Farmers abandon cocoa as plant virus spreads

Farmers abandoning cocoa as weather, pricing policies decimate crops

What you probably already know: Farmers in some of the top cocoa growing areas have pulled up their plants and are reseeding fields with other crops after bad weather and failed government policies resulted in the fast spread of a virus that has decimated the plants. Farmers in Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world’s two largest cocoa growing regions, are struggling with swollen-shoot virus, which causes the roots of the cocoa plants to rot. The decision to abandon the crops is likely to result in significant price increases for chocolate in the near future.

Why? This isn’t a new issue. We spoke with Seattle Chocolate owner and CEO Jean Thompson last year, and she told us that her company was struggling to get enough cocoa to keep up with demand. Big companies like Hershey, which historically have only purchased chocolate from Africa, have increasingly turned to South American producers, which is where many artisan chocolate producers get their cocoa. As the climate changes in Ivory Coast and Ghana, cocoa becomes harder to farm and the supply chain tightens.

What it means: Farmers are blaming government policies that set a fixed price for cocoa in the country, which was created to protect farmers from the huge shifts in prices as global markets react to supply. But that policy has also prevented these same farmers from benefitting from the high prices when they need the money the most. Meanwhile, the governments are pocketing the difference between the farmgate price and what the cocoa is actually selling for on the global market. Cocoa futures were up 178% last year, more growth than even bitcoin saw in 2024.

What happens now? The combination of bad policy and climate change could have a long-term impact on the industry. If farmers have no incentive to grow cocoa, which was hard to grow in the first place, then they’ll simply switch to another more lucrative crop. Many are planting palm plants to harvest for palm oil. And cocoa grows on trees — it’s not a crop that can be turned around in a year. So the decision to pull up the cocoa trees and replace them with palm trees isn’t likely to be quickly reversed. If you’re a chocolate lover, consider stocking up on your supply while you can.