[ti:Climate Change Leads to Higher Prices for Chocolate] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Chocolate makers are expected to raise prices this year [00:04.48]because of higher costs of cocoa from exporters like Ivory Coast. [00:10.08]The West African country is the world's largest cocoa producer. [00:16.12]Hershey is the largest producer of chocolate products in the United States. [00:21.68]It said last month it plans to raise prices on all of its products [00:26.88]because of the rising cost of ingredients. [00:31.04]Ingredients are the things used to make a food or product. [00:36.16]Demand for chocolate in America increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, [00:42.12]and cocoa producers in places like Ivory Coast [00:45.56]are struggling to keep up with that demand. [00:48.64]Experts say one reason for that is climate change. [00:53.16]Harvard University researchers estimate that by 2030 [00:57.60]parts of West Africa will be too hot and dry to produce much cocoa. [01:03.68]The West African countries of Ghana and Ivory Coast together [01:08.44]produce 70 percent of worldwide cocoa supply. [01:12.52]Cocoa farmer Raphael Konan Kouassi recently took VOA to his farm. [01:18.68]Huge green and yellow cocoa pods hung from trees. [01:22.84]He said his trees are producing less [01:25.20]because of rising temperatures and less rainfall than usual. [01:30.16]"Almost all of the young plants die in the high season. [01:33.84]If you have not been able to get water to them, [01:37.00]you have no cocoa," Kouassi said. [01:41.04]Kouassi receives government assistance in the form of cocoa trees. [01:46.08]But he said the government gives out trees at the wrong time of year. [01:50.80]Because of this, the young trees have a difficult time surviving. [01:55.60]Christian Bunn is with the Consortium [01:58.40]of International Agricultural Research Centers, [02:01.68]a worldwide scientific organization. [02:05.04]Bunn said information about how the climate is changing [02:08.80]can inform farmers about how to better care for their crops. [02:13.52]"What we're seeing is that the onset of both dry and wet season [02:17.88]can change. It's less reliable. During the season, [02:22.60]there may be breaks in terms of rain during the dry season, [02:26.64]or there's a dry spell during the wet season," Bunn said. [02:31.44]The data show it may be better for farmers to stop producing cocoa [02:36.12]and instead grow a variety of different crops, he said. [02:40.84]But the chief of one Ivorian company that supplies The Hershey Company [02:46.28]said higher prices for cocoa could be welcomed by farmers. [02:50.84]Olga Yenou said, "My opinion is that these farmers should have better prices, [02:56.96]should earn more, because they work hard. Most are poor," Yenou said. [03:02.36]Her wish appears to be coming true. [03:05.48]As climate change continues to have effects on production, [03:09.64]prices continue to rise. [03:12.36]I'm John Russell. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM