Cocoa is grown in several areas but production is concentrated in West Africa, specifically Côte d'Ivoire (the world’s largest producer), Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon, which together represent more than 70% of world cocoa production. Togo, Sierra Leone and Liberia produce small amounts of cocoa.

Other cocoa-producing countries in Africa include Uganda, Tanzania, Madagascar, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome & Principe. These countries are highly renowned in the industry and among chocolate manufacturers for their cocoa’s aromatic properties.

Cocoa is a perennial tree crop of the humid tropics which is frequently grown under forest shade. A cocoa field has an average economic life of 25-30 years. In West Africa cocoa is mostly grown by smallholders. The Federation of Cocoa Commerce has estimated that there are 1.7 million cocoa smallholders in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

Although cocoa is largely produced in developing countries, it is mostly consumed in industrialized countries. Europe consumed 42.7% of production in 2007, followed by the Americas (23.7%), while Africa consumed only 14.3% of production in 2007.

World production of cocoa beans dropped by almost 9% from the previous season to 3.4 million tonnes in 2006/2007, mainly as a result of bad weather conditions in many cocoa producing areas. West Africa was hit by a severe harmattan (a dry and dusty West African trade wind which blows south from the Sahara into the Gulf of Guinea between the end of November and the middle of March) and its inherent dry weather, which had a strong negative impact on production.

Cocoa production in the two major producing countries was hit severely in 2006/2007. Production in Ghana declined by 17% from the previous season to 614,000 tonnes. In Côte d’Ivoire, cocoa output reached 1,292,000 tonnes, down by 116,000 tonnes from the previous season. As in Ghana, the second harvest of the season proved very disappointing, as the trees did not recover from the poor level of soil moisture and lack of rainfall which lasted until February 2007.

Cocoa prices hit a 23 year record high on the international market in 2008, a surge prompted by fears of falling production in Africa and a small crop in Côte d'Ivoire. The price of cocoa hit $2,581.6 per tonne in January 2009. According to the Reuters/Jefferies Commodity Research Bureau (CRB) index, cocoa rose by 31% in 2008, making the largest gain among 19 traded raw materials.

The fear among COPAL (Cocoa Producer’s Alliance) members is that, despite the current boom, cocoa production in West and Central Africa is not done in a sustainable manner. African farmers are still cultivating larger expanses of land for fewer yields compared to other regions.

According to COPAL, the total area under cultivation worldwide in 2007 was 7,415,081 hectares with production standing at 4,043,784 metric tonnes. Out of this, Africa cultivated 4,738,232 hectares, while producing 2,614,749 metric tonnes whereas America with 1,486,004 hectares produced 108,398 metric tonnes. COPAL has also stated that Asia and Oceania with only 731,345 hectares produced 1,140,963 metric tonnes during the same period.

This poses a challenge to Africa to retain its prime position. Limitations to retaining this position have been identified as a lack of new sources of agricultural land and ambiguous land tenure; low soil fertility and high land degradation; lack of new and improved planting materials; low education and employment opportunities, poor road and communication infrastructure and inadequate nutrition and health in working population, especially in women and their children. Further limitations include an aging population as well as a dwindling interest in cocoa farming among many young people; high incidence of poverty, high risk of pests and disease as well as weak extension services and poor knowledge dissemination.