Chocolate Nations

Chocolate Nations
Author: Órla Ryan
Publisher: Zed Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012-04-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781780323091

Chocolate - the very word conjures up a hint of the forbidden and a taste of the decadent. Yet the story behind the chocolate bar is rarely one of luxury. From the thousands of children who work on plantations to the smallholders who harvest the beans, Chocolate Nations reveals the hard economic realities of our favourite sweet. This vivid and gripping exploration of the reasons behind farmer poverty includes the human stories of the producers and traders at the heart of the West African industry. Orla Ryan shows that only a tiny fraction of the cash we pay for a chocolate bar actually makes it back to the farmers, and sheds light on what Fair Trade really means on the ground. Provocative and eye-opening, Chocolate Nations exposes the true story of how the treat we love makes it on to our supermarket shelves.

Yes, Africa Can

Yes, Africa Can
Author: Punam Chuhan-Pole
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 497
Release: 2011-06-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0821387456

Takes an in-depth look at twenty-six economic and social development successes in Sub-Saharan African countries, and addresses how these countries have overcome major developmental challenges.

Rebuilding West Africa's Food Potential

Rebuilding West Africa's Food Potential
Author: Aziz Elbehri
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO)
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Agriculture
ISBN: 9789251075302

This book offers an in-depth analyses of value chain policies, past and present in West Africa. The book contains a large number of in-depth case studies of food value chains in particular countries, including traditional export commodities (cocoa, cotton), high value exports (mangoes, horticulture) and the most important staple food value chains (oil palm, rice, maize, sorghum and millet and cassava) in the region. It also contains a large number of private and public initiatives, and thematic analyses relating to the role of the private agro-industry and producer organizations and their role as market agents.

Cocoa Cycles

Cocoa Cycles
Author: François Ruf
Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
Total Pages: 402
Release: 1995-06-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781855732155

The cyclical boom-to-recession nature of the economics of cocoa supply is a major problem for the international cocoa industry - and especially for countries whose economies depend on cocoa exports. Only through an understanding of the dynamics of cocoa cycles can policy decisions be made through the various phases of supply cycles. Based on a major international cocoa conference, this book presents seventeen edited papers from leading experts, making a major contribution to that understanding. It explains the powerful economic, social and political factors which impact on the cocoa economy. It shows the laws of cocoa supply are closely linked to environmental, ecological and institutional factors.

Neo-Colonialism and the Poverty of 'Development' in Africa

Neo-Colonialism and the Poverty of 'Development' in Africa
Author: Mark Langan
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2017-10-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3319585711

Langan reclaims neo-colonialism as an analytical force for making sense of the failure of ‘development’ strategies in many African states in an era of free market globalisation. Eschewing polemics and critically engaging the work of Ghana’s first President – Kwame Nkrumah – the book offers a rigorous assessment of the concept of neo-colonialism. It then demonstrates how neo-colonialism remains an impediment to genuine empirical sovereignty and poverty reduction in Africa today. It does this through examination of corporate interventions; Western aid-giving; the emergence of ‘new’ donors such as China; EU-Africa trade regimes; the securitisation of development; and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Throughout the chapters, it becomes clear that the current challenges of African development cannot be solely pinned on so-called neo-patrimonial elites. Instead it becomes imperative to fully acknowledge, and interrogate, corporate and donor interventions which lock many poorer countries into neo-colonial patterns of trade and production. The book provides an original contribution to studies of African political economy, demonstrating the on-going relevance of the concept of neo-colonialism, and reclaiming it for scholarly analysis in a global era.

Plant Physiological Ecology

Plant Physiological Ecology
Author: Hans Lambers
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 624
Release: 2008-10-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0387783415

Box 9E. 1 Continued FIGURE 2. The C–S–R triangle model (Grime 1979). The strategies at the three corners are C, competiti- winning species; S, stress-tolerating s- cies; R,ruderalspecies. Particular species can engage in any mixture of these three primary strategies, and the m- ture is described by their position within the triangle. comment briefly on some other dimensions that Grime’s (1977) triangle (Fig. 2) (see also Sects. 6. 1 are not yet so well understood. and 6. 3 of Chapter 7 on growth and allocation) is a two-dimensional scheme. A C—S axis (Com- tition-winning species to Stress-tolerating spe- Leaf Economics Spectrum cies) reflects adaptation to favorable vs. unfavorable sites for plant growth, and an R- Five traits that are coordinated across species are axis (Ruderal species) reflects adaptation to leaf mass per area (LMA), leaf life-span, leaf N disturbance. concentration, and potential photosynthesis and dark respiration on a mass basis. In the five-trait Trait-Dimensions space,79%ofallvariation worldwideliesalonga single main axis (Fig. 33 of Chapter 2A on photo- A recent trend in plant strategy thinking has synthesis; Wright et al. 2004). Species with low been trait-dimensions, that is, spectra of varia- LMA tend to have short leaf life-spans, high leaf tion with respect to measurable traits. Compared nutrient concentrations, and high potential rates of mass-based photosynthesis. These species with category schemes, such as Raunkiaer’s, trait occur at the ‘‘quick-return’’ end of the leaf e- dimensions have the merit of capturing cont- nomics spectrum.

Chocolate Science and Technology

Chocolate Science and Technology
Author: Emmanuel Ohene Afoakwa
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2011-08-24
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1444357336

This book provides an overview of the science and technology of chocolate manufacture from cocoa production, through the manufacturing processes, to the sensory, nutrition and health aspects of chocolate consumption. It covers cocoa cultivation and production with special attention paid to cocoa bean composition, genotypic variations in the bean, post-harvest pre-treatments, fermentation and drying processes, and the biochemical basis of these operations. The scientific principles behind industrial chocolate manufacture are outlined with detailed explanations of the various stages of chocolate manufacturing including mixing, refining, conching and tempering. Other topics covered include the chemistry of flavour formation and development during cocoa processing and chocolate manufacture; volatile flavour compounds and their characteristics and identification; sensory descriptions and character; and flavour release and perception in chocolate. The nutritional and health benefits of cocoa and chocolate consumption are also addressed. There is a focus throughout on those factors that influence the flavour and quality characteristics of the finished chocolate and that provide scope for process optimization and improvement. The book is designed to be a desk reference for all those engaged in the business of making and using chocolate worldwide; confectionery and chocolate scientists in industry and academia; students and practising food scientists and technologists; nutritionists and other health professionals; and libraries of institutions where food science is studied and researched. an overview of the science behind chocolate manufacture covers the whole process from cocoa production, through manufacturing, to the nutrition and health aspects of chocolate consumption focuses on factors that influence chocolate flavour and quality, and that provide scope for process optimization and improvement.

The Migrant Cocoa-farmers of Southern Ghana

The Migrant Cocoa-farmers of Southern Ghana
Author: Polly Hill
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
Total Pages: 332
Release: 1997
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9783825830854

The economic and social organisation of Ghanaian cocoa-farming is very complex, reflecting differences in population density, land tenure, accessibility, soil fertility and other factors. The 'small peasant', with his two or three acre farms, is one type of farmer, and it has always been supposed that it was he who created the world's largest cocoa-growing industry. The migration of southern Ghanaian cocoa-farmers, which has been proceeding since the 1890s, was not known to have occurred; and this study shows that it was the migrant, not the 'peasant', who was the real innovator. This migrant has scarcely been mentioned in the literature. Author Polly Hill now gives a full account of his migration, 'one of the great events in the recent economic history of Africa south of the Sahara'. The migrant farmer, who rather resembles a 'capitalist' than a 'peasant', buys land (or inherits it from those who bought before him) and conventionally uses the proceeds from one cocoa land to purchase others. It is now possible with the aid of farm-maps to study the whole migratory process, with its changing pattern of land ownership, over more than half a century. The results are revealing. The conventional notion that it was only recently that West Africans began to engage in large-scale economic enterprises is shown to be false. One of the main contentions of this book is that the migrant farmer has been remarkably responsive to economic ends. It is further shown that there is no incompatibility between this kind of enterprise and the continuance of traditional forms of social organisation: nor is there evidence that the enterprising individual found himself hampered by the demands made on him by members of his lineage. In analysing and recording the details of the migratory process, Dr. Hill has made an important contribution to the economic history of West Africa. Besides the economists and economic historians for whom the book is primarily intended, it should be studied by lawyers, geographers, social anthropologists, and all concerned with problems of underdevelopment.

Cocoa Production and Processing Technology

Cocoa Production and Processing Technology
Author: Emmanuel Ohene Afoakwa
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2014-02-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1466598239

One of the largest food commodities exported from the developing countries to the rest of the world, cocoa has gained increasing attention on the global market—raising many questions about its quality, sustainability and traceability. Cocoa Production and Processing Technology presents detailed explanations of the technologies that could be employed to assure sustainable production of high-quality and safe cocoa beans for the global confectionary industry. It provides overviews of up-to-date technologies and approaches to modern cocoa production practices, global production and consumption trends as well as principles of cocoa processing and chocolate manufacture. The book covers the origin, history and taxonomy of cocoa, and examines the fairtrade and organic cocoa industries and their influence on smallholder farmers. The chapters provide in-depth coverage of cocoa cultivation, harvesting and post-harvest treatments with a focus on cocoa bean composition, genotypic variations and their influence on quality, post-harvest pre-treatments, fermentation techniques, drying, storage and transportation. The author provides details on cocoa fermentation processes as well as the biochemical and microbiological changes involved and how they influence flavour. He also addresses cocoa trading systems, bean selection and quality criteria, as well as industrial processing of fermented and dried cocoa beans into liquor, cake, butter and powder. The book examines the general principles of chocolate manufacture, detailing the various stages of the processes involved, the factors that influence the quality characteristics and strategies to avoid post-processing quality defects. This volume presents innovative techniques for sustainability and traceability in high-quality cocoa production and explores new product development with potential for cost reduction as well as improved cocoa bean and chocolate product quality.