Cacao as a Cash Commodity

Posted on October 15, 2015 by appcar19 in Permaculture and Chocolate.

Some hershey kisses and rolos. A reminder of Caroline’s halloween stash.

As our group learned at the NW chocolate festival, Cacao is a growing demand in the world today. Most artisanal chocolate makers who wish to make excellent chocolate source their cacao beans from South America, where cacao is native. But the reality is most of the chocolate we see on the store shelves today probably came from Africa. According to the International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRA), the Ivory Coast and surrounding West African countries supplied 65% of the world’s cacao supply in 1996.

However, most chocolate consumers may not know what goes into making a bar of chocolate, like where it came from, who supplied its beans, or whether it’s necessarily the “best” chocolate. But the “best” is not so easily defined.

Today, many farmers in West Africa rely on cacao as a cash commodity and have been working to rebuild their agriculture. When the world prices of cacao dropped in the 1980’s, more workers turned to food production. This resulted in drastic deforestation of the region.

Today, cacao has still been the country’s main source of revenue currently at about 60%. With this gaining knowledge momentum, customers want to support fair trade practices and support cacao that is harvested ethically.

One example of fair share to look at is Ecookim: a union who’s primary cooperative members work to provide better wage and living conditions for their cacao farmers. Located along several regions in the Ivory Coast, Ecookim attracts people from neighboring countries seeking employment opportunities. Ecookim provides technical assistance as well as cacao quality analysis training and high quality agricultural training for it’s members, among other benefits.

As many learn more about the chocolate business, they thinking twice about picking up just “any” chocolate bar.

Permaculture Design: Thinking future Cacao

Posted on October 15, 2015 by ziobon21 in Permaculture and Chocolate.

Integrative Question: Using a permaculture design lens, outline an ideal cacao production and distribution system that integrates all disciplinary learning to satisfy the ethics of earth care, people care and fair share.

Cacao trees are delicate and sensitive to changes in weather, therefore need to have a decent canopy to shade it from direct sunlight. This canopy could be of use itself too. Native, profitable tall plants that grow in the same climate as cacao could also include: Fruit trees, (up to 50 different fruits can grow harmoniously alongside cacao!) rubber trees, different kinds of timber and fibers, all while providing a better habitat for wildlife.

This shaded approach at cultivating cacao also provides the perfect environment for the very thing that pollinates these plants, midges! And is also home to many cacao pest-eating creatures as well. This natural approach at cacao farming ensures natural systems stay in play, ultimately keeping the soil fertile without having to use various kinds of pesticides and fertilizers.

Cacao can only grow within 8 degrees of the equator which is problematic when you think of how high of a demand there is for cacao. This has resulted in the fashion of plantations mono cropping cacao, wiping out everything else. This is system made strictly for profit with nothing ethical or sustainable about it. Mono-cropping is especially nonsensical for cacao trees because they very fragile plants that are easily susceptible to disease. One diseased plant could ruin an entire plantation that is completely exposed to the next tree.

Cacao pods do not ripen in one yield, they actually regularly produce pods all year long. This means that cacao trees need lots of attention, regular harvesting and pruning as well as the weeding and thinning of the canopy.

-Direct trade / fair trade Fair Trade doesn’t help the poorest of farmers and barley helps the mildly successful.

“After examining 13 years of data from cooperatives in Guatemala is that, on average, the economic benefits of participating in the fair-trade system are offset by the price the growers have to pay for fair-trade certification. In other words, they found that the long-term benefit over time from fair trade to be essentially zero.”

Direct Trade seems more ethical, and more likely to actually trade fairly, because it is up to you. This allows you truly pay your farmer’s fairly which means even more if they have an exceptional product. This ensures the health and well being of those working on health and well being of the cacao trees!

Climate Change: Rising Temperatures and Falling Water Supplies

Posted on October 15, 2015 by weize16 in Permaculture and Chocolate.

Ghana and Ivory Coast in Africa produce more than half of world’s supply of chocolate, but, as temperatures rise and extreme weather becomes the norm, cocoa production in the two countries will begin decreasing by 2030 and getting much worse by 2050 according to 2011 study from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

By 2050, in the African nations of Ghana and Ivory Coast, It is predicted that temperatures will rise by at least 2 Celsius degree. That will cause cocoa trees to lose more water and to produce less cocoa fruit in return.

The impact of climate change:

Figure 1: Climate trend summary for 2030 and 2050. Blue bars show current and 2050 precipitation trends and red lines show the current, 2030 and 2050 temperature
Figure 2: Mean annual precipitation changes by 2030
Figure 3: Mean annual precipitation changes by 2050
Figure 4: Current suitability for cocoa production within cocoa-growing regions of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoir
Figure 5: Suitability for cocoa production in 2030
Figure 6: Climate suitability for cocoa production in 2050
Figure 7: Current climate suitability for cocoa, cashew and cotton production in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire
Figure 8: Climate suitability by 2030 for cocoa, cashew and cotton in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire
Figure 9: Climate suitability by 2050 for cocoa, cashew and cotton in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire
Figure 10: Mean annual temperature changes by 2030
Figure 11: Mean annual temperature changes by 2050

Source: 2011 study from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)