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This year's Easter eggs will be much more expensive than last year's. The reason is climate change. Extreme weather patterns have made growing cocoa more challenging. Cocoa beans are used to make chocolate. Around 70 per cent of the world's cocoa beans are grown in West Africa. Recent heatwaves, droughts and heavy rain in Ghana and the Ivory Coast have greatly reduced the amount of cocoa beans grown. Temperatures have been four degrees higher than normal. The Reuters news agency said cocoa prices have more than doubled compared to this time last year. Amber Sawyer, an energy and climate analyst, said farmers in West Africa were, "struggling in the face of both extreme heat and rainfall".
Chocolate eggs are given as gifts for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. Traditionally, people dyed and painted chicken eggs. Wikipedia says chocolate eggs first appeared at the court of Louis XIV in France in 1725. In 1873, the English chocolate company J.S. Fry produced the first hollow chocolate egg, similar to the ones people give today. Wikipedia says: "In Western cultures, the giving of chocolate eggs is now commonplace, with 80 million Easter eggs sold in the UK alone." However, climate change is making it more difficult to grow the cocoa beans. Climate analysts say we need to do more to reduce fossil fuel emissions if we want a steady supply of cocoa and chocolate.
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