00:00Cocoa beans, the main ingredient in chocolate, are rotting away here.
00:03Hundreds of tons lie in piles, stored in warehouses for months, unsold.
00:08This is Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer.
00:12And something is seriously wrong.
00:18Back in 2024, there was a surge in cocoa prices due to a massive supply deficit.
00:24Severe weather conditions and crop disease in West Africa had affected cocoa production.
00:28Companies producing chocolate bars responded by making the bars smaller or using less cocoa.
00:33Now, when the harvest is good and production is up, there isn't enough demand for cocoa anymore.
00:38Furthermore, the government sets the price of cocoa in advance, often for an entire season.
00:42Farmers harvest their crop based on that fixed price, expecting to sell at that rate.
00:47And that has created a mismatch between what farmers expect and what international buyers, if any, are willing to pay.
00:53He's going to finance his money to win.
00:55We're actually in front of a Chinese cafe where we don't know what to do.
00:59Cocoa is a fragile crop.
01:00It cannot simply be stored and forgotten.
01:02It needs constant care, taken out into the sun, dried again and again, protected from moisture.
01:08Without that, mold begins to form, often invisibly at first, until entire batches are ruined and unsellable.
01:23So, every day, workers haul sacks of cocoa out into the heat, spreading them under the sun, trying to slow
01:28the damage.
01:29But this is only a temporary fix.
01:31The beans have fallen victim to a volatile global market that farmers have little control over.
01:41For these farmers, cocoa is not just a crop, it is their only source of income.
01:46We have to pay the scolarity of our children.
01:48With the $2,800, we have to pay the credit in the hospital.
01:52With the $2,800, the owners have to pay their maneuvers.
01:56Debts are building, tensions are rising, and frustration is spilling over into anger.
02:11In warehouses across the region, the cocoa remains packed, stacked, and waiting for buyers who may not come at a
02:17price the farmers can survive on.
02:20The cooperatives will disappear, because no one can support the loss.
02:27Loan.
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