For a long time foothill region of Nicaragua was an ideal place for coffee production.

But to the increase in temperature producing coffee farmers switch to cocoa production, which, although is new, has a rich heritage in the region.

Coffee trees more viable due to climate change, said farmers. High temperatures in Central America related to climate change, are forcing many farmers to replace coffee trees with cocoa trees – harvest, which in ancient times was so important for the economy of the region that was used as currency.

Farmers throughout the region, known for producing high quality coffee beans "Arabica", still restore plantations from the disease leaf rust of the coffee tree, which destroyed the crops last four years.

Now the low altitude regions become unsuitable for coffee production, as the temperature rises. Cocoa prefers warmer weather.

According to export data, in the current marketing year the export of coffee beans from six Central American countries, except Honduras, will fall for the third consecutive year to 8.14 million 60-kilogram bags, the lowest level since 1973/1974 year, according to the Ministry of agriculture of the USA.

The production and export of cocoa had risen continuously. In Nicaragua, the export of cocoa was 3 839 tons in 2015, 80% higher than in 2014, in El Salvador there are works on expansion of cocoa plantations a hundred times.

Even in Honduras, which has successfully recovered from the disease coffee leaf, the government requires that manufacturers have replaced 8% of coffee trees, cocoa trees.

Of course, some of the new acreage under cocoa was released from the rejection of other cultures, and the production of coffee high in the mountains remains strong in many parts of the region. Central America will not be able to oust Western Africa with location of the leading provider of the main ingredient of chocolate in the near future.

But the high cocoa prices encourage farmers to switch to production of this product. The revival of cocoa in the region may ease concerns about the stability of supply in the backdrop of rising emerging market demand, weather anomalies and the likelihood of civil war in côte d'ivoire and Ghana, which produce 60% of the global result.

Current levels of prices also send a signal to producers to transition to cocoa. Coffee futures fell to 24% in 2015 to about 1,20$ per pound, while cocoa futures have risen four years in a row and sold for about us$ 3,000 per ton, or 1.36 us$ per pound.

Source: Thomson Reuters