Cocoa Plantation vs. Small Farm: What's Good for the Bean Is Good for the Ecosystem
| September/October 1998
The cacao tree grows slowly. It loves to grow in the shade of tall rain forest trees. After six years or more, it finally produces fruit--cocoa beans--that mature in football-shaped pods. Of course, cocoa beans are used to make our favorite flavor: chocolate. According to the May 4 issue of the New York Times, however, the bean is in peril. Large cocoa plantations around the world are suffering from fungal and viral diseases and insects. These large farms are carved out of rain forests, leaving the cacao tree exposed to full sunlight and more vulnerable to disease and pests. The clearing of the forests to plant more cacao trees also drives away many species of birds, lizards and cacao-friendly insects. According to the New York Times article, Costa Rica has experienced cocoa crop devastation in the past because of the fungus monilia. Black pod disease, a cousin of potato blight, can cause up to an 80 percent loss of a crop in West Africa during a wet year. The Times reports that this year's cocoa pod harvest in Bahia, Brazil, will be half of what it was a few years ago because of a fungal disease called witches' broom. An agricultural economist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture warns "there are diseases in South America that are threatening to wipe out the industry there, as well as the rest of the world if they spread." In addition, Tony Lass, a cocoa cultivation expert from Cadbury Ltd., told the Times a new species of black pod disease is "now sitting on the frontier [of the Ivory Coast], where a million tons of cocoa a year are under threat." If cacao trees succumb to these diseases, failing to thrive under the harsh sun, where will our chocolate come from? This spring, chocolate industry representatives met at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama to talk about sustainable farming. Sustainable farming of coca is done on small farms in the cacao tree's natural habitat, under partial shade of the rain forest. Small cocoa farms don't need large quantities of pesticides, fungicides or fertilizers. Farmers know the trees in their acres and what works to keep them healthy. The return of the cacao tree to the natural shade of the rain forest means the return of a biodiverse ecosystem--one that sustains not only the cacao tree, but also the species of plant animal and insect that help it ward off disease. Researchers, conservation groups and the members of the chocolate industry are optimistic that increasing the number of sustainable farms, rather than more costly and risky plantations, will keep up with the world-wide demand for chocolate. Susan Smith, senior vice president of public affairs for the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, said the May issue of the Retail Confectioners International newsletter, "We're in no danger of running out of chocolate. Chocolate is, and will continue to be, a delicious, available and affordable food." A food that is responsibly farmed. |
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