The price of your Easter Eggs keeps on rising – but why? It’s because there's a crisis in cocoa.
Chocolate is a major global industry. In 2024, the chocolate market generated approximately $133.6 billion – which is more than the entire GDP of 186 countries. But the success of the industry conceals serious problems at its core.
Large multinational companies dominate the market. In 2024, Nestlé made profits of $11.3 billion, while Mondelez reported $4.5 billion. These figures suggest a profitable sector, but they hide the growing challenges facing cocoa production. Cocoa farmers are dealing with multiple, overlapping crises. Climate change, illegal mining, pests and plant diseases are all taking a toll. During the 2023 to 2024 growing season, cocoa production dropped by 14 percent.
This decline was mainly due to higher temperatures and unpredictable rainfall, although black pod disease, a fungal pathogen that can devastate entire fields, has also caused widespread damage to cocoa crops.
The production drop led to a sharp increase in prices, which have continued to rise into 2025. Despite this, many cocoa farmers have not seen their incomes increase. For farmers facing low yields, having less cocoa to sell means lower profits, regardless of market prices.
On top of this, many cocoa farmers are still being paid less than the cost of production. In a recent industry survey, the largest chocolate companies could confirm that only 16 percent of their cocoa farmers were earning a living income. In other words, 84 percent of cocoa farmers are not earning enough to meet their basic needs.
Addressing these challenges will require coordinated action from across the cocoa value chain:
Businesses need to ensure that cocoa farmers are paid fairly and that their supply chains are transparent. They must also provide financial and technical support to help farmers meet new regulatory requirements.
Governments must take action to legislate for fair pricing and address wider problems in the sector, including climate change, the overuse of pesticides, deforestation and child labour.
Consumers have a role to play by buying ethically sourced chocolate where possible and putting pressure on retailers and chocolate brands to ensure farmers are treated fairly.
Without urgent action, the cocoa sector will continue to struggle. The people who grow our chocolate deserve much better.
A farmer shows the camera diseased cocoa fruit, in Mababu, Tanzania. Photo credit: Michael Goima/Transform Trade.
A local solution to a global crisis - Mababu Cocoa’s story
Cocoa farmers are fighting to save their livelihoods. This Easter, we’re supporting cocoa collectives in Tanzania who have set up their own business, Mababu Cocoa – and with your investment, it has the potential to change everything for producers.
Selling as Mababu Cocoa helps farmers set a fair price and fight for change to buying practices, as well share knowledge and skills. With your help, we want to support Mababu Cocoa to expand and thrive – creating well paid jobs, secure livelihoods, and fighting back against the impact of climate change.
By investing in new equipment to process raw products, employing outside expertise on organic pest control, and accessing new markets and buyers through outreach work, Mababu Cocoa can keep value in the hands of farmers andtheir communities – long into the future.
Aswile A Mangama, a cocoa farmer standing before his farm. Photo credit: Michael Goima/Transform Trade
Aswile captures the difference a producer-led business can make to end exploitation:
“Before Mababu, I was selling cocoa from home for a very low price every week. Now I sell through Mababu I can sell several kilograms at once and earn more than what I was getting before.” ”
By adding value through processing products in Tanzania, farmers can guarantee higher payment for their crops. They can control the prices they sell for. Mababu Cocoa is a game changer for farmers facing the uncertainty caused by the climate crisis and volatile cocoa market.
With your support, they can access services like predictive weather forecasts, organic pest control, and shared sapling nurseries – helping them take direct action in the face of unpredictable temperatures and climate change.