Ivory Coast’s Cocoa Curse

Chocolate may be sweet, but the lives of most cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, are not. I spent time with Amani Yao, a farmer, to understand the challenges of growing cocoa. →

Cocoa grows on trees: pods full of bitter and silky white beans usually need three months to ripen. The pulpy beans are then spread on tarpaulins or banana leaves, where they turn brown. →

Mr. Yao’s farm is on the side of a busy highway, his home on the other side. He grows maize, yam, hevea, and five acres of cocoa. Most cocoa farms in Ivory Coast are like his: small, family-run. →

Cocoa is the hardest and least profitable crop for Mr. Yao. Harvesting the pods, twice a year, is exhausting and done manually. “We say that the country is doing well, but cocoa farmers aren’t,” he told me. →

Ivory Coast has a cocoa problem: it produces nearly half the world’s cocoa, but has been unable to turn the industry into a source of wealth for most of the six million people relying on it. →

I asked Mr. Yao if he had ever tasted chocolate. No, was his swift answer. The $3 a chocolate bar costs can buy two bags of rice, enough to feed his seven children for a few days. →

Still, he says he keeps growing cocoa out of respect for his parents. His neighbors, though, have dropped cocoa for tomatoes and eggplants. “You see, stuff you can actually eat,” he said.

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