Cocoa and Rainforest Conservation

As is commonly known throughout the world, prevailing unfavorable socioeconomic conditions in developing tropical nations has led to the rapid deforestation of a large percentage of the earth's rainforests. As real incomes remain stagnant or decline in rural areas of Africa , South America , and Asia , farmers turn to environmentally and socially destructive practices such as cattle ranching, logging and the cultivation of illicit drugs in order to make a living. That is why cocoa is rapidly becoming a way of saving the rainforest. Since it is a shade grown crop, there is no destruction of the forest and it provides a viable way of life for the local farmers.

For many years, farmers cut down the trees growing in their region and sold them so that they could feed their families. This practice led to rapid destruction of primary rainforests in areas such as the Amazon River Basin . As a result, many farmers were left with infertile tracts of farm lands and, in some cases, threatened secondary forests. Were farmers to mono-crop traditional crops on these lands, the soils would be rapidly depleted and the farmer would be left with land that would not support a forest nor would it support crops. However, farmers that grow cocoa are seeing different results.

As these farmers are witnessing firsthand, the organic cultivation of shade grown cocoa, interspersed among other crops and / or planted in secondary forests is actually helping to regenerate the forest as the trees' canopies provide much-needed shade for other plants. Over the past several years, these farmers have seen the secondary forests on their parcels regenerate and have seen soils become more productive. Moreover, as this dispersed planting of cocoa also separates one cocoa tree from another, they are also avoiding the diseases and plagues that have devastated cocoa crops in Brazil and other countries. Farmers are thus learning from experience that, properly cultivated, cocoa cultivation is not only a viable economic alternative to destructive practices such as cattle ranching and logging. They are seeing the ecological benefits of cocoa production, as well.

For more information on Cocoa and Conservation, please refer to the following references: