The evening I learned the unspoken truth about the cocoa market I was in Yamoussoukro, the colossal capital city of Cote d¡¯Ivoire.
¡°The problem with cocoa is that¡¯s a poor man¡¯s crop,¡± explained my dining companion, a government official-turned-businessman. ¡°Do you see any commercial plantation around here? No,¡± he said. ¡°And do you know why? Because prices aren¡¯t high enough.¡±
Only because millions of West African farmers saw cocoa as their only way to escape abject poverty, the world had plentiful supply and low prices. As a result, you and I have been enjoying the pleasures of chocolate on the cheap for decades.
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