Published Date: 2001-02-22 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/PL> Cacao diseases
Archive Number: 20010222.0341

CACAO DISEASES
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Date: 21 Feb 2001
From: Dick Hamilton <rihamilto@home.com>
Source: Hartford (Connecticut, USA) Courant, 14 Feb 2001 [edited]
<http://www.ctnow.com/scripts/editorial.dll?eetype=Article&eeid=4000979&rend
er=y&Table=>

Chocolate May Be in for Bitter Times
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The tropical rain forest trees that produce cocoa beans, the crop needed to
make chocolate, are under siege from naturally occurring plant diseases and
from clear-cutting by farmers making room for other crops. Experts at the
U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA] say fungal diseases that are damaging
cacao trees in Latin America and West Africa soon could cause a shortage of
cocoa beans. The supply of cocoa beans is sufficient to meet the demand
for chocolate now, and there has been no increase in price. But plant
diseases are hampering production at a time when consumption is rising in
developing countries such as China and the former communist countries of
Eastern Europe.
According to [Bryan A. Bailey, a USDA plant pathologist], it is just a
matter of time before virulent strains of the devastating fungi begin to
spread from country to country. [USDA] scientists are working with
researchers from M&M Mars Inc., one of the world's largest chocolate
makers, and scientists from other countries to find ways to head off plant
diseases [such as] black pod, witches' broom and frosty pod rot. When
[these] fungi [infect] a tree, the beans become blighted and shriveled.
In some hard-hit areas, farmers have cut or burned infested trees [and
planted] other crops. But tropical soils typically give out after only a
few years of traditional farming, and deforestation and erosion have become
major challenges.
John Lunde, director of international environmental programs for M&M Mars,
says that traditional fungicides don't work in [heavy rainfall] areas. So
researchers are experimenting with [fungal] enemies of the [pathogens].
Saving the trees would help [to] maintain farmers' income in several
tropical countries where cocoa is an important cash crop and it also would
help [to] sustain rain forests and the [fauna] that inhabit them.
Small farms, typically with 1000 trees or less, produce more than 80
percent of the world's cocoa beans. Cacao trees usually are cultivated in
the lower canopy of rain forests and produce pods that contain about 30 to
40 beans apiece.
Because the cacao tree is native to Latin America, South America and
Central America have been [traditional] hubs of cocoa production. Until
about 10 years ago, Brazil was the world's second-leading cocoa bean
producer. But witches' broom devastated cacao trees in that country's
tropical forests, and cocoa bean exports plummeted from about 400 000 tons
a year to about 100 000 tons a year.
West Africa is now the world's premier cacao-growing region. Ivory Coast is
the leading producer and supplies about half of the world's cocoa beans.
With so much production concentrated in one area, experts say, a new plant
disease could wipe out a large portion of the crop. [Based on] what
happened in Brazil, scientists and industry experts say there [is] no
reason to think it couldn't happen in West Africa.
"That was a real wake-up call for us," said Lunde, of M&M Mars Inc. So
far, black pod is confined to parts of West Africa [while] witches' broom
and frosty pod rot are [limited] to Central America and South America.
"Given time, it's likely - inevitable," said Bailey, "that they'll cross
over. We haven't been very good at producing the types of quarantines
necessary to keep these [pathogens] from spreading around."
[Byline: Daniel P. Jones]
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Major fungal pathogens of cacao (_Theobroma cacao_) and the diseases they
cause are: some _Phytophthora_ spp., (black pod), _Crinipellis perniciosa_
(witches' broom), and _Moniliophthora roreri_ (frosty pod rot). Minor
pathogens are _Oncobasidium theobromae_ the fungus that causes
vascular-streak dieback and cacao swollen shoot badnavirus which is
transmitted by several insect species. ProMED-Plant monitors cacao because
of its use as a very popular confection and also because of its considerable
economic significance to West Africa and its farmers who depend on it as a
cash crop. The cacao bean price in 1998/99 was estimated at $3.4 billion
USD. The retail chocolate industry in the USA alone is about $13 billion.
An excellent account of cacao and cocoa can be found at the website of the
American Phytopathological Society:
<http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/cacao/top.html>
-Mod.DH]
...............................mpp/dh/pg/es
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