This might be upsetting for you: in about 20 years, chocolate will be very expensive. It's going to happen because the demand for chocolate is increasing faster the then production. IN other words, people are wanting chocolate more and more, more than the chocolate growers are growing. This has been coming for a long time. IN the past six years alone, cocoa prices have been doubled. Another factor that is influencing this is the fact that chocolate can only grown within 10 degrees of the equator, which means that chocolate can't be grown everywhere in the world. A small-time grower earns about 80 cents each day, but they could be earning much more money if they grew other crops like rubber. That's why farmers don't replant the cocoa plants when they die. Many farmers are also moving into cities where more money can be made. One of the few things that could stop this is the fact that scientists have "sequenced" chocolate's genome, which means that they now have the ability to alter the chocolate crop to produce more and be able to grow in a wider variety of locations. However, the most likely result of this whole dilemma is more expensive chocolate. According to John Mason, who is the director of a Ghana Nature Conservation group, a chocolate bar could cost around $11 in 20 years.
I am disappointed by this news. I hope that more farmers start growing genetically engineered chocolate so that it won't be much more expensive.
Source:
Rebecca Boyle
Sept. 9, 2010
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-11/future-chocolate-will-be-rare-delicacy-analysts-say
Well, this isn't good. I would have to change my cereal. Maybe an option of saving chocolate could be by planting chocolate plants in greenhouses outside of the equator where they normally grow.
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