The end of chocolate is coming
November 9th 2010 01:19
:
Vyoos news
Raw chocolate: pods on a cocao tree
Just when we thought we thought we had heard all the bad news possible recently - cholera in Haiti, a killer volcano in Indonesia, a plane crash in Cuba - comes news of a global tragedy which will strike us all within 20 years.
That is how long, according to reports today, before the world runs short of chocolate.
The problem, according to the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council, is that African farmers are abandoning cocao as a cash crop.
The typical African cocoa farmer earns less than US$1 a day and farming cocao has its difficulties. For example, the trees have a limited life, and every time they die off, the farmer must move to a new area and wait three to five years for a new crop to mature.
Cocao cultivation is being deserted so quickly that the world will run out of affordable chocolate within two decades, said John Mason, executive director and founder of the Nature Conservation Research Council.
"In 20 years, chocolate will be like caviar. It will become so rare and so expensive that the average Joe just won't be able to afford it,'' Mason said.
Our path is clear. We must start choc-piling.
independent.co.uk
Going, going ...
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Comment by Andy Tope
Bagman's Gazette
Comment by Chris Champion
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Nah, it's good news. From adversity springs opportunity. I'm buying 400,000 hectares in central Western Australia. I'll plant the lot with cocao trees. I'll just need to organise some irrigation.
Can you lend me $200 million so I can get started on this?
Cheers,
Chris
Comment by Andy Tope
Bagman's Gazette
Good luck with this. The word irrigation crumbled my hope a little, but us chocolate lovers of the world are right behind you none the less!
Comment by Chris Champion
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