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Better Stock Up! Chocolate Could Be Wiped Off The Planet In Just 30 Years

Better Stock Up! Chocolate Could Be Wiped Off The Planet In Just 30 Years

The cocoa plant needs a pretty consistent temperature to thrive but things could go wrong if the climate keeps changing...

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

For many of us with a sweet tooth, chocolate rides pretty high on the list of favourite treats.

Whether you're more into dark, milk, white or even that new ruby one that virtually no one has got to try, there's no denying that chocolate is a gift sent from the gods to keep us all comfortable while binging on a new Netflix series.

But the delicious sweet's days could be numbered as the world continues to grapple with the changing climate. Two-thirds of the world's cocoa come from West Africa, with the Ivory Coast being the biggest producer of the plant in the world.

It thrives in high humidity and tons of rain, but that could soon be in short supply in the region over the next few decades.

via GIPHY

Officials from Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Ghana are trying to work out how to save their beloved natural product, as they're also faced with the prospect of losing their ecosystems to climate change.

Doug Hawkins from research firm Hardman Agribusiness told the Daily Mail: "Unlike other tree crops that have benefited from the development of modern, high yielding cultivars and crop management techniques to realise their genetic potential, more than 90 percent of the global cocoa crop is produced by smallholders on subsistence farms with unimproved planting material.

PA

"All the indicators are that we could be looking at a chocolate deficit of 100,000 tonnes a year in the next few years."

If the average temperature rises to expected levels, then there won't be enough rainfall to make up for the moisture loss on hot days. It will also mean that the areas that can sustain cocoa plantations will have to go up hundreds of feet into the mountains to achieve normal temperature conditions.

An incredibly depressing report from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that nearly 90 percent of more than 290 locations won't be able to support cocoa plantation by 2050.

PA

Thankfully, it's not all bad news.

If climate change continues to develop in the way many think it will, the next generation of plants will be affected, meaning there is time to make changes now so that we don't end up without our delicious chocolate.

One strategy offered up by the NOAA was providing growers with seeds that are better designed for drought-like conditions.

Look, I think we can all agree that any measure to safeguard the future of chocolate is a good thing - so let's try them all!

Sources: Daily Mail, NOAA

Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Topics: Food, World News, climate change, News, Chocolate