Cacao can only grow within about 20° north and south of the equator—south of the Mediterranean home of carob, in fact. Cacao trees only prosper under specific conditions, including fairly uniform temperatures, high humidity, abundant rain, nitrogen-rich soil, and protection from wind. In short, cacao trees thrive in rainforests.
The world's leading producers are Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Indonesia. Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana produce over half of the world's chocolate.
The danger to chocolate comes from an increase in evapotranspiration, especially since the higher temperatures projected for West Africa by 2050 are unlikely to be accompanied by an increase in rainfall, according to business-as-usual carbon dioxide emissions scenarios. In other words, as higher temperatures squeeze more water out of soil and plants, it's unlikely that rainfall will increase enough to offset the moisture loss.
By 2050, rising temperatures will push the suitable cacao cultivation areas uphill. The IPCC reported that Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana’s optimal altitude for cacao cultivation is expected to rise from 350–800 feet (100–250 meters) to 1,500–1,600 feet (450–500 meters) above sea level.
Cacao-growing countries may have to choose which priority matters more: growing a product to meet a global demand, or preserving natural habitat.
One adaptation strategy could be providing cacao growers with selectively bred seeds that have superior drought resistance. Another strategy involves a traditional cacao cultivation method that takes advantage of the conditions under which cacao naturally grows.
In the cacao orchards of Ivory Coast, women do most of the work for just a small portion of the income.
Only 25% of landowners in Ivory Coast are women.
Yet women play a critical role in the country’s cacao sector – the biggest in the world and the key raw ingredient to make cocoa powder, the basis of the $110bn (£85bn) global chocolate industry.
Women do about 70% of the work on Ivory Coast cocoa farms and receive only about 20% of the income, according to the African Development Bank.
Cacao producers live below the extreme poverty line– the average cacao farming family member is estimated to survive off 74p ($1) a day in Ivory Coast, but for women that figure is just 23p ($0.30) a day.
Patriarchal attitudes often exclude them from decision making, land ownership, and the all-important stage of selling the crop. Legally landless and therefore not considered “farmers”, women’s ability to join co-operatives, receive training, access finance, and improve their lives, is limited.
“Women do everything, right until the cocoa dries. But the men take the cocoa, sell it, and are never accountable towards women.”
This has prompted the Fairtrade Foundation to say women in West African cacao are often “invisible”. Across all developing countries, rural women work longer hours, but have only a fraction of the land, credit, inputs and training, says the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization.
Unable to afford medical care, many cacao farmers still die of poverty, she says, and patriarchal attitudes to land ownership often mean that, when male landowners die, their wives do not automatically inherit their land, leaving women and children destitute.
Loans are often inaccessible to women working in cacao.
Ultimately though, chocolate companies and consumers will need to pay more if cacao farmers – and women in particular – are to escape poverty
“We need consumers and companies to make good choices, to contribute to this empowerment and change,” she says. “We should all be paying the right price.”
While cacao farmers can’t solve the problem of poverty on their own, wider changes to the system, coupled with efforts such as training, could make their farms more profitable and help reduce the impact of cacao on the planet, too.
Lower incomes: Female cocoa farmers earn 25%-30% less than male farmers in Ghana and up to 70% less in Côte d'Ivoire.
Less access to training: Women often struggle to access the training and education that will help them understand how to improve their own situation and gain empowerment and autonomy in affairs at home and in their community.
Lower economic empowerment: Women typically face greater challenges than men in achieving economic empowerment and sustainable livelihoods. This includes obstacles around accessing finance, farm inputs, and participating in farming collectives and cooperatives.
Less land ownership: 40% of the work on cocoa farms is done by women, yet they only own 2% of the land and are excluded from group training sessions, according to research.
Decision-making power: Women often lack a voice in decision-making at the household, community, district and national level, and are often underrepresented in leadership positions. Women often are denied the right to decide when and how to overcome the challenges they face.
Cocoa Life non-profit for women and cocoa.
There is less recognition of women's participation at the production end of the cocoa-chocolate value chain, with cocoa largely deemed as a "male crop" in Ghana and India. Yet research in both countries has found women often play a role as farmers (an estimated 25% in Ghana), unpaid family labor and/or low-wage casual labor (especially in India). In both countries women were found to be most active in certain activities – early crop care, fermentation and drying.
Some within the sector are beginning to wake up to the important role women play in cocoa production. For example: the Fairtrade co-operative Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana has had a gender programme in place since the late 1990s; the Cocoa Partnership, established by Cadbury in 2008, has included a gender focus when supporting local cocoa-growing communities; the certification organization Utz has a gender programme in operation since 2009.
Strategies to enhance women's participation, recognition and remuneration in cocoa production, should include:
- Recognising women as farmers, unpaid family and wage labor in their own right, whose value chain contribution needs adequate reward.
- Providing training and education in culturally sensitive ways that are focused on enhancing women's participation and learning.
- Ensuring women farmers have better access to inputs, including credit and extension services.
- Supporting women's organizations and making marketing channels more easily accessible for women farmers.
- Supporting implementation of legislation promoting women's equal access to land ownership and remuneration.
References:
https://tonyschocolonely.com/us/en/our-mission/news/the-inequality-female-cocoa-farmers-face
https://stories.fairtrade.org.uk/the-new-queens-of-cocoa/