Cocoa flowers depend on insects for pollination so that cocoa fruits can form Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert!

Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns in West Africa, which supplies around 70% of the world's cacao, are disrupting the crop, affecting both the quantity and quality of beans — and ...

it's already too late," said Paul Kouame Kouakou, who owns four hectares of cocoa in Duekoue, a town in west Ivory Coast. It usually takes a flower around 22 weeks to become a mature pod.