This year's Easter eggs will be much more expensive than last year's. reason is climate change. Extreme weather patterns have made growing cocoa more challenging. Cocoa beans are used to make chocolate. Around 70 per cent of world's cocoa beans are grown in West Africa. Recent heatwaves, droughts and heavy rain in Ghana and Ivory Coast have greatly reduced amount of cocoa beans grown. Temperatures have been four degrees higher than normal. Reuters news agency said cocoa prices have more than doubled compared to this time last year. Amber Sawyer, energy and climate analyst, said farmers in West Africa were, "struggling in face of both extreme heat and rainfall".
Chocolate eggs are given as gifts for Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates resurrection of Jesus. Traditionally, people dyed and painted chicken eggs. Wikipedia says chocolate eggs first appeared at court of Louis XIV in France in 1725. In 1873, the English chocolate company J.S. Fry produced first hollow chocolate egg, similar to ones people give today. Wikipedia says: "In Western cultures, giving of chocolate eggs is now commonplace, with 80 million Easter eggs sold in UK alone." However, climate change is making it more difficult to grow cocoa beans. Climate analysts say we need to do more to reduce fossil fuel emissions if we want steady supply of cocoa and chocolate.
