Cocoa prices rose to record highs last year amid a global supply shortage. Chocolate makers have raised their retail prices to compensate.

If urgent action isn’t taken, key cocoa-producing regions like Ivory Coast and Ghana — responsible for 60 percent of the world’s cocoa output — could become unsuitable for cultivation within the next 30 years.

Farmers in the region have struggled with heat, disease and unusual rainfall in recent years. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Climate change drove weeks of crop-withering temperatures last year in the west African countries that underpin the world's chocolate supply, hitting harvests and likely further stoking record prices,