Cocoa is one of the most interesting cash crops for farmers along the equator. It provides a long-term income security, which is used for school fees and hospital costs. As such it is one of the motors of development.
The crop is usually grown on small farms in a mixed cropping arrangement with bananas, groundnuts, peppers, sweet potatoes and a host of other crops. A system which has all aspects of sustainability in it. But the cocoa crop itself is being attacked by many diseases, which if not combated, reduce yields frequently by half.
Some diseases, like the fungal disease Witches' Broom (Crinipellis perniciosa) in Brazil wipe out whole areas of cocoa production. An economic and social disaster. In West Africa, by far the largest cocoa producing area, Pod Rot (3 species of the fungus Phytophthora) is a major threat to the crop, along with a number of other diseases. In Indonesia, the moth Cocoa Pod Borer (Conopomorpha cramerella) induces similar losses.
Farmers spray conventional chemicals, because if they don't, they will harvest half or nothing at all. But the chemicals are expensive, they are infrequently and inefficiently being used, while the environment is polluted and the end product contains undesirable levels of residues.
Alternatives should be developed, using a multi-focused strategy. Plant Research International has large experience in breeding perennial woody crops, is developing environmentally-friendly strategies against Phytophthora, studies the molecular basis of resistance against pests and diseases, and develops technologies to select superior beans.