All thanks to rising temperatures and disturbed weather conditions!
Chocolates may disappear soon!
HIGHLIGHTS
- Cacao plant can disappear as early as 2050
- This is due to global warming and disturbed weather conditions
- Half of the worlds chocolate comes from 2 countries in Western Africa
Yes, you read it right! A new study suggests that the Cacao plant can disappear as early as 2050, thanks to global warming and disturbed weather conditions. Scientists at the University of California are set to team up with the company Mars to put in efforts to save this crop before it is too late. Researchers are working to explore ways of using a gene-editing technology named CRISPR to prepare crops which can deal with weather challenges. An article published in The Independent says that the director of plant genomics, an institute working closely with Mars, Myeong-Je Cho, is working towards the creation of a cacao plant version which can survive in warmer and dryer climates.
Cho reveals that this is possible with the creation of the technology named CRISPR which allows tiny tweaks of DNA to make the crop more reliable and cheaper at the same time. Cacao plants can grow in an environment where temperature, rain and humidity remain quite constant always. Only a narrow rainforested strip of land, around 20 degrees south and north of the equator is good enough for growing the Cacao plant. Half of the world's chocolate comes from Western Africa, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.
However, it is expected that this area shall not be suitable enough for growing the same in the coming 20 years. By 2050, temperatures are expected to rise to a level where this plantation may be shifted 1000 feet uphill in the mountain terrains, which is currently preserved for wildlife.
The $35 billion company, Mars, popular for Snickers, is well-aware of these problems related to climatic and other related factors. They pledged $1 billion as a part of an effort named Sustainability in Generation aiming to combat carbon footprint of their business and supply chain by over 60% till 2050.
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