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Mars Chocolate predicts a major cocoa shortage by 2020 and, based on these concerns, recently launched a cocoa sustainability initiative.

In addition to committing to purchase ** certified cocoa in 2012.** Mars Chocolate has pledged to use 100 percent certified sustainable chocolate by 2020, according to a company statement. In order to meet this goal, they are focusing on three areas: technology transfer that put farmers first, innovations in agricultural science and rigorous certification standards.

Features of the program include:

• The establishment of Cocoa Development Centers (CDC) in Africa and Asia to give farmers access to advanced agricultural methods, and cocoa trees that produce more and are more disease resistant.
• An initiative to map the cocoa genome. In Brazil, the Mars Center for Cocoa Science is focusing on creating the best practices in cocoa production, improving the quality and performance of cocoa plants, and developing new methods to control pests and disease.
• Certification organizations to apply rigorous standards to ensure that certified cocoa helps increase farmers’ incomes as well as help the environment. The company predicts that unless more is done to promote sustainability, the industry as a whole can expect a shortfall of more than 1 million tons of cocoa in just nine years.

Source: Mars Chocolate

** Editor's Note: This story, originally posted June 20, 2011,  was corrected on June 29, 2011.  The original statement that Mars is  "committing to purchase 64,000 tons of certified cocoa in 2012, which will comprise 20 percent of the total cocoa supply," is incorrect. 2012 numbers are not yet available.