<p>With environmental challenges, rising populations and a lack of crop investment, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to farm cocoa in west African countries. So how can positive changes be brought about in this area?</p><p>In Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, farmers are already seeing the increasing impact of climate change. Higher temperatures, less regular rainfall and extended periods of drought are leading to a lower crop yield and, in turn, a lower income.</p><p>Yet for more than a hundred years, cocoa has been an important crop for smallholder farms across western Africa. Today, around <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/263855/cocoa-bean-production-worldwide-by-region/#:~:text=About%2070%20percent%20of%20the,the%20world%C2%B4s%20cocoa." rel="nofollow">70% of the world’s chocolate</a> comes from small, privately owned cocoa farms in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria, where local farmers are at the helm of cocoa production.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/breaks-for-good/article/2024/jul/08/pruning-reforesting-how-good-agricultural-practices-can-lift-cocoa-communities">Continue reading...</a>