Could the world’s supply of cocoa run out in five years?

It’s a question that been on the minds of chocolate lovers worldwide after growers in the Ivory Coast in Africa said that they are running out due several factors including price increases, low productivity and climate change.

How soon could we be running low or even running out of chocolate? Some scientists working in the field have dramatically stated that it could be as soon as within the next five years. Due to the shortages of cocoa prices in the shops of some of our favourite treats have already skyrocketed with a single bar of chocolate, something like a Mars bar now costing over £1 a piece.

This price rise has, however, not made its way back to the growers in the Ivory Coast whose costs have risen. This has led many to abandon the plantations and find more lucrative work away from growing cocoa including working at rubber or palm tree industries. Yeyasso, a farming cooperative based in the western city of Man, said output from its 5,000 cocoa producers had dropped by over 30 per cent in recent years.

With the impact of climate change the Ivory Coast is experiencing more dramatic and longer droughts resulting in failed or limited crops of cocoa forcing the price of what is produced ever higher.