Chocolate comes from cocoa, which is a tree. That makes it a plant. Chocolate is salad.

Cocoa production is a major industry worldwide due to the love for chocolate cocoa powder and other products. The majority of cocoa is produced in West Africa, with Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana being the two largest producers. Other significant cocoa producing countries include Indonesia, Nigeria, Ecuador, Cameroon and Brazil.

💡 Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana Boycott

Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are the top producers of cocoa beans in the world. In 2019, these West African countries and stopped forward cocoa sales for the 2020/2021 season to address low prices and demand fair wages for farmers. The boycott resulted in most chocolate companies agreeing to pay a living income differential (LID), a payment which ensures farmers earn “a living income” from purchasers. This drew attention to the challenges faced by cocoa farmers and sparked discussions on industry sustainability and fairness. In 2022, the two countries boycotted the World Cocoa Foundation meeting over price dispute and farmers’ income, following broken promises by traders and companies on the LID.

💡 Analysis of Data

From our analysis, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, both West African countries, account for half of the world’s cocoa production. In addition to this, three other African countries – Nigeria, Cameroon and Sierra Leone make the top 11 producers.

The top 11 producers Dominican Republic produce more than 1% of the world cocoa production. Other countries that make the list are on the table below.

#	Country	Continent	Production (in tonnes)
1	Côte d’Ivoire	Africa	2,200,000
2	Ghana	Africa	800,000
3	Indonesia	Asia	739,483
4	Nigeria	Africa	340,163
5	Ecuador	South America	327,903
6	Cameroon	Africa	290,000
7	Brazil	South America	269,731
8	Sierra Leone	Africa	193,156
9	Peru	South America	160,289
10	Dominican Republic	North America	77,681
11	Colombia	South America	63,416
12	Papua New Guinea	Oceania	38,000
13	Uganda	Africa	35,000
14	Mexico	North America	29,429
15	India	Asia	26,000
16	Venezuela	South America	20,000
17	Haiti	North America	14,942
18	Liberia	Africa	14,000
19	Guatemala	North America	12,608
20	Madagascar	Africa	12,564
21	Democratic Republic of the Congo	Africa	12,000
22	Guinea	Africa	12,000
23	Togo	Africa	10,000
24	Philippines	Asia	9,341
25	Nicaragua	North America	7,508
26	Congo	Africa	7,000
27	Tanzania	Africa	7,000
28	Bolivia	South America	5,875
29	Solomon Islands	Oceania	4,500
30	São Tomé and Príncipe	Africa	3,041
31	Vanuatu	Oceania	2,000
32	Cuba	North America	1,577
33	Sri Lanka	Asia	1,455
34	Equatorial Guinea	Africa	1,000
35	Dominica	North America	1,000
36	Panama	North America	1,000
37	Honduras	North America	926
38	Costa Rica	North America	800
39	Malaysia	Asia	706
40	Grenada	North America	500
41	Samoa	Oceania	480
42	Guyana	South America	479
43	Angola	Africa	431
44	El Salvador	North America	380
45	Trinidad and Tobago	South America	371
46	Jamaica	North America	268
47	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	North America	228
48	Timor-Leste	Asia	171
49	Central African Republic	Africa	131
50	Belize	North America	112
51	Thailand	Asia	103
52	Gabon	Africa	100
53	Comoros	Africa	42
54	Micronesia	Oceania	31
55	Saint Lucia	North America	18
56	Fiji	Oceania	9
57	Suriname	South America	5

Africa accounts for 68% of global cocoa production
Out of the top 10/11, there are 5 African countries (4 West African)
There is no European producer of cocoa
Indonesia is the top producer (95%) of cocoa in Asia

Continent	Share of Production	Sum of Production (in tonnes)	Number of Producing Countries
Africa	68.40%	3,937,628	19
South America	14.73%	848,069	9
Asia	13.50%	777,259	7
North America	2.59%	148,977	16
Oceania	0.78%	45,020	6

💡 Fairtrade for Farmers

The production of cocoa involves a significant amount of labor, as the cocoa beans must be harvested by hand. The beans are then fermented and dried before being sold to chocolate manufacturers. Despite the high demand for cocoa, the industry faces several challenges, including low prices for farmers, environmental concerns, and labor issues.

People eat a lot of cocoa and chocolate all over Europe and North America but the cocoa tree does not grow (substantially) in these countries; they buy cocoa from Africa. Many organizations are working to address these challenges and improve sustainability in the cocoa industry. There are growing calls for Africa to process the raw materials, rather than exporting it.

Overall, cocoa production plays a significant role in both the global economy and the chocolate industry.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.