Michael Acheampong inspects cocoa trees for black pod disease at his farm in Kwabeng, Ghana.
Photographer: Paul NinsonChocolate Prices Are Rising Everywhere as Cocoa Rots in West Africa
Punishing rains and the relentless creep of black pod disease push futures to their highest since the 1970s.
The muck from incessant rain sloshes around Nestor N’Guessan’s feet as he points to a plot of cocoa trees ravaged by rot on his farm in Ivory Coast.
The 52-year-old grower can’t save those plants from black pod disease, so he’s focusing efforts on quarantining whatever healthy ones he has left. The soakings of recent months mean fewer pods on his trees, with some supporting just a handful of cocoa buds.