Try not to panic, but the world is heading for a 'chocolate deficit'
In the immortal words of Peanut cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, ‘All you need is love – but a little chocolate now and again doesn’t hurt.’
How great it is, therefore, that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, the one day of the year that practically necessitates the combination of love and chocolate.
Of course for some, love may not be on the cards, so the day will primarily be about chocolate.
And here’s where the bad news comes in: there may come a Valentine’s Day in the near future when neither is on the cards.

Try not to panic, but the world is heading for a 'chocolate deficit' Credit: Getty Images
Don’t feel too bad about having another slab of chocolate (Picture: Getty Images)
A terrifying report called Destruction by Chocolate details the world’s slowing supply of cocoa – a consequence, the author says, of inefficient farming – and our proximity to a ‘chocolate deficit’, which is the point at which demand outstrips supply.
‘Unlike other tree crops that have benefited from the development of modern, high yielding cultivars and crop management techniques to realise their genetic potential, more than 90% of the global cocoa crop is produced by smallholders on subsistence farms with unimproved planting material,’ Doug Hawkins, from research firm Hardman Agribusiness, told the Mirror.
‘All the indicators are that we could be looking at a chocolate deficit of 100,000 tonnes a year in the next few years.’
Now we would never encourage unhealthy eating habits, but the takeaway point here seems to be not to feel too bad about having that extra slab of chocolate tomorrow.