CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE PLANTATION.

Who needs a holiday to splurge on chocolate? Certainly not Americans, who indulged ill over three billion pounds of the sweet stuff in 1997, averaging 12 pounds per person. With chocolate products flying off the supermarket shelves, it may be time to take a good hard look at how they're getting there in the first place.

The cacao tree, which produces the coveted bean, is native to the understory of the tropical rainforest, and has been traditionally farmed there for centuries. "The whole ecology of the tree is tied to shade in some way," says Allen Young, author of The Chocolate "Free and a tropical ecologist with the Milwaukee Public Museum. But a boom in cocoa consumption caused global production to nearly double in the last 15 years. In response to unprecedented worldwide demand, cocoa farming spread to 16.3 million acres, and full-sun cultivation began on estate-like plantations in cleared areas of rainforest.

Although such genetically uniform monocultures may produce initially bigger yields, they create all inhospitable environment for pollinators and biological pest controls, and also encourage the movement of fungal spores, the biggest inhibitor to cacoa growth. Increased vulnerability to pests and disease prompts the generous application of pesticides and fertilizers, and initiates a cycle of high-input, high-impact agriculture. Also lost with the forest canopy is important habitat for migratory songbirds.

As a result, says Stephanie Daniels, development coordinator for the Organic Commodity Project, "People are seeing their soils become very nutrient-poor, and their yields are going down. There's a new worry that the world cocoa supply is suffering from unsustainable practices." The question now being debated, according to Young, is "how to make cocoa farming more productive for the farmer, less costly, less environmentally-contaminating, and let nature work in harmony with a product nature produced."

This was, in fact, the topic of an international conference last year in Panama attended by cocoa researchers, ecologists and representatives of the industry. The conference was sponsored by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, but director Russell Greenberg says, "The biological interest in shade-grown chocolate goes way beyond migratory birds." It also, he adds, encompasses the biodiversity of the entire tropical forest system, helping to protect the soil from erosion and providing refuge for many forms of wildlife.

Sustainably-grown cocoa is raised with such marketable canopy crops as papaya, banana and other tropical fruits. Together, they have the potential to secure the economies of small farms in the tropics, while preserving valuable forest remnants. But, says Susan Smith, spokesperson for the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, "One tree takes 20 to 25 years to grow, so it's still the beginning of a good thing." CONTACT: American Cocoa Research Institute, 7900 Westpark Drive, Suite A 320, McLean, VA 22102/[phone].