Climate Smart Cocoa (CSC) is not only about avoiding future losses but also about mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improving the livelihoods of farmers by increasing the productivity and resilience of their farms. The current state of cocoa production in Ghana has significant leeway to become more forward-looking and …
Cocoa farmers at Timeabu in the Ejisu-Juabeng Municipality of the Ashanti Region are cutting down trees on their farms, impeding efforts to tackle climate change effects on cocoa production. The practice is thwarting government’s ‘Tree on the Farm’ initiative meant to address the impact of climate change on agriculture. Goal …
A drop in global cocoa prices threatens to undermine efforts to stamp out child labour in Ghana and Ivory Coast, the world's two biggest growers, as falling incomes could force farmers to send their children to work, charities said on Monday. More than two million children are estimated to work …
Cameroon's plan to more than double cocoa production by 2020, moving the country up the global ranks of producers and improving incomes for its farmers, is under increasing threat from extreme weather, according to the state support company for growers. Heavy rains have slowed expected output and rattled farmers, with …
Heavy rains and overcast weather last week in most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa regions fueled fears that flooding and disease could cut into production in the last stage of the mid-crop, farmers said on Tuesday. Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, is in its rainy season and regular …
Ghana has recorded its biggest cocoa harvest in three years, according to two people familiar with the matter, after better weather conditions boosted output in the world’s second-biggest grower. Graded and sealed deliveries from the so-called main crop, the larger of two annual harvests, reached 812,153 metric tons by May …
Rapid integration of global agricultural markets and subsequent cropland displacement in recent decades increased large-scale tropical deforestation in South America and Southeast Asia. Growing land scarcity and more stringent land use regulations in these regions could incentivize the offshoring of export-oriented commodity crops to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We assess the …
The aim of this study is to determine landscape dynamics in the classified forest of Haut-Sassandra (CFHS) during the periods of conflict in Ivory Coast (or Côte d’Ivoire). To achieve this, the land cover of this protected area was determined by classifying satellite images obtained before, during and after the …
DUBROVNIK, Croatia—The cocoa industry must try to adapt to climate change or risk disastrous effects on global production, a group of cocoa industry experts and scientists said Thursday, speaking at the European Cocoa Association forum. “I believe this is one of the main challenges we have to face” in this …
Before the morning mists had broken over Ivory Coast's Mont Peko National Park, thousands of newly homeless cocoa farmers and their families began to stir, fetching water and lighting cooking fires outside Sylvain Zongo's church at the forest edge. "I don't know what I am going to do. All I …
Scientists in Wales may have found a solution to the global chocolate crisis caused by a cocoa shortage. Bangor University researchers discovered wild mango butter can be used as an alternative to cocoa butter. Disease and crop failure made the price of cocoa butter more than double between 2005 and …
SAN SALVADOR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Farmer Abelardo Ayala took a tough decision on his estate in San Juan Tepezontes, a traditional coffee-producing region of El Salvador: to swap his coffee trees for cocoa as a warming climate hit his crop. Ayala said his plantation - situated between 600 and …
Light rains in most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa regions augur well for the crop in the world's biggest producer, farmers said on Monday, but cloudy weather has stoked fears of disease in the south. Farmers need the right mix of rain and sunny spells in July and August to …
Ivorian security forces have driven thousands of cocoa farmers out of a national park this week at the start of an operation to preserve the refuge for endangered chimpanzees and forest elephants, a government source and locals said on Thursday. Mont Peko is one of a few dwindling patches of …
Supermarket giant Tesco has revealed that it will acquire all cocoa used for its own label chocolate, biscuits, cakes, deserts and cereal products sold in the UK from Rainforest Alliance Certified sources by the end of 2018. As part of Tesco’s collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance, the supermarket will launch …
Ghana’s Cocoa Eco-Project has a major outcome of increasing carbon sequestration by minimizing the emission of harmful gases on cocoa farms into the atmosphere. Carbon sequestration involves the long-term storage of carbon dioxide to mitigate climate change – it has been proposed as a way to slow the atmospheric accumulation …
The African Development Bank has launched a report that seeks to empower women to take the lead in agribusiness and agriculture value chains thus participating in Africa’s economic growth process. The report, Economic Empowerment of African Women Through Equitable Participation in Agricultural Value Chains, identifies opportunities for women that can …
Full-sun cocoa farming is currently the most widespread cocoa cultivation system in humid and sub-humid Côte d’Ivoire. Higher short-term yields from increasing surfaces under cultivation in this farming system have contributed to the country being ranked as top cocoa producer in the world. However the negative consequences including biodiversity loss, …
Australia remains on El Nino watch on expectations the weather pattern that brings drought to the Asia-Pacific region and heavier-than-usual rains to South America will probably develop by August. The alert indicates at least a 70 percent chance of an El Nino developing this year, the Bureau of Meteorology said …
The State of Sustainability Initiatives Review 2014 provides a bird's-eye view of market and performance trends across 16 of the most prevalent standards initiatives operating across ten different commodity sectors. The Review represents one small effort toward strengthening our understanding of how voluntary sustainability standards are developing over time, both …
London: Here’s good news for chocoholics — munching on the sweet treat regularly may stave off your risk of developing bowel cancer, a new study has claimed. Researchers at the Science and Technology Institute of Food and Nutrition in Spain found that eating a diet high in cocoa could reduce …
