Energy sustainability of Ecuadorian cacao export and its contribution to climate change. A case study through product life cycle assessment

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.11.003

Journal of Cleaner Production

Volume 112, Part 4, 20 January 2016, Pages 2560-2568

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.11.003 Get rights and content

Abstract

Cacao is one of the main cultivars in Ecuador, occupying 12% of the cultivated surface. Most of the cacao is destined for exports, most specifically to be used in chocolate elaboration. Ecuador is constitutionally committed with the sustainable production of food through its National Plan of Good Living. Energy usage and its consequences in terms of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) constitute two fundamental dimensions of agrarian sustainability, especially in the context of petroleum depletion and climate change. The objective of this work is to provide a comprehensive picture of the environmental impacts (energy and GHG) of the agrifood system associated to the cacao produced in Ecuador and exported to third countries for chocolate elaboration and consumption. To that end, a life cycle assessment methodology has been utilized. The functional unit used has been defined as the elaboration and distribution, until sales, of 1 kg of pure chocolate (100% cacao) obtained from cacao cultivated in Ecuador. In the farm production phase, a differentiation has been made between technified and traditional cacao management. The study results show how the unitary energy cost of the traditional and technified agrifood systems were estimated between 36.7 and 40.6 MJ kg⁻¹, with GHG emissions of 2.49 and 2.82 CO₂-eq kg⁻¹, respectively. Cacao production, transformation and transportation accumulated, in average, 66.5, 16.1 and 15.0% of GHG emissions. Irrigation and fertilization constituted the two most important items in terms of energy, especially in the case of technified management. Energy efficiency (ER and ERnr) for the overall agrifood system was estimated in average terms to be 1:0.68 and 1:0.86, respectively.

Graphical abstract

Energy metabolism of traditional and technified Ecuadorian cacao/chocolate agrifood system. A product life cycle assessment methodology approach (unit MJ kg⁻¹).

Introduction

Ecuador is constitutionally committed to food sovereignty. According to its National Plan for Good Living, moving towards food sovereignty implies the development of policies that strengthen sustainable food production and the reorganization of the agrifood model on the basis of endogenous potentialities (SEMPLADES, 2009). One of the main crops, in relation to territory, economy and employment, in Ecuador is cacao. Ecuadorian cacao occupies 12% of the cultivated surface and provides direct employment to about 4% of the country's active population. Furthermore, the cacao chain value adds up to 0.56% of the national GDP (496.63 millions of dollars) (ProEcuador, 2013). Cacao is primarily destined for grain export for the elaboration of chocolate and other by-products. In 2012, 90% of the country's commercialized cacao (178,264 tons) was exported to others countries, a volume that places Ecuador as the eighth most important exporter worldwide (ib.).

The reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Altieri and Koohafkan, 2008) and the efficient use of energy (Meul et al., 2007) represent two fundamental aspects of agrarian sustainability. In the last decades, numerous authors have studied the relation between agriculture and energy (and GHG). Initially, most works focused on comprehending how agrarian modernization was reverting a gradual loss of energy efficiency in the sector as well as greater oil dependence (Leach, 1976). With advances in industrialization and food globalization, farm analysis were turning more complex and contextualizing around the concept of agrifood system (AFS) (Friedmann and McMichael, 1989). Thus, among food production and consumption, there exists an entire framework of economic activities and processes (transportation, food transformation, packaging, commercial distribution, etc.) that enable human consumption and must be considered in energy and environmental impact analyses (Heller and Koelain, 2003).

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a standardized methodological tool that enables the assessments of the main environmental impacts associated to a product “from the cradle to the grave” (ISO, 2006). The LCA applied to human feeding allows studying the environmental behavior of the overall agrifood system from “production to consumption”. Different authors have analyzed food life cycles, demonstrating the great impact of industrialized and global feeding in terms of energy consumption, GHG emissions, and other environmental impacts. For example, Milà i Canals et al. (2006) focused their analysis on New Zealand apples; Erzinger et al. (2003) on the production of milk and pork meat in Switzerland, while Carlsson-Kanyama et al. (2003) made an inventory of the energy expenses of 150 food items available in Sweden. Even though, many studies about food life cycle assessment studies did not consider the role of energy output, the assessment and quantification of agrarian production in terms of energy is fundamental to understand the behaviour and efficiency of the agrifood system altogether.

In the case of cacao and chocolate, there is some background that must be taken into account. For example, Ntiamoah and Afrane (2012) studied cacao production and processing in Ghana, estimating a global warming potential of 0.32 kg CO₂-eq. Steiger (2010) quantified GHG emissions focusing the analysis on chocolate production in Switzerland, obtaining a value of 2.76 kg CO₂-eq, while Büsser and Jungbluth (2009) analyzed the life cycle of different types of chocolate, where more than 75% of the non-renewable energy consumption is produced in the phase of cacao production. In this case of Ecuador, there is a lack of information regarding energy behaviour and GHG related to cacao production and its agrifood system. Thus, it is important to point out that, within a context marked by oil depletion and climate change (Murray and King, 2012), consumption analysis and the energetic metabolism efficiency of food production systems (and its effects on climate change) are called upon to play an ever more relevant role on the assessment of food processes and activities.

Consequently, the main objective of the present work is to analyze the energy metabolism of the agrifood system of cacao produced in Ecuador and exported to others countries for its processing and consumption, as well as its contribution to climate change. In the cacao production phase, a difference has been made between “traditional” and “technified” management, with the goal of analyzing the differentiated impact of both types of management within the globalized AFS. Likewise, the role of the output (foot product) and the overall system's energy efficiency, from a sustainability perspective, are analyzed. To this end, a product life cycle assessment methodology has been applied to production, on the basis of a functional unit of one kilogram of pure chocolate.¹

The paper presents a first comprehensive insight of the environmental impacts (energy and GHG) of the agrifood system of the cacao/chocolate produced in Ecuador, as well as its main sources of impact, thereby contributing to the generation of relevant scientific information to be used by institutions and social agents with decision making functions in the reformulation of agrarian policies and practices directed towards agrifood sustainability.

Section snippets

Functional unit and system boundary

The chosen functional unit has been the production, export, elaboration and distribution, until retail sales, of 1 kg of pure chocolate (100%) produced from Ecuadorian cacao. The system limits analyzed are shown in Fig. 1. In phase 1, the energy spent directly in farm production (direct energy) is quantified, whereas in the other phases (0, 2, 3, 4 and 5) indirect energy, associated to the rest f the cacao/chocolate AFS is quantified. The energy costs related to transportation has been included

Results

Table 4a, Table 4ba and 4b show the main results on cacao production under traditional and technified management, and the pondered mean of both types. Producing dried cacao for the elaboration of 1 kg of chocolate has an energy cost that ranges between 22.9 and 26.9 MJ kg⁻¹ for traditional and technified farms, respectively (Table 4a). Fertilization and crop protection for traditional farms, and irrigation (derived from oil and infrastructure) and fertilization for technified farms, are the

Energy consumption and the contribution of the Ecuadorian cacao agrifood system to climate change

With agrifood globalization, food production has been progressively separating itself from consumption and the immediate environment to integrate into a complex socioeconomic system of industrial organization and commercial distribution that supplies “food products” to an ever more delocalized demand (Delgado Cabeza, 2010). In the global economy, the environmental impacts associated to human food consumption cannot be reduced to farm production; they must be understood in an agrifood system

Conclusions

The results obtained show that cacao/chocolate, throughout its life cycle, is a product highly dependent on energy, with an estimated GER of 36.7 and 40.6 MJ kg⁻¹ for the AFS of traditional and technified cacao, and GHG emissions of 2.49 and 2.82 kg CO₂-eq kg⁻¹ respectively. In average, production, transport and transformation are the cacao life cycle phases with the greatest environmental impact, with 66.5, 16.1 and 15.0% of GHG emissions. Moreover, only 11.3% of the energy is directly

Acknowledgments

This work is part of a project titled “Moving towards food sovereignty: socioeconomic and environmental analysis of the agrifood system of cacao production in the Guayas province (Ecuador). An approximation from socio-environmental complexity,” as a part of the Prometeo Project of the National Secretary for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SENESCYT) of the Republic of Ecuador.

References (50)

M.C. Heller et al.
Assessing the sustainability of the US food system: a life cycle perspective
Agric. Syst.
(2003)
J. Infante Amate et al.
‘Sustainable de-growth’ in agriculture and food: an agro-ecological perspective on Spain's agri-food system (year 2000)
J. Clean. Prod.
(2013)
M. Meul et al.
Energy use efficiency of specialised dairy, arable and pig farms in Flanders
Ecosyst. Environ.
(2007)
L. Milà i Canals et al.
Evaluation of the environmental impacts of apple production using. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): case study in New Zealand
Agric. Ecosyst. Environ.
(2006)
B. Ozkan et al.
Energy input–output analysis in Turkish agriculture
Renew. Energy
(2004)
ADM Cacao
Cacao & Chocolate Manual. De Zaan Cocoa Manual
(2009)
P. Advenier et al.
Energy efficiency and CO₂ emissions of road transportation: comparative analysis of technologies and fuels
Energy Environ.
(2002)
E. Aguilera et al.
Greenhouse gas emissions from conventional and organic cropping systems in Spain. II. Fruit tree orchards
Agron. Sustain. Dev. Accept.
(2014)
C. Allione et al.
A Multicriteria Method for Assessing the Eco-performances of Food Packing. 2nd World Sustainability Forum
(2012)
M. Altieri et al.
Enduring Farms: Climate Change, Smallholders and Traditional Farming Communities
(2008)

ANECACAO

Asociación Nacional de Exportadores de Cacao

(2015)

N. Arizpe et al.

Food security and Fossil fuel 21 dependence: an international comparison of the use of Fossil energy in agriculture (1991–2003)

Crit. Rev. Plant Sci.

(2011)

G. Baird et al.

The energy embodied in building mateirals – update New Zeland coefficients and their significance

IPENZ Trans.

(1997)

T.P. Bayllss-Smith

The Ecology of Agricultural Systems. Cambridge Topies in Geography

(1982)

M. Bilec et al.

Example of a hybrid life-cycle assessment of construction processes

J. Infrastruct. Syst.

(2006)

S. Büsser et al.

LCA of Chocolate Packed in Aluminium Foil Based Packaging

(2009)

P. Campos et al.

La Energía en los Sistemas Agrarios

Agric. Soc.

(1980)

C. Carlsson-Kanyama et al.

Energy Use in the Food Sector. A Date Survey

(2000)

C. Carlsson-Kanyama et al.

Food and life cycle energy inputs: consequences of diet and ways to increase efficiency

Ecol. Econ.

(2003)

D. Coley et al.

Local food, food miles and carbon emissions: a comparison of farm shop and mass distribution approaches

Food Policy

(2009)

M. Delgado Cabeza

El sistema agroalimentario globalizado: imperios alimentarios y degradación social y ecológica

Rev. Econ. Crítica

(2010)

E. Erzinger et al.

LCA of animal products from different housing systems

A. Fišteš et al.

The effect of processing parameters on energy consumption of ball mil refiner for chocolate

Hem. Ind.

(2013)

H. Friedmann et al.

Agriculture and the state system

Sociol. Rural.

(1989)

Cited by (33)

Agroecology as a means to improve energy metabolism and economic management in smallholder cocoa farmers in the Ecuadorian Amazon
2023, Sustainable Production and Consumption
Cocoa is one of the most important crops in Ecuador, especially in the Ecuadorian Amazon, where >60,000 ha are dedicated to cocoa; 48,600 ha in production in 2021. Most of the cocoa area (82 %) is managed by smallholders with <10 ha under cultivation. Despite the socioeconomic and environmental importance of these systems, there are no previous studies that provide an integrated view of the energy metabolism and economic viability of different smallholder management styles. Consequently, the objective of this work is twofold: a) to estimate the aggregate energy and economic metabolism of small cocoa producers (< 10 ha) in the Ecuadorian Amazon and b) to investigate the existing differences in the technical-economic management styles of the crop. To this end, primary data were collected from a statistically representative sample of cocoa-growing areas distributed among 279 producers in 86 communities in the region, using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology and a cost-benefit analysis associated with management. Our data show that most smallholder farmers produce cocoa in low-input diversified agroforest system with a high share of unpaid family labor. At the Amazon level, smallholder farmers (< 10 ha) produced 16.9 million tons of food for the market with a non-renewable cumulative energy demand (NR CED) of 53.8 TJ (1343 MJ/ha), a carbon footprint (CF) of 8.16 Mt. CO₂-eq. (203.9 kg CO₂-eq/ha), and a net margin of 19.07 million $ (476.8 $/ha). On average, cocoa yields were estimated at 288 kg/ha, resulting in a NR CED and carbon footprint (CF) per kg of cocoa of 4.18 MJ and 0.98 kg CO₂-eq. Despite its apparent homogeneity, three distinct styles of crop management were identified by a cluster analysis. The results suggest that farms with good organic/agroecological management can have a similar income generating capacity to the more intensive conventional farms evaluated, but with better environmental outcomes. Consequently, the paper finally discusses the need to promote public actions and policies that allow for the scaling up and improvement of successful agroecological management in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Assessment of the environmental impact and economic performance of cacao agroforestry systems in the Ecuadorian Amazon region: An LCA approach
2022, Science of the Total Environment
Ecuador is the third largest cacao exporter in the world. Up to 10 % of Ecuador's cacao production is grown in the Amazon region, mostly under conventional (CA) and organic (OA) agroforestry systems. Despite the importance of cacao in this area, no previous studies on its environmental impact and economic viability have yet been carried out. The main objective of this research is to fill this gap and, more specifically, perform a comparative analysis between CA and OA systems. For this purpose, primary information was gathered from 90 farms (44 conventional and 46 organic ones) that implement land management practices. The environmental performance of cacao production was assessed using a life cycle analysis methodology, with a cradle-to-farm gate approach. Up to twelve impact categories and five environmental and monetary efficiency indicators were estimated based on three functional units (1 kg of cacao, 1 kg of output sold, and 1 ha). Additionally, an economic viability analysis was performed, focused on profitability. The results show that organic management allows to reduce the environmental impact in all the analyzed categories, except for the land footprint, and improved the environmental and economic efficiency of agroforestry systems. The economic analysis shows no statistically significant differences between CA and OA profitability (net margin), which can be improved by selling co-products. Despite the low environmental impact of both types of system, economic profitability is certainly one of the weaknesses of cacao production in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. This study contributes to develop technical, production-related and political actions that could improve the economic cacao production situation without jeopardizing the environmental benefit obtained by these systems.
Food-energy-water nexus of different cacao production systems from a LCA approach
2021, Journal of Cleaner Production
Citation Excerpt :
GWP is probably the environmental impact that has received more attention in academic debates, but also among consumers, enterprises and policy makers (Brodt et al., 2013; Clune et al., 2017). Some works have shown how the farming stage of cacao production may account for 40%–65% of the total GHG emissions of the agrifood system (Recanati et al., 2018; Pérez-Neira, 2016a), with values ranging between 1.71E+00 and 6.76E+00 kg CO2-eq for its full life cycle (Büsser and Jungbluth, 2009; Miah et al., 2018). The values obtained in this work are comparatively higher—1.11E+00 and 3.74E+00 kg CO2-eq kg−1 of dry cacao—due to the low yields of the systems analysed.
This study presents an evaluation of the food-energy-water nexus (FEWn), complemented by a thorough life cycle assessment (LCA), of four young cacao production systems: two full-sun monocultures and two agroforestry systems under conventional and organic management. Land footprint (LF) for food production, non-renewable cumulative energy demand (NR CED) for energy, total water footprint (TWF) for water, and three efficiency indicators for the FEWn were all analysed. In addition, ten LCA impact categories were evaluated in relation to two functional units (kilograms of cacao output and kilograms of total crop output, i.e., cacao + other crops). The integrated analysis of the FEWn and the LCA framework reveals how agroforestry systems and organic management report better environmental performances for almost all indicators and impact categories considered, except for the TWF. However, given that the systems analysed have no irrigation, between 96.3% and 99.8% of the TWF corresponds to green water, i.e., soil moisture from precipitation. Green water has lower environmental impacts and opportunity costs than the water used to manufacture inputs (WF_input). Accordingly, when the efficiency of the nexus is measured in relation to the WF_input, organically managed systems produce more food/energy per unit of water used. Our results show how production diversification and organic and cultural management practices can improve energy efficiency and reduce the use of water associated with the inputs and, consequently, improve the nexus, as well as the rest of the environmental impacts analysed. The design of agricultural policies focused on sustainability should strongly favour the establishment of agroforestry systems, particularly those that are organically managed.
Transportation can cancel out the ecological advantages of producing organic cacao: The carbon footprint of the globalized agrifood system of ecuadorian chocolate
2020, Journal of Environmental Management
Under the hypothesis that organically managed cacao agroforestry systems report a lower global warming potential (GWP) and reduce other environmental pressure indicators compared with conventionally managed systems and monocultures, this work discusses how global transportation can cut back the ecological advantage of the production phase. For this purpose, the life cycle assessment (LCA) of 1 kg of dark chocolate manufactured with Ecuadorian cacao has been performed (cradle-to-retailer approach), including the indirect impacts of transportation and estimating the equilibrium distances beyond which organic chocolate would have a higher impact than chocolate manufactured from cacao grown in monocultures and/or conventionally managed systems. To articulate the discussion, the carbon footprint (CF) of cacao/chocolate was analyzed together with 10 additional LCA-related impact categories. Three management systems—conventional monoculture (CM) and agroforestry (CA), and organic agroforestry (OA)—and three different supply chain scenarios with different weights in the transportation phase were studied. Expanding on the concept of “food miles”, the equivalent kilometers of the impact of emissions (km-eq) (or cumulated energy demand, eutrophication, etc.) were defined as the variable distance that a certain means of transportation can travel in relation to a fixed level of GHG emissions (or MJ, kg PO₄-eq, etc.). The CF of the life cycle of cacao/chocolate was estimated at between 2.04 and 4.66 kg CO₂-eq kg⁻¹. The relative weight of transportation in relation to the total GHG emissions ranged between 8.9% and 51.1%, with cacao/chocolate traveling between 1380 and 9155 km-eq. The CF of chocolate made from cacao grown in OA systems was 22.7%–34.2% and 6.3%–10.7% lower than the CF of chocolate produced from cacao grown in CM and CA and manufactured and transported under the same conditions. The equilibrium distances between managements were estimated at 1213 and 5275 km-eq. Beyond those equivalent kilometers, organic chocolate would have a larger CF than chocolate manufactured from cacao grown, respectively, in CA and CM systems. Our results indicate that transportation would cancel out this and most other comparative ecological advantages of producing organic cacao analyzed in this work. Directly exporting chocolate from cacao-producing countries and relocating chocolate manufacture would help reduce GHG emissions and other environmental impacts of the supply chain.
Crop-diversification and organic management increase the energy efficiency of cacao plantations
2020, Agricultural Systems
Citation Excerpt :
Additionally, the working time devoted to activities performed outside the plots, such as compost preparation or post-harvest processes, was also registered. The coefficients used to define the energy output of (dry) cacao, plantain and banana were 19.0, 5.11 and 3.73 MJ kg–1, respectively (adapted from Pérez-Neira, 2016a; and VDE, 2015). That of fertilizers (NPK), herbicides, adherents, pesticides (active ingredient) and oil was calculated on the basis of the total embodied energy –including production and distribution– of the amount of material used.
The increasing global demand for chocolate and related products has intensified their production systems by both replacing traditional agroforestry systems with monocultures and increasing the use of synthetic external inputs and machinery. High dependence on non-renewable energy is a clear symptom of unsustainability in food production systems. Consequently, more sustainable agricultural practices should be promoted. With a special focus on non-renewable energy, this work compares: i) the cumulate energy demand (CED), ii) energy return on investment (EROI), and iii) energy return on labour of four different cacao production systems: two agroforestry systems and two monocultures under organic and conventional management. Cacao and subproduct yields and the use of labour and external inputs were recorded during the first five years after the establishment of the trial in Bolivia. Results show that CED per hectare was almost 2-fold higher in monocultures than in agroforestry systems. With regard to the kilograms of cacao produced, the higher number of inputs used in monocultures was compensated by a higher cacao output. However, when subproducts were also taken into account, non-renewable CED was 7.4 times higher in monocultures, and non-renewable EROI increased up to 4.8 times in agroforestry systems compared to monocultures. Under organic management, less than 10% of CED was from non-renewable sources, while it reached 75% in conventional systems. Non-renewable EROI was higher under organic management, both when only cacao was considered and when subproducts were also included. Productivity per hour worked and per energy unit of labour invested were both higher in agroforestry systems than in monocultures. In conclusion, diversification of production and organic management are crucial to increase EROI and diminish dependence on non-renewable energy sources of cacao plantations.
Sustainability concerns and practices in the chocolate life cycle: Integrating consumers’ perceptions and experts’ knowledge
2019, Sustainable Production and Consumption
Citation Excerpt :
Experts and studies agreed on the fact that energy in processing during cocoa transformation is relevant. Studies range the global warming potential contribution of energy at this phase ranges between 6%–28% of the total chocolate environmental impact (Miah et al., 2018; Perez Neira, 2016; Recanati et al., 2018). These results, although diverse, are coherent with the different system boundaries and functional units they are dealing with.
A trade-off is faced by products and services’ providers: reaching economic profitability while respecting the environment and benefiting the society. A sustainability balance is fundamental to satisfy human needs in a resource-scarce global context. Consumers’ behaviour plays a key role on sustainability due to its purchase power, but sometimes the absence of information or fully label understanding results into uninformed decisions. A highly processed product widely consumed in developed countries is chocolate, despite the environmental, economic, and social impacts of its production. The aim of this research is to identify the perception of consumers regarding the sustainability of the chocolate life cycle and compare it with experts’ opinion, and evidences from current studies. Special attention on food loss and waste has been made due to its relevance in the sustainability sphere. A combination of literature review and consultation to consumers and chocolate value-chain experts evidenced the gap between what is expected by consumers and what is recognized by experts and literature. Lack of fully understanding of labels, missing information about cocoa crops and its connection with deforestation or, the absence of studies dealing with the social, economic and environmental impacts of chocolate life cycle have been identified as some of the gaps. These could be fulfilled by improving the lack of a common assessment method applied to measure sustainability in a comparative way, the dearth of buyers’ trust to certifications by enhancing its meaning, and the poverty of communication received and understood about sustainable products by targeting specific consumers’ needs.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text