"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
The cocoa growing industry was established in West Africa by ordinary people planting the trees themselves, because there was a market for the cocoa. According to Peter Bauer, late doyen of development economics, who studied the industry in the 1940s, many of the growers did not even know what the stuff was being used for. They just knew it sold. There were continual attempts at forming a buyer's cartel, to drive down the price. They always failed, because the colonial government would not enforce the cartel and some company was always willing to buy at a higher price.
In WWII, as a war emergency measure, a cocoa purchase board was established in Ghana, and it survived the end of the war and the establishment of an independent state. The government of Ghana would pay growers about one-third of the world price and pocket the rest. No wonder getting a government job there was referred to as "getting your grub."
I'd guess that the situation is still like that, and the reason new trees have not been planted is that the government is still taking all the profits, and the growers are getting the dregs. The growers probably can't get access to new land, either. Typically in Third World countries there aren't well established property rights, and putting years of work and investment into a cocoa plantation, even a small one, to which you don't have title or ownership of the business, not to mention the endemic corruption in such countries, discourages the sort of forward-looking investments of time and labor that established the cocoa industry, by Africans, in the 1920s and 30s. Even unschooled Africans are perfectly capable of making investments of time, labor, and money for a return years away, if they are allowed freedom to act in the economy, safety for property, and a rule of law. They've done it before, they can do it again. That's the way to increase the cocoa supply, let people be free to grow it.
"We want to make sure people can continue loving it without any cares or worries, except for having too much," Pederson said.
ReplyDeleteDid he say "too much"? How can you have "too much" chocolate? That's not even possible.
too much chocolate is like leftover wine! haha
ReplyDeleteScrew algae! We need to be throwing some bucks at the cocoa industry! Aaaiyeeee!
ReplyDeleteUrp.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, what did you say?
What does it mean, that I'm in the act of eating chocolate, when I come here & Paco has a post about a possible chocolate apocalypse?
ReplyDeleteR-Man: It means, make it last.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I need to divert some money from buying ammo for the zombie apocalypse, to stocking up for the chocolate apocalypse.
ReplyDeleteNot sure which one would be more traumatic.
Pretty much a tossup.
ReplyDeleteA stimulus package I could get behind.
ReplyDeleteThe cocoa growing industry was established in West Africa by ordinary people planting the trees themselves, because there was a market for the cocoa. According to Peter Bauer, late doyen of development economics, who studied the industry in the 1940s, many of the growers did not even know what the stuff was being used for. They just knew it sold. There were continual attempts at forming a buyer's cartel, to drive down the price. They always failed, because the colonial government would not enforce the cartel and some company was always willing to buy at a higher price.
ReplyDeleteIn WWII, as a war emergency measure, a cocoa purchase board was established in Ghana, and it survived the end of the war and the establishment of an independent state. The government of Ghana would pay growers about one-third of the world price and pocket the rest. No wonder getting a government job there was referred to as "getting your grub."
I'd guess that the situation is still like that, and the reason new trees have not been planted is that the government is still taking all the profits, and the growers are getting the dregs. The growers probably can't get access to new land, either. Typically in Third World countries there aren't well established property rights, and putting years of work and investment into a cocoa plantation, even a small one, to which you don't have title or ownership of the business, not to mention the endemic corruption in such countries, discourages the sort of forward-looking investments of time and labor that established the cocoa industry, by Africans, in the 1920s and 30s. Even unschooled Africans are perfectly capable of making investments of time, labor, and money for a return years away, if they are allowed freedom to act in the economy, safety for property, and a rule of law. They've done it before, they can do it again. That's the way to increase the cocoa supply, let people be free to grow it.