There is a location/clima reason. Cocoa grows (well) only in a certain part of the world around the equator line as it requires tropical weather with regular rains and small dry seasons.

It may be possible to use artificial techniques to grow it elsewhere, but I'm assuming it's not economically viable or you get a product with worst quality in the end

Yeah, I already see other tropical-zone countries cutting down even more rain forest to make space for cocoa plantations (in addition to the rain forest they are already cutting down or burning for e.g. palm oil plantations). That's not really the desirable outcome here I think...

That's not really any different from what the developed world did when they were in the same state of development.