Dive Brief:
- The World Cocoa Foundation announced it will spend $600,000 on the prevention and treatment of Ebola in West Africa.
- Members of the Foundation, including chocolate giants such as Mars, Mondelez, Hershey, and Cargill, are concerned that the disease will spread to the Ivory Coast and Ghana, which produce some 60% of the world's cocoa.
- The cocoa harvest began Oct. 1. An outbreak in the crop-producing region could bring operations to a halt, sending prices soaring and threatening businesses and the livelihoods of farmers. Cocoa prices have already reached their highest levels in three and a half years
Dive Insight:
A donation of $600,000 is nothing to shake a stick at. And many industries, not just those that may be directly affected by the disease, have donated large sums to the cause.
On Tuesday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife pledged $25 million to fight the virus.