When announcing a shortage of a narcotic food like chocolate, there is a risk of causing a run. Have you, I wonder, already got up to dash to the supermarket and buy up every bar in sight? Or are you a bit like me: fond of an after-dinner fondant but otherwise not that addicted, so not especially aggrieved that demand is currently outstripping supply? The International Cocoa Organization is predicting that over the next five years, cocoa farmers will not be able to grow enough. It is the longest shortfall since the ICO began collecting data in 1960. Prices are set to rise, and the major chocolate producers need to find a resolution. The shortage is not a result of agricultural-environmental problems, even though cocoa is a difficult, disease-attracting plant that takes a decade to mature.