Chocolate shortage spurs revival of cocoa

With chocolate prices surging, a former Credit Suisse Group AG banker wants to help revive cocoa farming in the Amazon basin, where the beans are thought to have evolved about 15,000 years ago.

His campaign, located in Peru, is part of a Latin American push to gain more control of an industry now dominated by West African farmers who provide 70 percent of the market.

The effort comes as drought, disease and government price controls have cut into the ability of Africa's suppliers to meet demand, boosting prices by 7.4 percent in2014.