Western Europe accounted for a revenue share of over 35% in 2016 according to a report by Future Market Insights. Furthermore, North America’s demand for cocoa is projected to exhibit substantial growth over the predicted period of 2016-2026.
Ivory Coast is the leading producer of cocoa across the globe. The region accounts for more than 40 percent of the cocoa production. The end of crisis enabled Ivory Coast to overtake the Netherlands as the world leader.
The Cocoa Crisis!
Ghana is the second biggest producer of cocoa. Groups in Ghana and Ivory Coast both plan to hold consistent meetings and are emphasizing to build a foundation (technical commission) to ensure suitability and manage the production of cocoa. Ghana recently declared strategies to present hand pollination of cocoa seedlings. These two nations have also taken several initiatives in order to initiate irrigating farms as part of plans to lift production. A chairperson of International Cocoa Organization mentioned that high-level conference of ministers from cocoa making countries has come up with numerous resolutions in order to assist the crisis in the market.
Recently, a light shower in Ivory Coast’s major cocoa producing region calmed some farmers with the fears of flooding. Although, farmers were concerned with hot weather and humidity that may affect the quality of the cocoa mid-crop,
Farmers described decent climate conditions in the western region of Soubre but were concerned regarding the crisis in the south and east regions. Substantial rain for numerous weeks has initiated drying problems and raised fears of disease. Also, farmers stated scattered rain last week in the eastern region of Abengourou.
Jack Fruit Seeds- “The Substitute”
The West African nation is expected to produce over 1 million cocoa that is a 20% rise over the last year. Organizations representing the cocoa production in the region have analyzed that the global production of cocoa will increase robustly in the next six years, creating a situation of surplus. As the global demand for chocolate is outselling the production of cocoa beans, manufacturers are looking at using alternatives, especially jackfruit seeds.. Researchers at the University of Sao Palo have discovered that compounds found in jackfruit may contain same aromas similar to those found in cocoa beans. Also, jackfruit seeds are said to be a cheap alternative in chocolate manufacturing.
