Levon Azizyan, Director of the Center for Hydrometeorology and Monitoring, SNCO, writes:
Climate change in West Africa threatens global cocoa production.
Anthropogenic climate change is increasing heat in West Africa, where most of the world's cocoa production is concentrated. This is negatively affecting business and leading to a significant increase in prices, according to a study by Climate Central.
Cocoa prices increased by 136% from July 2022 to February 2024, and one reason for this is the extreme climatic conditions in the West African cocoa belt, where 70% of the world's cocoa is produced.
Temperatures up to 32° are optimal for cocoa growth. Higher temperatures could reduce the quality and quantity of the crop, while climate change is bringing more extreme heat to key cocoa-growing regions. Increased rainfall is also having a negative impact.
The analysis focused on 44 major cocoa-growing regions in four leading cocoa-producing countries: Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria. Climate change has significantly impacted cocoa-growing areas in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, which produce more than half of the world's cocoa.
