Climate Change Update: Farmers should develop new crop management techniques to survive

Cocoa industry must adapt to climate change - study - AlertNet: "Half of the world’s cocoa comes from the West African nations of Ivory Coast and Ghana. An expected temperature rise of more than two degrees Celsius by 2050 will render many of the region’s cocoa-producing areas too hot for the plants that bear the fruit from which chocolate is made, says a new study from the Colombia-based International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

“What we are saying is that if we don’t take any action, there won’t be sufficient chocolate around in the future,” said Peter Läderach, the report’s lead author.

The warmer conditions predicted by the researchers, based on 19 climate models, mean cocoa trees will struggle to get enough water during the growing season, curtailing the development of cocoa pods containing the prized cocoa bean - the key ingredient in chocolate production.

“The dry seasons will become more intense; it will get hotter and the plants will be affected,” Läderach told AlertNet on the phone from Nicaragua."

'via Blog this'