Chocolate Nations.

• Author: Marks, Edward
• Position: Book review

Chocolate Nations: Living and Dying for Cocoa in West Africa by Orla Ryan, ZED Books: London & New York, 2011, ISBN-13: 978-1848130050, 192 pp., $14.95 (paperback)

Good investigative journalism depends upon judicious judgment or choice analogous to the question of how hot the porridge should be: neither too hot nor too cold but just right. Another way of putting it is the subject must be big and important enough to be manageable but not so cosmic that the investigator is tempted to indulge in cosmic speculation. It is, after all, supposed to be journalism not philosophy.

Fortunately Ms Orla Ryan, the author of "Chocolate Nation" has boxed this compass very nicely. At first glance, the subject of chocolate would appear somewhat doubtful, how interesting or important could it be except to chocophiles. Although undoubtedly a largish group spread around the world, their personal enjoyment of this delightful delicacy is not really a subject of much importance.

"Chocolate Nations" tells four stories. The role of chocolate in internatio nal trade, the role of chocolate in the economies and political life of a couple of African countries, the role of chocolate in the life of the chocolate farmers in those countries, and the efforts of well- meaning people to see that those farmers get a better share of the value produced.

The global trade in chocolate may not compare with, say petroleum, but it does amount to about $75 million a year and supports the consumer market for the world's most popular sweets (from Nestles bars to Belgian truffles).

But the real focus in this book is about the major producing countries. Although chocolate is a serious enough commodity in world trade, it is a life and death economic and political matter in a small number of countries, especially the African countries of Ghana and the Ivory Coast who produce about 50% of the world's consumption. Together with small producers in Cameroon and Nigeria, West Africa's 2 million small producers account for two thirds of the total world crop of about 3.5 million tons. In these countries, to their governments and to their people, cocoa is not a luxury item; it is the staff of life. It is, for instance, Ghana's largest export worth $1.2 billion in 2008. Ivory Coast's chocolate exports support almost half the population.

The production of cocoa in West Africa was a colonial innovation and has dominated the political and economic life of these countries since independence. National...