CHOCOLATE could run out in the next thirty years because the crop will be harder to grow in a warming climate, experts have warned.

The cacao tree - from which we get cocoa beans - thrives only in humid rainforest-like conditions close to the equator.

3 Cocoa is produced from the seeds of the cacao tree, a vital cash crop around the world Credit: Getty

But the fragile plant is under threat from diseases and a changing climate that will suck moisture from the soil and make it impossible to produce a good crop in many regions around the world by 2050.

Currently two West African countries, Ivory Coast and Ghana, produce more than half the world's cocoa but this region is forecast to be hit by rising temperatures and droughts.

Farmers will be forced to move crops to higher ground, but there is limited space and many upland areas are protected for wildlife.

Already demand for chocolate outstrips supply as billions of Asians have found a love of the sweet treat like Europeans and North and South Americans.

3 A farmer harvests cocoa beans in Ivory Coast, the world's chocolate growing capital Credit: AFP

Stockpiles of cocoa are running low and the effects of climate change on yields could add up to a serious global shortage, according to one expert.

Doug Hawkins, of Hardman Agribusiness, said part of the problem is most cocoa is produced by poor families who cannot afford fertilisers and pesticides.

He said: "More than 90 per cent of the global cocoa crop is produced by smallholders on subsistence farms with unimproved planting material.

"All the indicators are that we could be looking at a chocolate deficit of 100,000 tons a year in the next few years."

3 Bountiful growing areas will shrink because of climate change by 2050, experts warn

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Modern farming techniques could improve yields but that is only part of the answer, experts say.

Scientists funded by choc giant Mars have recently mapped the genetic code of cacao trees - almost all of which descend from the same few plants in the upper Amazon.

Now they are working on creating new genetically modified hybrids that they hope could withstand hotter and dryer weather and still produce high quality cocao.

Here are six other favourite foods and drinks that could soon disappear.

Make a tasty Toblerone chocolate mousse with three simple ingredients

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