According to most major chocolate producers, the chocolate industry upholds principles of sustainability. Companies tout major investments in sustainability initiatives across their supply chains. However, systemic economic, social, and environmental issues persist. On this page, we will explore some of the major issues in the chocolate industry, and examine the suggested solutions.

Cocoa: origins.

Cocoa, a native to the Americas, was a valuable crop in the earliest South American cultures. The term cocoa originated from the Nahuatl word “Cacahuatl”. Many believe that the plant first grew in the Amazon and upper Orinoco basins but the Mayans and the Aztecs eventually developed techniques to cultivate cocoa successfully. The plant was considered a symbol of wealth for these civilizations and its beans were used as currency. Cocoa beans are the main ingredient for making chocolate.
Cocoa beans are produced in tropical zones around the Equator, where climate conditions are well suited for growing cocoa trees. The majority of the world’s cocoa beans come from four West African countries: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon. The Ivory Coast and Ghana are the two largest producers of cocoa, accounting for more than 60 percent of the world’s cocoa. Central and South American countries also produce cacao. Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Columbia, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic grow cacao trees.

Global cocoa bean production from 2020/21 to 2022/23, by country(in 1,000 metric tons)

In the last thirty years, global production of cocoa has doubled. During these three decades, production in West Africa rose from 1.37 million tonnes to 3.47 million tonnes. While production in this region almost tripled, the production in the rest of the world remained largely stable. As a result, the market share of the big four West African cocoa producers increased from 55% to 74% in these years. The dependency on bulk cocoa in West Africa is even higher than these figures suggest. Some Latin American countries produce mainly fine or flavor cocoa – roughly 10% of global cocoa production – which is traded differently than bulk cocoa. It also has a significantly different price. And – unlike in West Africa – local consumption in Latin America is significant; Brazil even imports cocoa beans to satisfy the appetite of its population.

Cocoa: Cultivation

Cacao cultivation requires a specific environment characterized by consistent rainfall, high humidity, ample shade, nutrient-rich soil, minimal wind exposure, and stable temperatures. Globally, cacao trees generally produce two yields annually—a principal harvest and a secondary one, though the timing can vary by region. For example, in Côte d’Ivoire, the primary harvest typically occurs from October to March, and the secondary from May to August, resulting in biannual income for the farmers. Due to shelf-life constraints, cocoa beans are usually sold within six months to a year of harvest.

The majority of cocoa farms, particularly in West Africa, are small-scale, spanning just a few hectares. On these farms, cocoa is often cultivated alongside subsistence crops. A typical farm of 2 to 4 hectares might yield 300 to 700 kilograms of cocoa per hectare each year. However, the modest income from cocoa farming is often insufficient for farmers to reinvest in enhancing productivity or adopting more sustainable methods.

Cocoa farming involves intensive manual labor and can be dangerous. The process includes manually slicing open the harvested pods with a machete, removing the beans enclosed in pulp, and setting them out on banana leaves or trays to ferment. During fermentation, which takes about a week, the beans transition through several color changes and begin to develop their characteristic chocolate aroma. Post-fermentation, the beans are sun-dried for about a week, requiring regular turning to ensure even drying and optimal moisture reduction. Finally, the dried beans are bagged and transported to collection points. Despite their integral role in cocoa production, many cocoa farmers have never experienced the end product of their labor—chocolate itself.

Complexity of Cocoa Sustainability

Certification schemes provided internationally recognized and independent standards for producing sustainable cocoa at a certain quality level, as well as increased transparency and responsibility in cocoa supply chains. They set out economic, environmental, and social standards to help farmers improve farming practices and trained farmers accordingly. The three main Certification bodies were UTZ (founded 2009), Fairtrade (1994), and the Rainforest Alliance (1997 in Ecuador and 2007 in the Côte d’Ivoire). UTZ was the dominant certification program in 2015. UTZ and Rainforest Alliance merged in 2018. They were monitored by independent bodies, Fairtrade, for example, worked with ISO-accredited FLOCERT. The certification bodies offered a guaranteed premium for farmers’ beans above the price they sold their beans at. The premiums differed across the certification bodies. Pre-merger, for UTZ and RainforestAlliance, the premium depended on the agreement between the buyer and the cooperative, which was negotiated on top of the London market price. In 2018, the premium for Fairtrade was $200 per tonne, rising to $240 for conventional cocoa in October 2019. Fairtrade was the only certification scheme that required a mandatory minimum price, to protect farmers when prices fell.

Certification

While certification was a good start, it was viewed as a broken tool to get farmers out of the poverty trap. First, and foremost, the problem lies with the premises of the certification schemes. Most depart from the idea that the farmer is the problem. Recognizing that bad farming is not the problem but rather a symptom of a deeply unfair system, is the first towards fixing certification schemes.

Current forms of certification and farm-based standards increase pressure on farmers: instead, we need laws that hold the powerful accountable, rather than laws that demand that farmers change. Compliance criteria are imbalanced and need restructuring so that companies are held accountable to due diligence systems. For most chocolate makers, sellers, and retailers there are no penalties in the case of non-compliance with sustainability goals, and targets and deadlines can be missed with impunity. Certified farmers, on the other hand, lose their certification – and the market access and premiums coupled with the certification – if they do not comply, once again underscoring the unbalanced distribution of risk and responsibility in the supply chain.