There's no easy way to say this:
You're eating too much chocolate, all of you.
And it's getting so out of hand that the world could be headed towards a potentially disastrous
(if you love chocolate) scenario if it doesn't stop.
Chocolate deficits, whereby farmers produce less cocoa than the world eats, are becoming the norm.
Already, we are in the midst of what could be the longest streak of consecutive chocolate deficits in more than 50 years!
The problem is, for one, a supply issue.
Dry weather in West Africa (specifically in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, where more than 70 percent of the world's cocoa is produced)
has greatly decreased production in the region.
A nasty fungal disease known as frosty pod hasn't helped either.
The International Cocoa Organization estimates it has wiped out between 30 percent and 40 percent of global coca production.
Because of all this, cocoa farming has proven a particularly tough business,
and many farmers have shifted to more profitable crops, like corn (or cocaine), as a result.
Then there's the world's insatiable appetite for chocolate.
China in particular is growing more chocolate hungry every year.
Then, there is the rising popularity of Dark Chocolate
which contains a good deal more cocoa by volume than traditional chocolate bars
(the average chocolate bar contains about 10 percent, while dark chocolate often contains upwards of 70 percent)
“In 20 years, chocolate will be like caviar,” says one conservation researcher.
“The average Joe just won’t be able to afford it at $11 a bar.”
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