Cocoa and Climate Change

Blog Action LogoMy post for Blog Action Day 2009 focuses the impact of traditional cocoa cultivation in climate change. Let me start with the concept of the forest rent. The term was first coined by French Agronomist François Ruf. Here’s what he found.

Although a shade tree by origin, farmers found that exposing the cocoa tree to light, i.e., cutting down forests, increased yield dramatically. A newly planted cocoa farm thus starts out very productive and has high yields. But exposure to light shortens the trees’ life. As trees age–their life expectancy ranges now down to as little as 20 years–their yield declines. At the same time, they become more vulnerable to pests and diseases. The amount of labor and chemicals required to keep trees producing increases accordingly.

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Ghana Cocoa Board Increases Producer Prices

Ghana’s Finance Minister Dr Kwabena Duffuor today announced the new cocoa producer price for the 2009-10 season. Farmers will receive GH¢2,208 ($1,511) per ton or GH¢138 ($94.50) per bag of cocoa. That’s a 35 percent increase over last year’s producer prices and about 71 percent of the FOB price of cocoa. With the current cocoa prices hovering around $3,300 per ton, I’m not sure how the 71 percent number was calculated. But the report indicated that the new price is the highest price ever paid to farmers.

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Côte d’Ivoire Production Reports for the Last Cocoa Year

The new cocoa year started on October 1st and its time to review some of the production data from the last cocoa year. Let’s start with the largest producer, the Côte d’Ivoire.  According to an item in Africa Report, the West African country had its worst production in five years. Total cocoa exports amounted to 1,178,526 tonnes, 14 percent down from last years 1,367,877 tonnes. Exporters expect the current season to be just as  bad, predicting exports in the range of 1 million to 1.15 million tons.

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