THE COUNTRY OF COCOA

Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, the world’s largest cocoa producers, account for two-thirds of global cocoa production. In both countries, cocoa is the main perennial crop, providing income to nearly two million farmers. Yet, accurate maps of cocoa area are lacking, preventing accurate quantification of protected area expansion, production, and yields, and limiting the information available for improved sustainable governance. Here, we combine cocoa farm data with publicly available satellite imagery in a deep learning framework and create high-resolution, in situ-validated cocoa farm maps for both countries. Our results suggest that cocoa cultivation is an underlying driver of over 37% of forest loss in protected areas in Côte d’Ivoire and over 13% in Ghana, and that official reports significantly underestimate the area planted (by up to 40% in Ghana). These maps are a critical component in advancing our understanding of conservation and economic development in cocoa-growing regions.