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Why cocaine farmers are growing chocolate Printer friendly page Print This
By NEOnline
New Europe
Sunday, Nov 29, 2015

Photo taken on, 03 September 2014, showing a group of people eradicating coca plants near the municipality of Yali, northeast of the department of Antioquia, Colombia.

Cocaine or chocolate? Farmers in South America are opting to grow cocoa instead of coca, the source of cocaine because cocoa is more profitable and a lot less dangerous.

For instance, the shift has increased Colombia’s cocoa production 11% to 54,120 tonnes in the 12 months ended September 30 compared with the previous season, according to data compiled by the Bogota-based National Federation of Cocoa Growers.

As reported by Bloomberg, prices for cocoa, the raw material used to produce chocolate, are climbing in international markets, lining the pockets of Andean farmers.

Cocoa futures have surged 39% in the three years through November 10, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Bloomberg Commodity Index, which doesn’t include cocoa, tumbled 40% in the same period. Cocoa for March delivery rose 0.5% to $3,329 a tonne by 11:49am on ICE Futures US in NY.

The trend partly reflects supply constraints in West Africa, which accounts for about 70% of the world’s supply. Dry weather from the strongest El Nino since the 1997-98 record has hurt crops there – mainly in Ghana, the world’s second biggest producer – although the return of rainfall last month eased some of the concerns, reported Bloomberg.

Even so, the 2015-2016 crop in the Ivory Coast, the world’s top producer, will be smaller than last year’s record of 1.8 million tonnes, and El Nino continues to pose risks in Indonesia, the No. 3 grower, and Ecuador, Rotterdam-based trader Cocoanect BV said in an e-mailed report.

As reported by Bloomberg, this is supplementing years of effort by governments and organisations in the US and South America to reduce coca cultivation. The illegal crop is grown exclusively in the Andean region, with Peru accounting for about 39% of cocaine production, Colombia 33% and Bolivia 28%.


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