazil</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa708b">Peru</a> show that regenerating forests there are re-cleared even faster, often after just a few years.</p>
<p>This problem is not limited to natural forests. Agroforests worldwide are <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08d2be5274a31e00016b6/R7264_-_Jungle_Rubber.pdf">under pressure</a>. For example, until recent decades, coffee and cocoa farmers in the tropics raised their crops in agroforests under a shady canopy of trees, which mimicked the way these plants grow in nature and maximized their health. Today, however, many of them grow their crops in the sun. This method can <a href="http://revistacafeicultura.com.br/?mat=3382">improve yield</a>, but requires pesticides and fertilizer to compensate for added stress on the plants.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Poor management of coffee and cacao farming is a leading cause of deforestation in Peru. Local and international organizations are working to conserve and restore forests through better farming practices.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And although timber plantations sequester additional carbon with every harvest and replanting, their replanting is dependent on shifting market demand for wood. Once they are harvested after six to 14 years of growth, tropical timber plantations can be <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034017">abandoned</a> as a <a href="http://www.fao.org/forestry/42658-0b8ddd1c5c20b4980467f2f4724f445a7.pdf">bad investment</a> and replaced with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.08.036">higher-yielding row crops or pasture</a>.</p>
<h2>Solid foundations for recovery</h2>
<p>If the Bonn Challenge is to achieve its goals, nations will have to find ways of converting short-term restoration pledges into long-term ecosystem recovery. This may require tightening the rules. </p>
<p>Some countries have pledged to protect <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13282">unrealistically large areas</a>. For example, Rwanda committed to restore 77 percent of its national territory, and Costa Rica and Nicaragua pledged to restore 20 percent of their territories apiece. Another flaw is that the Bonn Challenge does not prevent countries from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/10/forest-restoration-commitments-driven-by-science-or-politics/">deforesting some areas</a> even as they are restoring others. </p>
<p>It will be impossible to track overall progress without an international commitment to monitor and sustain <a href="https://infoflr.org/bonn-challenge-barometer">restoration successes</a>. International organizations need to invest in <a href="https://start.org/programs/gofc-gold/">satellite</a> and <a href="https://blogs.plos.org/blog/2017/06/21/participation-of-local-people-in-monitoring-forests-why-and-how/">local monitoring networks</a>. We also believe they should consider how <a href="http://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/goal_8-finance_for_forest_action%E2%80%93forest_declaration.pdf">large international investments</a> in sectors such as agriculture, mining and infrastructure drive forest loss and regrowth. </p>
<p>Countries like <a href="https://wri-indonesia.org/en/blog/indonesias-commitment-forests-restoration">Indonesia</a> that may be considering a Bonn Challenge pledge should be encouraged to focus on long-term impacts. Instead of restoring 10,000 square miles of one-year-old forest by 2020, why not restore 5,000 square miles of 100-year-old forest by 2120? Countries like <a href="https://infoflr.org/countries/costa-rica">Costa Rica</a> that have already pledged can lock in those gains by protecting regrown forests. </p>
<p>The U.N. General Assembly recently approved a resolution designating 2021 to 2030 as the <a href="https://news.globallandscapesforum.org/32909/un-declares-2021-to-2030-decade-on-ecosystem-restoration/">U.N. Decade of Ecosystem Restoration</a>. We hope this step will help motivate nations to keep their promises and invest in restoring Earth’s deforested and degraded ecosystems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107880/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leighton Reid receives funding from the National Science Foundation (grant DEB-1313788). He is affiliated with the Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development at Missouri Botanical Garden.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margaret Buck Holland and Matthew Fagan do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many nations are restoring degraded tropical forests to slow climate change, protect endangered species and improve rural life. But those forests often are cleared again soon afterward.Matthew Fagan, Assistant Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLeighton Reid, Faculty Associate, University of Missouri-St. LouisMargaret Buck Holland, Associate Professor, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1045832018-10-08T15:19:36Z2018-10-08T15:19:36ZCameroon presidential poll underscores the need for term limits<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239730/original/file-20181008-72113-1boj9nv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cameroonian President Paul Biya votes in the presidential elections in the capital Yaounde. He has been in power for 36 years.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE/EPA/Nic Bothma</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The official results of Cameroon’s October 7, 2018 presidential election are due <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/cameroon-votes-as-separatists-pose-a-threat-biya-win-likely/2018/10/07/e11be120-ca01-11e8-9c0f-2ffaf6d422aa_story.html?amp;utm_term=.4cc85477087a&noredirect=on&utm_term=.28d02b799133">in two weeks</a>. But they’re not expected to yield any surprises. Paul Biya (85), who became president in 1982, is almost certain to retain power for a <a href="https://fr.euronews.com/2018/10/05/cameroun-paul-biya-brigue-un-septieme-mandat">seventh term</a>. If he wins and stays in power until 2025 – the end of his next term – he would have run the country for a whopping 43 years. His overextended rule has been marked by <a href="https://www.business-anti-corruption.com/country-profiles/cameroon/">corruption</a>, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/cameroons-presidential-election-will-the-votes-count/">patronage politics</a>, and a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43469758">largely absent president</a>.</p>
<p>The election has taken place amid a great deal of uncertainty and insecurity. Municipal and legislative elections were postponed by a year because of <a href="https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/cameroon-postpones-legislative-municipal-elections/">too volatile a space</a>, though government cited more technical reasons. Only senatorial elections were held in <a href="https://democracychronicles.org/presidential-elections-in-cameroon/">March 2018</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cameroon-separatists/anglophone-cameroons-separatist-conflict-gets-bloodier-idUSKCN1IX4RS">biggest tensions</a> have been between the English-speaking – which represent <a href="http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/cameroon-population/">20% of the population</a> – and French-speaking parts of the country. After the presidential polls opened on Sunday, <a href="https://www.whig.com/article/20181007/AP/310079953">violent confrontations</a> broke out in English speaking regions of the North West and the South West. Almost no polling took place in these regions following calls by separatists for a lockdown (stay at home), which would mean in effect that no people would leave their houses to vote.</p>
<p>Biya is almost certain to return to power given the government’s well-oiled election machine and its use of the security sector to manage dissent. Elections over the past 10 years have been <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/10/world/africa/cameroon-elections/index.html">marred by accusations of fraud</a>. These elections will be no different.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Biya’s credibility and legitimacy are increasingly being tarnished. And there is growing support for alternative candidates.</p>
<p>The election is a reminder of the importance of defined term limits for presidents. Although Cameroon’s <a href="http://confinder.richmond.edu/admin/docs/Cameroon.pdf">1996 Constitution</a> limited presidential mandates to two seven-year terms, Biya’s party repealed the term limits in 2008 so that he could extend his stay.</p>
<h2>The main contenders</h2>
<p>This year’s election has pitted Biya against <a href="http://www.crtv.cm/2018/08/liste-des-candidats-a-lelection-presidentielle-2018/">eight opposition candidates</a>. The major contenders are Joshua Osih of the <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2018/02/24/cameroon-s-main-opposition-sdf-elects-49-year-old-candidate-to-face-biya/">Social Democratic Front</a>; Maurice Kamto of the <a href="https://www.mrcparty.org/">Cameroon Renaissance Movement</a>; Cabral Libii Li Ngue candidate for <a href="https://www.lebledparle.com/actu/politique/1104138-cameroun-le-parti-univers-de-nkou-mvondo-investi-cabral-libii-comme-son-candidat-a-l-election-presidentielle">Univers party</a>, and <a href="https://akeremuna2018.com/profile/">Akere Tabeng Muna</a> of the <a href="https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/2018-presidential-election-akere-muna-kicks-off-campaign-with-convention-in-yaounde/">Popular Front for Development</a>.</p>
<p>The Social Democratic Front has become a household name in Cameroon since its inception in 1990 and its candidate, Osih, is popular.</p>
<p>For his part, Kamto who heads up the Cameroon Renaissance Movement was a former minister in Biya’s regime. He <a href="http://www.crtv.cm/2018/09/maurice-kamto-presidential-candidate-for-mrc-party/">resigned from government</a> in 2011 to form his own political party. He draws his support from the western region and the urban middle class.</p>
<p>Cabral is a young university lecturer who has been outspoken in his criticism of the regime and has captured the imagination of young Cameroonians. Muna is the son of the former vice president and an international jurist. He aligned with Kamto two days before the election.</p>
<p>Kamto and Cabral attracted large crowds at their rallies. But they are unlikely to gain a majority of votes given that the state’s machinery is stacked against them.</p>
<h2>The issues</h2>
<p>Three major issues dominated the run up to the elections: political transition, the economy, and security.</p>
<p>After 36 years as president, the opposition and other observers view Biya’s exit as long overdue. But he is unlikely to step down as has been the case of other African leaders who have overstayed their terms. And the opposition forces are not yet strong enough to force a change in leadership.</p>
<p>Cameroon is central Africa’s largest economy, producing oil, gas, timber, and cocoa. Nevertheless, it faces a range of major economic challenges. These include <a href="https://theodora.com/wfbcurrent/cameroon/cameroon_economy.html">stagnant per capita income, inequitable distribution of income</a>, <a href="https://www.business-anti-corruption.com/country-profiles/cameroon/">corruption</a>, nepotism and a <a href="https://www.businessincameroon.com/companies/1307-7263-in-cameroon-the-informal-sector-weighs-as-much-in-gdp-as-in-south-africa-and-mauritius-but-less-than-in-nigeria">large informal economy</a>. It also has substantial debt, constituting<a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/cameroon/government-debt-to-gdp"> 35% of its GDP</a>.</p>
<p>Of all the issues affecting the election, security is the biggest. For nearly two years there have been protests in the North West and South West against what Anglophones describe as general marginalisation as well as the “Frenchification” of their courts and schools. The protests have been met with a <a href="https://theconversation.com/biya-must-stop-the-killings-in-cameroon-and-lead-the-search-for-peace-100026">brutal crackdown</a> which in turn triggered an armed pro-independence insurgency.</p>
<p>On top of this <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/anglophone-crisis-looms-cameroon-presidential-election-181004081327023.html">Cameroon has been challenged</a> by the violence of Boko-Haram in the North, the instability of the Central Africa Republic in the East and the separatist movement in the South. Clashes with the separatists have already left <a href="http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/africa/Amnesty-says-scores-killed-in-Cameroon-violence/4552902-4767086-f6kq23z/index.html">400 people dead</a> and 20 000 displaced as refugees in neighbouring Nigeria.</p>
<h2>Implications for African politics</h2>
<p>Some commentators have pointed to the problem of <a href="http://democracyinafrica.org/choiceless-democracy/">“choiceless democracies”</a> in Africa. Leading economist <a href="https://prabook.com/web/thandika.mkandawire/497006">Thandika Mkandawire</a> <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/200804171247.html">has noted that</a> “African leaders exhibit a wide array of unethical ways when it comes to capturing, retention, and exercising of political power, the long-term result being the tendency by a people denied the right to a free choice of their leaders to write electoral lists in blood.”</p>
<p>This is once again playing out in Cameroon. The country has a president who has captured the state to the detriment of many of his people. And people increasingly see violence as the only means through which they can have their voices heard and their needs taken into account.</p>
<p>Across Africa pessimism is replacing the mood of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/democracy-in-africa-the-ebbs-and-flows-over-six-decades-42011">1990s</a> when multi-party democracy was on the rise. Old tendencies of authoritarian leaders remaining in power beyond their term, corruption and the pillaging of public resources persist. These in turn is leading to a rise in conflict.</p>
<p>The African Union (AU) and regional intergovernmental institutions seem unable to hold leaders like Biya to account. This despite the AU’s proclamations of <a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/silencing-the-guns-by-2020-ambitious-but-essential">“silencing the guns”</a> in Africa by 2020, and creating an Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law <a href="https://au.int/en/agenda2063">by 2063</a>. All Africans need to take a principled stand on presidential term limits as it is impacting on the development, peace and security of the continent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104583/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Ngah Kiven is a University of Johannesburg GES Scholar</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cheryl Hendricks does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>President Paul Biya’s credibility and legitimacy are increasingly being tarnished, amid growing support for opposition candidates.Cheryl Hendricks, Executive director, Africa Institute of South Africa, Human Sciences Research CouncilGabriel Ngah Kiven, PhD candidate in Political Studies at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/946382018-05-17T12:50:03Z2018-05-17T12:50:03ZHow planting trees can protect cocoa plants against climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217540/original/file-20180503-153878-13oszu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cocoa fruit pods.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/PixieMe</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Worldwide, areas suitable for cocoa production are <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/climate-change-could-rob-us-chocolate">predicted</a> to shrink by up to 20-30% over the next 30 years. This is because cocoa trees are already struggling to cope with drier, hotter conditions – attributed in large part to climate change. </p>
<p>Chocolate, one of the most popular and widely consumed products in the world, comes from cocoa trees. These trees produce pods that <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-chocolate-is-made_us_57a876e4e4b056bad215faff">contain</a> beans which are harvested, fermented, dried and turned into cocoa powder or butter. They grow in the humid tropics where temperatures ranges from 20°C-35°C, annual rainfall is over 1200 mm and the dry season is less than two months long.</p>
<p>In 2016 the global chocolate market was <a href="https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/press-release/global-chocolate-market-to-surpass-us-17222-billion-by-2025-fuelled-by-health-benefits-431">valued</a> at USD$99 billion. And demand for cocoa is likely to keep increasing as more and more people eat chocolate bars, drink hot chocolate or eat chocolate ice cream.</p>
<p>Over 60% of the world’s chocolate is <a href="https://www.icco.org/faq/57-cocoa-production/123-how-many-smallholders-are-there-worldwide-producing-cocoa-what-proportion-of-cocoa-worldwide-is-produced-by-smallholders.html">produced</a> by smallholder farmers in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia. They will suffer as a result of climate changes, producing <a href="http://www.cocoabarometer.org/Cocoa_Barometer/Download_files/2018%20Cocoa%20Barometer%20180420.pdf">less</a> cocoa per unit area on their farms. They will get less money for their hard work as their profit share, along the cocoa supply chain, is unlikely to increase.</p>
<p>This will have a huge impact on the livelihoods of <a href="https://www.icco.org/faq/57-cocoa-production/123-how-many-smallholders-are-there-worldwide-producing-cocoa-what-proportion-of-cocoa-worldwide-is-produced-by-smallholders.html">about</a> 25 million people. It will also have an impact on the economies of some cocoa producing countries, like Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, that rely on cocoa for a large part of their export income.</p>
<p>Our research <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.13885">shows</a> that agroforestry is an excellent strategy to help smallholders cope with climate change and to avoid further deforestation in new cocoa producing areas. But it must be done wisely as the shade tree species must suit the local context and farmers’ needs.</p>
<h2>Trees and cocoa</h2>
<p>Shade trees – such as Erythrina, Inga or Gliricidia in Latin America or Terminalia, Ricinodendron or Albizia in West Africa – are <a href="http://www.worldagroforestry.org/news/select-shade-trees-care-benefit-cocoa-under-changing-climate">advocated</a> as a key adaptation strategy against the negative effects of climate change.</p>
<p>Shade trees buffer cocoa plants from heat and water stresses, and create conditions that benefit the cocoa tree growth. Other advantages include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>enhanced soil fertility due to leaf shedding and pruning residues. These enrich the soil in organic matter and recycle nutrients.</p></li>
<li><p>reduced soil erosion because the leaf litter, which covers the soil, prevents surface run-off.</p></li>
<li><p>improved pollination by creating a more favourable climate for pollinators.</p></li>
<li><p>enhanced biological control of pests and diseases by creating a more favourable environment for natural enemies. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>In addition, farm households benefit economically from using agroforestry. Their revenue streams are diversified, as they get fuelwood and timber, and food from fruit trees. </p>
<p>Farmers can manage their cocoa plantations, with permanent shade, in a variety of ways:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>thinning down the original forest canopy and keeping forest trees of interest;</p></li>
<li><p>planting fruit and timber species;</p></li>
<li><p>protecting the growth of valuable trees which grew naturally.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Context matters</h2>
<p>While the number of trees and tree species per hectare <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/comments?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0195777">can</a> vary widely, the trees being planted must be suited to the local context and farmers’ needs. It’s not worth trying to promote tree species that farmers do not want, are not suitable locally; there is no single tree species that can provide all the services needed. For example, some tree species have shallow root systems, which means they are well suited to wet areas, but will compete with cocoa plants for soil water in drier conditions. This was seen in our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gcb.13885">recent study</a> in Ghana. </p>
<p>Scientific knowledge has to be combined with farmers’ knowledge of tree species because rural communities have <a href="http://blog.worldagroforestry.org/index.php/2014/12/11/how-many-trees-for-a-chocolate-fix/">valuable</a> experience with many local trees. This can be turned into decision-sup
port tools, like the <a href="http://shadetreeadvice.org/">Shade Tree Advice Tool</a>, which are becoming increasingly available and can help farmers make the right choices.</p>
<h2>More steps</h2>
<p>Agroforestry is getting more attention. Locally, the increasing impact of climate change means more awareness of the benefits of trees to cocoa farms, landscapes and communities. Globally, increased consumer awareness of environmental and food safety issues means that cooperatives, like Ghana’s <a href="https://www.kuapakokoo.com/">Kuapa Kokoo</a>, are successfully promoting agroforestry and environmentally sound cocoa production. </p>
<p>But more steps need to be taken to promote the use of trees.</p>
<p>Policies have to be put in place that give rural communities and farmers incentives to adopt climate-smart practices on their farms and landscapes. This includes passing laws and regulations that secure land tenure, encouraging farmers to invest in that land. Farmers also need to have ownership over trees, giving them the right to plant and nurture them, but also to fell them for revenue. Finally, farmers will more readily adopt agroforestry if they get economic incentives for various schemes; for examples, premium prices for eco-certification, payments for provision of environmental services at local level (water, scenic beauty) and at global level (carbon sequestration, climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation).</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Over the years, Philippe Vaast has received funding from various organisations or governmental agencies to undertake exclusively research and development work. </span></em></p>Shade trees buffer cocoa plants from heat and water stresses, and create conditions that benefit their growth.Philippe Vaast, Senior Coffee and Cocoa Agroforestry Scientist from CIRAD seconded to the, Center for International Forestry Research – World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/875512017-11-22T15:45:47Z2017-11-22T15:45:47ZResponsible chocolate is about protecting both forests and cocoa farmers’ livelihoods<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195892/original/file-20171122-6016-vsvbet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A cocoa farmer among the trees he nurtures to shade his cocoa farm.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Victoria Maguire-Rajpaul</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Chocolate lovers probably don’t want any new reasons to feel guilty about eating chocolate. But there is growing public awareness of the impact of cocoa on tropical forests, particularly in West Africa, where two-thirds of the world’s cocoa is produced. </p>
<p>Recently, at the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/cop23-36269">Climate Change conference in Bonn</a> (COP23), the government of Ghana and the major cocoa and chocolate companies operating in the country launched a <a href="https://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/initiative/cocoa-and-forests/">Joint Framework for Action</a> that aims to end deforestation and promote forest protection and restoration in the cocoa supply chain in Ghana, with a strong commitment to also supporting farmers’ livelihoods and rights.</p>
<p>Contrary to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/08/rare-victory-for-rainforests-as-nations-vow-to-stop-death-by-chocolate">recent claims</a>, awareness of the links between deforestation and cocoa production isn’t new. The announcement at COP23 builds on many years of work, dating back to 2009, involving a range of different governmental and non-governmental organisations collaborating on developing the idea of climate-smart cocoa. The collaborators include the NGO <a href="http://ncrcghana.org">Nature Conservation Research Centre</a>, the <a href="http://fcghana.org">Climate Change Unit of the Ghana Forestry Commission</a>, the <a href="https://www.cocobod.gh">Ghana Cocoa Board</a>, research organisations including the <a href="https://www.csir-forig.org.gh">Forest Research Institute of Ghana</a> and the <a href="http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/cocoa-forests-initiative">private sector</a>. </p>
<p>Having made an ambitious and bold statement of intent, the challenge now facing Ghana and the cocoa companies is how to deliver on the goal of protecting forests while simultaneously supporting sustainable livelihoods. </p>
<p>Along with colleagues, we have been working on an <a href="http://www.ecolimits.org">Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) research project</a> examining the cocoa forest landscape in Ghana’s Central Region. Some of our findings offer <a href="http://www.ecolimits.org/project-impact.html">insights</a> into the challenges in delivering the Joint Framework for Action. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195827/original/file-20171122-6061-145cd1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195827/original/file-20171122-6061-145cd1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195827/original/file-20171122-6061-145cd1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195827/original/file-20171122-6061-145cd1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195827/original/file-20171122-6061-145cd1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195827/original/file-20171122-6061-145cd1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195827/original/file-20171122-6061-145cd1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The origin of your chocolate bar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Victoria Maguire-Rajpaul</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A question of trees</h2>
<p>Critical among these is the finding that addressing the incentives that farmers have to retain trees on their farms will be an essential part of successfully delivering on the cocoa sector’s commitment on forests. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/08/rare-victory-for-rainforests-as-nations-vow-to-stop-death-by-chocolate">Recent reports</a> on cocoa and deforestation have provided simplified portrayals of cocoa farmers, stating that many remove ancient trees from forests to make way for full-sun cocoa farms. This is problematic and misleading for two main reasons. </p>
<p>First, it does not account for the variety of approaches to farming cocoa. Farmers in our study area, where cocoa has been grown for decades, retain trees on their farms in line with government recommendations (between 16 and 18 mature shade trees per hectare). </p>
<p>But the government can grant timber concessions to timber companies to fell trees on farms. We found, as have several other studies, that farmers do not have sufficient power to prevent companies from felling the trees they have nurtured on their farms to shade cocoa. </p>
<p>Indeed, farmers currently have minimal rights to the trees on their farms, and therefore have minimal incentives and limited power to retain them even if they want to. Blaming cocoa farmers for deforestation confuses the direct and underlying causes of deforestation. We must address the issues around tree tenure in a way that empowers farmers to nurture trees should they choose to, and to benefit from doing so. This is critical to the successful delivery of the cocoa sector’s commitment on forests. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195829/original/file-20171122-6013-rwo8ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195829/original/file-20171122-6013-rwo8ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195829/original/file-20171122-6013-rwo8ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195829/original/file-20171122-6013-rwo8ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195829/original/file-20171122-6013-rwo8ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195829/original/file-20171122-6013-rwo8ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195829/original/file-20171122-6013-rwo8ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Drying the cocoa beans in the sun.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Victoria Maguire-Rajpaul</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Don’t blame the farmers</h2>
<p>This also perpetuates a tendency, particularly among the Western media, to blame poor farmers in poor countries for environmental degradation. It tends to marginalise the role of consumption, and the power imbalances among different actors in the market. This results in the more powerful actors maintaining control of the agenda, which is often to the detriment of the poorest in society. </p>
<p>Our research found that while higher household cocoa income was associated with better school attendance and food security, other important components of poverty – such as access to clean drinking water or healthcare services – were not influenced by cash income. Furthermore, the poorest people in cocoa communities are those with little or no land. This is more common among women and young people. It is important, therefore, that investments in the sector do not focus exclusively on increasing yields, but also target communal infrastructure that benefits people living in rural areas without access to land. </p>
<p>The Joint Framework for Action commendably contains reference to ensuring that women and young people are not excluded from efforts to engage and empower communities. But one of the critical questions that will dictate whether the framework is a success or not is how this works in practice. In particular, it remains to be seen how the companies and states balance this objective with their interests in increasing supply and profitability. </p>
<p>As the issue of cocoa and deforestation fades from the news cycle it will be important to hold the sector and governments to account for the actions this agreement triggers. Doing so, however, requires unwrapping the complexity of the challenge. Otherwise, consumers’ concerns risk perpetuating colonial stereotypes about small-scale farmers degrading the environment and lead to strategies with the wrong targets in their sights.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87551/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This work was supported by the ESPA ECOLIMITS project (NE/K010379-1) which partnered with the Nature Conservation Research Centre in Ghana. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Constance McDermott and Victoria Maguire-Rajpaul do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A bold new commitment from the cocoa and chocolate industry to end deforestation is welcome. But we must avoid blaming the farmers.Mark Hirons, Environmental Social Science Research Fellow, University of OxfordConstance McDermott, Senior Fellow in Forest Governance and Leader of Ecosystems Governance Group, University of OxfordVictoria Maguire-Rajpaul, PhD Candidate in Geography and the Environment, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/811202017-08-01T09:08:58Z2017-08-01T09:08:58ZWhich type of chocolate is best for your health? Here’s the science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179601/original/file-20170725-28293-144uflp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/205878508?size=medium_jpg">Fortyforks/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Aztec emperor <a href="http://jn.nutrition.org/content/130/8/2057S.long">Montezuma II</a> said that a soldier could march for a <a href="http://jn.nutrition.org/content/130/8/2057S.long">whole day on a single cup</a> of cocoa. But this was not the hot chocolate we would be familiar with today. It was gritty, bitter and often had a fatty scum on top. And if that doesn’t sound unpleasant enough, it was occasionally laced with chilli or <a href="http://www.heritagedaily.com/2015/08/medicinal-and-ritualistic-uses-for-chocolate-in-mesoamerica-2/98809">human blood</a>. </p>
<p>Modern sweet chocolate – with its added milk powder and sugar – is a product of the <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-brief-history-of-chocolate-21860917/">industrial revolution</a>. Until fairly recently, chocolate wasn’t even considered to be a potential health food; it was seen more as a guilty pleasure. </p>
<p>But over the past 30 years, research has started to shift our view of chocolate and cocoa – the base ingredient of chocolate. (Sometimes cocoa is also called cacao, generally when it is unprocessed or raw. Currently, however, there is no formally recognised difference between cocoa and cacao.)</p>
<p>Arguably, the tide of opinion began to change in 1997 following the publication of a study by researchers at Harvard University on the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3835452/">Kuna people</a>. The researchers reported that the Kuna, who live on islands off the coast of Panama, have very low blood pressure, live longer, and have lower rates of heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer than their peers on mainland Panama. The thing that differentiates the island-dwelling Kuna from those who live on the mainland is their high consumption of cocoa. On average, they drink more then five cups of the stuff a day. </p>
<p>Since the publication of this study, many other laboratory and clinical studies seem to have confirmed the beneficial effects of chocolate and cocoa on markers of heart health, including the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23039340">health of blood vessels</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20968113">HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28439881">blood pressure</a>.</p>
<p>So what is it in cocoa that confers these health benefits? The answer is likely to be flavanols, particularly a compound called epicatechin. In laboratory studies, epicatechin has been shown to be a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3038885/">powerful antioxidant</a>. However, the compound doesn’t appear to behave as anticipated in actual <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijfs.13075/abstract">humans</a> as it is not possible to absorb the epicatechins in high enough concentrations for them to be effective <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17157175">purely as an antioxidant</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, they appear to act through a number of pathways in our bodies, including helping blood vessels to relax more readily which can lower blood pressure, facilitate the manufacture of HDL cholesterol and support the action of insulin. This appears to occur by epicatechin <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijfs.13075/abstract">supporting the controlling pathways</a> behind these biological effects. </p>
<p>A key challenge in chocolate being a health food is its energy, fat and sugar content which are not in line with government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445503/SACN_Carbohydrates_and_Health.pdf">dietary recommendations</a>. A further problem is that most of the chocolate available in the shops contains inadequate amounts of flavanols, including epicatechin, to have any real effect on our health. </p>
<p>So, how can we explain the results seen in many of the studies. Well, in our <a href="http://www.pennutrition.com/KnowledgePathway.aspx?kpid=6425&trid=15414&trcatid=42">recent review</a> it was noted that many research trials used specially made chocolates which are not available in shops and the observed effects in the Kuna could be the result of the large amounts of cocoa they consume.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179599/original/file-20170725-11177-1ifbzcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179599/original/file-20170725-11177-1ifbzcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179599/original/file-20170725-11177-1ifbzcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179599/original/file-20170725-11177-1ifbzcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179599/original/file-20170725-11177-1ifbzcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179599/original/file-20170725-11177-1ifbzcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179599/original/file-20170725-11177-1ifbzcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Montezuma II: chocolate promoter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6885717">André Thévet/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The raw cocoa trend</h2>
<p>If cocoa and chocolate don’t contain enough epicatechin to provide heart-health benefits, what about going to the source: raw cocoa? </p>
<p>There <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016/01/07/cacao-health-benefits-recipes-cocoa_n_6975986.html">is a trend</a> for consuming cold-pressed cocoa beans – the fruit of the <em>Theobroma cacao</em> tree – and claims are made about <a href="https://iquitsugar.com/raw-cacao-vs-cocoa-whats-the-difference/">raw cocoa</a> being more potent in its ability to improve health. </p>
<p>However, in our <a href="http://www.pennutrition.com/KnowledgePathway.aspx?kpid=6425&trid=15414&trcatid=42">recent trawl through</a> the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318068152_Cocoa_and_chocolate_their_clinical_benefits_Insights_in_study_design">literature</a>, we didn’t find any studies that investigated the effects of raw cocoa on reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. All the studies we found used industrially produced chocolate or cocoa – which could potentially contain <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1750-3841.13672/full">more of the active compounds</a>, the flavanols, than natural cocoa. </p>
<p>A major weakness of the research is that a lot of it was industry funded – and the chocolate used in the studies was specially designed for the research. This allows for better control in the studies and the ability to pack more of the active epicatechins into a smaller bar. But it also takes the research results even further away from the impact commercially available, high street chocolate would have on a typical consumer. </p>
<p>So, chocolate, is not a health food, although the research shows some interesting effects. The best current advice is that commercially available chocolate should not be eaten just to improve health. But that doesn’t stop it tasting good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81120/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Duane Mellor received funding from Nestle and Barry Callebaut for work included as part of his thesis. He is also currently Chair of the Communications and Marketing Board of the British Dietetic Association</span></em></p>Don’t believe all the healthy hype.Duane Mellor, Senior Lecturer, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/697612016-12-05T16:13:44Z2016-12-05T16:13:44ZIt’s not a very merry Christmas for Fairtrade chocolate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148439/original/image-20161202-25663-c0w496.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=61%2C23%2C841%2C526&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/pic-523898899/stock-photo-chocolate-bar-chocolate-background-raisin-chocolate-chocolate-tower.html?src=_rNCi48xfiz7hbm7_fiM-w-2-41">Shulevskyy Volodymyr/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At a time when children are waking up every day to a chocolate from their advent calendar, the Fairtrade scheme for cocoa farmers is facing a fraught run-up to Christmas. Cadbury’s has announced it will <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2016/11/28/cadbury-drops-out-of-fairtrade-chocolate-scheme-6287987/">drop out of the benchmark certification system</a> in a move that will undermine the good progress that has been made. </p>
<p>The Fairtrade logo will no longer appear on the front of Cadbury’s chocolate packs and will be replaced by their own Cocoa Life scheme branding. In a puzzling announcement, the UK Fairtrade Foundation told campaigners this was an exciting development. It claimed the move represented a “new global partnership” between the Cocoa Life programme and Fairtrade. The new arrangement will see Fairtrade help Cadbury’s owner, Mondelez, to deliver the Cocoa Life sustainability program, and a “partnering” message will go onto the back of Cadbury’s packs. </p>
<p>But this is hard to accept as good news, particularly for campaigners who have spent decades promoting the Fairtrade Mark and its certification system. When Cadbury’s first converted their leading Cadbury’s Dairy Milk product to Fairtrade <a href="http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/en/media-centre/news/archive/cadbury-dairy-milk-commits-to-going-fairtrade">back in 2009</a> it was a moment to celebrate. It was arguably one of the defining moments in the mainstreaming and growth of Fairtrade in the UK and internationally. Cadbury’s CEO Todd Stitzer stated that “our goal is ultimately to have all of our chocolate bars be Fairtrade”. In reality, however, only Cadbury’s chocolate buttons and Cadbury’s drinking chocolate have switched since. </p>
<p>Fairtrade is both a trading system and a movement that people can get behind and support. As it grows, it ensures farmers are paid sustainably and empowered by the relationship. It builds robust and long-lasting partnerships between consumers, companies and producers to better cope in a world trading system prone to shocks and threats. Following Cadbury’s in 2009, both Nestle and Mars <a href="http://betterwork.org/global/wp-content/uploads/Session-1-Beyond-Fair-Trade.pdf">made commitments to Fairtrade</a> and products proudly displaying the Fairtrade logo were bought by millions of customers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Will Nestle be taking a break too?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jexweber/5522724776/in/photolist-9q2pEG-ovrDvC-9pYowV-9pYozH-9KyzQx-sjgmQ-pg9dup-hyUChZ-83NHfp-6SVa5V-adtVzw-e8AnZX-adrnop-oxrUJN-391TRa-hZxxKp-5A8Zpx-4j7K5p-ofZKuP-7c6xkJ-ehvnUT-btH38V-oxgCZU-7rojo9-9g9NsJ-ovrWJA-4h1iXq-oxtV3c-9q2pSj-ovrPCb-oxrMZL-cgUcAs-bw8DRR-4Cvz2K-4FqwTz-dxBQ7j-a3QSgu-6CyjTQ-7o8uSK-3uLsAj-8WMbYm-JwtboS-3sGTg-Kmi8G-99vb7n-2WUKDW-h595zQ-ofZPvz-ds9vwa-imLDCf">Jesús Pérez Pacheco/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Free radicals</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00076791.2012.692083">In an article</a> co-authored with Dr Iain Davies of the Bath Management School, I cautiously welcomed the announcements that big names had come on board. But it came with a warning. There has always been the potential for mainstream partners to co-opt the more convenient elements of broader fair trade at the expense of the more radical edges. We also predicted that some of the core fundamental principles and standards upon which Fairtrade is based may be watered down to ensure mainstream engagement with the initiative. </p>
<p>It is therefore disappointing, but perhaps not surprising, to hear that Cadbury’s has chosen to opt out of this international social movement for fairer trade and shift entirely to a private scheme. We are concerned for the reputational damage it could do to the Fairtrade system – and its impact on smaller players. </p>
<p>The policies of big players have an effect on 100% fair trade pioneers such as <a href="http://www.traidcraft.co.uk/">Traidcraft</a>, <a href="http://www.divinechocolate.com/uk/">Divine Chocolate</a> and others. They <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00076791.2012.692083">suffered a slowdown</a> in their fair trade chocolate sales when Cadbury’s announced their switch to the Fairtrade programme in 2009 and their message is compromised by strategic corporate manoeuvring in the ethical chocolate marketplace.</p>
<p>The raison d’etre of these pioneers is their social mission. They go way beyond the minimum Fairtrade standards. In the case of Divine, cocoa farmers are made shareholders in the company, all products are certified fair trade, and all other ingredients are fair trade sourced where possible. </p>
<p>The announcement by Cadbury’s has led to headlines suggesting that the Fairtrade scheme <a href="http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/buying-and-supplying/categories/confectionery/as-cadbury-axes-logo-is-fairtrade-finished/545342.article">might be finished</a>, which does little to support the work of other fair trade pioneers. Consumers may lose faith. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Has bean?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/99374229@N07/12177230355/in/photolist-jy4ukv-7ZyFns-Dn5G7c-97aJD6-79uTMC-79uJHu-hhnVdT-79uJUs-79uKa3-ovBu3x-aHWyTr-oFxvko-hhouEy-97aKct-81n6E5-aWbK36-79qSTF-hhopEm-hho6Rg-hjjFr6-eBEqRF-hjNjPP-jy6Cfy-hhnYmq-hjMsr7-jy5zTR-hho5sU-f1waW9-hiuQcw-79qSYP-79uJxw-9beHw2-jy7EfA-8necFQ-e1APzh-8vy6uf-e1APu7-eWMpvx-9oRa31-7hPDuG-ebzbKo-p7SRK8-aHXP4v-oN7fen-jy6Dn3-72mZgK-7Y4fJY-cPGL9w-72qZio-72n1nP">USAID's Development Credit Authority/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reality cheque</h2>
<p>Despite the upbeat rhetoric from both sides, the Cadbury’s withdrawal has been a major blow for the UK Fairtrade Foundation. Remember that one of the foundation’s aims since it was set up in 1992 has been to promote and raise awareness of the Fairtrade Mark – its <a href="http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/en/what-is-fairtrade/who-we-are">highly visible stamp of approval</a>. </p>
<p>They have made the most of a difficult situation to ensure via Cocoa Life that Mondelez continues to invest in working with farmers in Ghana and that Fairtrade will report in some way on the Cocoa Life scheme’s progress. But it is slim pickings for the optimists.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dairy Milk bars bearing the Fairtrade Mark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/ANDY RAIN</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The hope must be that the continued association with Fairtrade means that Mondelez will continue to support smallholder farmers. One of the biggest benefits of the Fairtrade project has been the requirement for smallholder farmers to come together in democratic organisations to decide how to spend the premiums, build their businesses and invest in their communities. <a href="http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/en/media-centre/blog/2016/november/what-is-happening-with-cadbury-and-fairtrade">According to Fairtrade</a>, Cocoa Life must deliver at least equivalent value to the Cadbury farmers as they would have received under Fairtrade, including direct cash loyalty payments to farmers. </p>
<p>Finally, as Cadbury’s moves to its own company private cocoa scheme, it is unclear whether there will be any kind of full and trusted third party verification monitoring of how much money is invested and where. <a href="http://www.globescan.com/news-and-analysis/press-releases/press-releases-2011/94-press-releases-2011/145-high-trust-and-global-recognition-makes-fairtrade-an-enabler-of-ethical-consumer-choice.html">Studies have shown</a> this independent monitoring is crucial to scheme credibility. It is also unclear what role farmers will have in running this programme, and whether, as it is their future that is being decided, they have appropriate influence over the price they get for their cocoa and how the money is spent.</p>
<p>The real danger lies in the fact that other major players are also building <a href="http://www.nestle.co.uk/csv2015/rural-development/nestl%c3%a9-cocoa-plan">their own private schemes</a>. This clearly opens up the possibility that they too will opt out of the independent certification scheme. If this does come to pass, consumers will be left unable to properly assess and compare the benefits to farmers being offered by the different chocolate brands. And that favours the big companies far more than it does those growing the cocoa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bob Doherty does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The benchmark scheme that protects cocoa farmers and local communities could be toppled as big players rethink their role.Bob Doherty, Professor of Marketing , University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/668502016-10-21T10:21:28Z2016-10-21T10:21:28ZCould wild mangoes solve the world’s chocolate crisis?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142551/original/image-20161020-8849-rdzd8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chocolate dates back to 1900BC - but it's now at risk of running out</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-272320040/stock-photo-chocolate-chocolate-candy-cocoa.html?src=H2R7wt30gH-a26-_R7Lw6g-1-3">Billion Photos/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Theobroma, the genus to which cacao, or “cocoa” as we know it, belongs, <a href="http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/theobroma-cacao-cocoa-tree">translates from the Latin</a> as “food of the gods”. Ask any serious chocoholic and they would agree that this is an apt name to be used in relation to the sweet treat that many worldwide enjoy.</p>
<p>Much to the dismay of said chocolate lovers, there has been a decline in the availability of cocoa recently, putting the global <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/chocolate-makers-fight-a-melting-supply-of-cocoa-1452738616">chocolate supply at risk</a>. The trees on which cocoa pods grow have suffered due to a <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/ghana-faces-massive-shortfall-in-cocoa-crop-1434719593">combination of factors</a>, including crop failure, disease and ageing plantations, which has led to price fluctuations and a shortfall in supply. Global demand for the ingredient has been growing meanwhile, leading industry experts to warn there could be a <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11236558/Dont-panic-but-we-could-be-running-out-of-chocolate.html">chocolate deficit of 1m tonnes</a> by 2020. </p>
<p>What to do? Use of a substitute ingredient would work, but they are very <a href="http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2008/09/chocolate-cocoa-butter-replacements-hersheys.html">rarely accepted happily by consumers</a>. The industry is still seeking an alternative, however, as experts confirm that chocolate as it is known and loved now could turn <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/chocolate-could-run-out-2020-2913505">into a much sweeter confectionery</a>. But rather than bulking bars up with sweet nougat or raisins in place of cocoa butter – the key component currently used – there is another way.</p>
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<p>Cocoa butter is the pure butter extracted from cocoa beans and is one of the unique natural fats highly demanded by the food industry, as well as for use in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. It is currently the only commercially available natural fat which is rich in saturated and mono-unsaturated fatty acids. There are some alternatives available based on <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289108066_Cocoa_butter_alternative_fats">lauric and myristic acid</a> – but these have both been shown to increase blood cholesterol. </p>
<p>The price of cocoa butter is one of the highest among all tropical fats and oils and, according to International Cocoa Organisation, its <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/srep32050">cost more than doubled</a> between 2005 and 2015. Finding an alternative that will satisfy the world’s sweet tooth is not an easy task, but we may just have found the answer: wild mango.</p>
<h2>The unknown mango</h2>
<p>Wild mango is something of a “Cinderella” species, the potential of which is as yet unrealised. The fruit is a mainstay in the lives of rural Bangladeshis in the hill forest areas of the country, where it is extensively used in pickles and chutneys, for food and for medicines. However, it is not farmed in any formal sense and remains a wild species, sporadically collected throughout the year. </p>
<p>Our research has found that this fruit could provide an <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4995435/">alternative to the much coveted cocoa butter</a>, plucking it from the branches of obscurity into mainstream production. The analyses we conducted showed that wild mango butter, made from the fruit’s stone, has a very similar chemical, physical and thermal profile to cocoa butter – as well as several superior properties. It has a higher solid triglyceride content, for example, which means it can be used to improve soft cocoa butters, and make a <a href="https://theconversation.com/racing-the-melt-the-quest-for-heat-resistant-chocolate-44119">temperature resistant</a> hard chocolate. It has the added advantage of being a fruit with a large kernel – typically 40-50% of its body mass – meaning it has a proportionately high fat content: 9-14%. </p>
<p>Additionally, the colour of the mango butter is same as cocoa butter – and the melting point is also very close, which is of great importance for maintaining chocolate production processes and reducing some of the cost.</p>
<p>Though, unfortunately, our funding did not allow us to make a bar of scrumptious chocolate with the mango alternative, the science is all there – and cultivating the wild mango may have extra benefits for society and the environment too. Wild mango can be found growing in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Myanmar, China, Thailand and Cambodia. However, the species is declining at an alarming rate due to logging, shifting cultivation and very few conservation efforts. There is an enormous potential for the development of a wild mango enterprise, which the food and cosmetic industries could make use of together.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66850/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sayma Akhter's PhD was funded by the Erasmus Mundus Program FONASO. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ray Marriott receives funding from Mars Chocolate</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morag McDonald does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A little-known fruit could provide an alternative to cocoa butter.Sayma Akhter, PhD researcher, Bangor UniversityMorag McDonald, Professor of Ecology & Catchment Management, Bangor UniversityRay Marriott, Research fellow, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.