The Americas

 

Context and Needs

Cocoa originated in the Amazon basin thousands of years ago and continues to play an important role today not only in Brazil and the Andean region, but in a number of Central American and Caribbean countries as well. Although the region accounts for only 11% of global cocoa production, it is famous for its fine flavor beans used in premium and single-origin chocolate products.

In Latin America, the World Cocoa Foundation supports programs that build networks at the local, national and regional levels. At the local level, farmers are trained and encouraged to work together to conduct post-harvest handling, and farmer organizations are strengthened through training programs. At the national and regional levels, stakeholders come together to coordinate activities and address common issues such as disease management. Areas of focus include:

• Training farmers to better manage pests and disease, diversify crops for cash and consumption, improve pruning and shade management, practice sound environmental stewardship. Emphasis is placed on techniques to control frosty pod rot and witches’ broom, two cocoa diseases common in the region.
• Working with farmers to establish and strengthen farmer organizations, helping them better understand market needs and opportunities, acquire improved management and marketing skills, and collectively sell their cocoa at a higher price.
• Diversifying farm income and promoting environmental stewardship through the practice of agroforestry and intercropping.
• Building networks for national and regional coordination and collaboration on issues such as cocoa sector development, pest and disease research, and farmer training curriculum standardization.
• Improving cocoa quality by educating farmers on proper post-harvest handling techniques and training farmer organizations in quality control.

 

Country Coverage

WCF supported recent programming in the following countries:

• Bolivia
• Colombia
• Ecuador
• Peru

 

World Cocoa Foundation Programs

1. Farmer Outreach

• Sustainable Cocoa for the Americas Solar Dryer Project
• ACCESO
• SUCCESS Alliance Ecuador
• Campaign for the Adoption of Improved Farming Practices and Post-Harvest Handling Methods in Huila
• Marketing and Agriculture for Jamaican Improved Competitiveness (MAJIC)

 

2. Challenge Grants

• 2008/2009 Challenge Grants – Education & Community Development Category

 

3. Research Exchanges

• Cocoa Borlaug Fellows Program: Dominican Republic – Central American Free Trade Agreement and Mexico
• Cocoa Borlaug Fellows Program: Ecuador
• Project on Cocoa Productivity and Quality Improvement: A Participatory Approach (International Cocoa Organization/Common Fund for Commodities/Bioversity International)
• Evaluation of Cocoa Germplasm for Resistance to Witches’ Broom Disease (Cocoa Research Unit, University of the West Indies)
• Selection and Generation of Moniliasis (Frosty Pod)-Resistant Cacao Genotypes and Maintenance and Conservation of the International Cacao Collection (CATIE)
• Pest and Disease Control : Fungal Endophytes Associated with Cacao (Smithsonian Sustainable Cacao Group, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)
• Cocoa of Excellence: Promoting Diverse, High Quality Origins Project.

 

Information on programs was updated in May 2010.