As the world’s demand for chocolate grows, cocoa farmers in Nigeria are moving into protected areas of a forest reserve that is home to endangered species like African forest elephants. Over the course of two visits and several days, The Associated Press documented farmers harvesting cocoa beans where that work is banned in conservation areas of Omo Forest Reserve, a protected tropical rainforest 135 kilometers (84 miles) northeast of the coastal city of Lagos in southwestern Nigeria. (AP Video/Dan Ikopyi)
Cocoa grown illegally in a Nigerian rainforest heads to companies that supply major chocolate makers
As the world’s demand for chocolate grows, cocoa farmers in Nigeria are moving into protected areas of a forest reserve that is home to endangered species like African forest elephants. Over the course of two visits and several days, The Associated Press documented farmers harvesting cocoa beans where that work is banned in conservation areas of Omo Forest Reserve, a protected tropical rainforest 135 kilometers (84 miles) northeast of the coastal city of Lagos in southwestern Nigeria. (AP Video/Dan Ikopyi)