The world is running out of cocoa farmers. Younger generations no longer want to be in cocoa. Older generations are reaching their life expectancy. PHOTO: Herbcraft

Think comfort food, think chocolate. Much has been written and debated about cocoa’s health properties. Many are the ones who swear by the uplifting power of cocoa at the end of forgettable days. But the ones who grow the beans hardly find any comfort in them, says the Cocoa Barometer. Some of them haven’t even tasted chocolate. Cocoa continues to be among the few crops that are hand-harvested but it doesn’t hand its cultivators a fair deal, says research.

The 2015 Cocoa Barometer is an overview of sustainability issues in the cocoa sector, written by various European and U.S. NGOs, and was released in the US this week. And what they’re really worried about is the people who grow the beans that are ground up to make our beloved treat. “The world is running out of cocoa farmers,” the report states. “Younger generations no longer want to be in cocoa. Older generations are reaching their life expectancy.”

It’s well known that most cocoa farmers live in extreme poverty. There are about 2 million small-scale farmers in Ghana and Ivory Coast, the West African countries that produce at least 70 percent of the world’s cocoa beans. The average cocoa farmer in Ghana earns 84 cents a day, while the average small farmer in Ivory Coast earns just 50 cents a day, according to the Barometer.

In addition to the low wages, the Barometer cites human rights violations and child labor as other serious problems on West African cocoa farms. (If you haven’t seen it, check out the YouTube video of Ivory Coast cacao farmers enjoying chocolate for the very first time.) And there’s another reason younger farmers with better opportunities wouldn’t want to grow cacao: It’s really hard work.

More here.