Cocoa farmers grow rubber – level 3
17-06-2024 07:00
Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer, is seeing a shift among farmers toward rubber cultivation.
Farmers find rubber farming cheaper and less labor-intensive. Cocoa gets harvested once or twice a year, whereas rubber provides a monthly income. This shift worries the cocoa industry, as small-scale farmers, who provide 90% of the global supply, are turning to rubber. It could lead to higher chocolate prices. Ivory Coast’s natural rubber production rose from 170,000 tons to 1.5 million tons between 2019 and 2022, placing it among the top three global producers.
Climate change and high production costs are driving this change. Rubber trees demand less effort and offer stable prices, ensuring financial stability for farmers. Without support from the cocoa industry, cocoa farming may decline, increasing chocolate prices.
Difficult words: shift (a change), cultivation (growing plants).
You can watch the video news lower on this page.
What factors are driving the shift from cocoa farming to rubber cultivation in Ivory Coast and how could this impact the global cocoa industry?
LEARN 3000 WORDS with NEWS IN LEVELS
News in Levels is designed to teach you 3000 words in English. Please follow the instructions
below.
How to improve your English with News in Levels:
Test
- Do the test at Test Languages.
- Go to your level. Go to Level 1 if you know 1-1000 words. Go to Level 2 if you know 1000-2000 words. Go to Level 3 if you know 2000-3000 words.
Reading
- Read two news articles every day.
- Read the news articles from the day before and check if you remember all new words.
Listening
- Listen to the news from today and read the text at the same time.
- Listen to the news from today without reading the text.
Writing
- Answer the question under today’s news and write the answer in the comments.
Speaking
- Choose one person from the Skype section.
- Talk with this person. You can answer questions from Speak in Levels.
Stock images by Depositphotos
