Chocolate is a joy but the rising consumption has negative effects - our insatiable demand causes a severe deforestation in Ghana
(The Steemians Post) Chocolate sweetens our lives. We just cannot get enough of it - no matter if the chocolate comes in a block, as a spread, as a cream, as a paste, in a liquid state, hot or cold. Neurotransmitters are released, when we are enjoying chocolate, they bring forward positive feelings and make us feel happy. Our insatiable demand causes significant issues though.
Cocao, Ghana's flagship commodity export, is the cause of massive deforestations in the West African country. Ghana is the second biggest exporter of cocoa beans in the world.
Of Ghana's population of 25 million people around 800.000 families are supposed to depend on cocoa farming and its industry.
Cocoa farming causes deforestation in many countries, but I picked out Ghana to highlight a vicious cycle the country is in.
Ghana just announced that its production targets for 2016 and 2017, the Ghana Cocoa Board gave out, will be very likely missed. The production will not meet the targets of 850,000 and 900,000 metric tonnes of cocoa.
Now, that sounds like a good thing, considering the deforestation the farming of the precious beans causes,, right? But it is not! The failure to reach these figures was not achieved by any environmentalism successes and will lead, although this might sounds paradoxical, to further deforestations within the country.
Here are the factors that pressurized the output:
- Climate/Watering inability: Reduced rainfalls, dry weather conditions mainly in the first quarter of this year
- Contamination of lands caused from unlawful mining activities near cocoa farms
- Heavily polluted rivers: high mercury and cyanide levels in the waters
- Used chemicals/lack of knowledge of plant protection/substandard products: The cocoa farmers in Ghana are receiving fertilizers and fungicides mainly from Cocobod, Ghana's Cocoa Board, and some point out, that most of these chemicals are ineffective as they are washed down simply by watering or by rainfalls. Also, they are said to lack of protection against are mirids, small, terrestrial bugs, and Pod Rot, also known as Black Pod, caused by a fungus.
- Herbicide resistance, insect resistance and resistance to pathogens are caused by the massive usage of chemical applications over years. The cultivation of Cacao is not native to Ghana and that alone causes a high usage of chemicals.
Now where do I identify the vicious cycle?
Instead, of combating these issues I reckon, that political strategists in Ghana will fight the cocoa target miss with further loggings of forests on a large scale, especially as the global demand rises. Instead, the country should first improve its infrastructure, work on watering solutions, higher its spendings to fight illegal mining, land and water polluters, invest in know how and improve the advisory role of the Cocoa Board and its production recommendations, teach farmers about diseases and other threats, the usage of chemicals involved, dosages and hazards of chemical applications.
Other articles of my How to make the World a better Place series: (1) Negative impact of avocado consumption, (2) The elephant conflict with humans in Sri Lanka - (3) Reduce you palm oil consumption - (4) Thailand’s dirty shrimp industry and its vicious cycle
Sources - Research and Images
Research:
- peacefmonline.com - Ghana Likely To Miss 2016-17 Cocoa Targets
- nbcnews.com - Chocolate Is a Bittersweet Way of Life in Ghana
- amanochocolate.com - Why does chocolate make people happy
- icco.org - Pest and Diseases
What is your opinion on this? Are you often enjoying chocolate? Have you ever thought about its origin? Please leave your comments below and follow me on Steemit for more input on world concerns.
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