Professor of Sustainable Agroecosystems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Johan Six, looks at the issue of cocoa sustainability on the website, News.ch.

To consider the sustainability of food products requires looking at the entire value chain, from production to processing, transportation, consumption and nutritional value.

Could the 8 million hectares around the world currently used to grow cocoa be used for more nutritious food, asks Six. He draws a comparison between beef and chocolate; people do not need to eat them every day, but they can reduce their consumption and therefore the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their production.

In order to make cocoa production more sustainable, Six advocates for it to be grown in more diversified cocoa agroforestry systems rather than monocultures. Such systems incorporate trees that provide fruit, timber and other products and services to farmers. They have been shown to “maintain cocoa production in the longer-term while having less negative impact on the environment”. Local processing of cocoa into chocolate would also provide greater benefits to local economies.

“Chocolate is not sustainable, but it can be more than it is now,” concludes Six.

Read the full story: Is chocolate sustainable?