The global chocolate industry is worth roughly $100 billion per year and provides income for upwards of 6 million smallholder farmers in the tropics. It’s a vital industry for much of the world, but a new studyfinds cacao production is limited by two important factors: pollination and temperature. As pollinators decline globally and the world continues to warm amid climate change, researchers warn that cocoa production may suffer.

Thomas Cherico Wanger, a co-author of the study and group leader with Agroscope, the federal agricultural research institute of Switzerland, said that increasing pollination can offset the decreased production resulting from warmer temperatures.

“In sites where you have higher temperatures, you have lower yields but you can actually have higher yields with pollination. Through maintaining levels of pollination, you can kind of buffer these negative impacts,” Wanger told Mongabay in a phone call.

To encourage more pollinators, the study’s authors recommend reducing the use of pesticides and increasing leaf litter around cacao trees to provide habitat for pollinators.

Shreya Dasgupta

Read More: