Newsletter | April thru June of 2008
President’s Message
Dear WCF Members, Partners and Friends,
On behalf of the WCF officers and staff, thank you to everyone who helped make the Partnership Meeting in Ecuador our best attended meeting to date. The 13th Partnership Meeting had nearly 300 participants from over 20 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. Highlights of the meeting included opening remarks from the Mayor of Guayaquil Jaime Nebot Saadi and Ecuador’s Minister of Agriculture Walter Poveda Ricaurte. We were honored that Patricia Sheikh of the US Department of Agriculture joined us to announce the 2008 Borlaug Fellows Program, an important initiative that will strengthen the capacity of research institutes in cocoa producing countries. Presentations are now available on our website.
Finally, the WCF members and staff congratulate Dr. Wilbert Phillips-Mora of CATIE who received the 2008 cocoa sustainability award.
Regards, Bill Guyton
New Member Spotlight
In this issue, we highlight two of the World Cocoa Foundation’s new members. Click on the company’s name to learn more.
“Helping others by sharing knowledge and expertise has always been my guiding principle, and the one I founded Chocolate Marketing on, more than 20 years ago. WCF’s mission takes us to the heart of all chocolate — the cocoa farmers, their families and their communities. To be a part of an organization that is shaping the future of cocoa farming and fomenting change and sustainability on such a broad and deep level, is an honor and a privilege.”
-- Joan Steuer, Chocolate Marketing LLC
“Increasingly people are looking beyond their country’s borders and viewing the global perspective. Makers of chocolate are no different. In Australia and New Zealand there are just over forty makers of chocolate confectionery. Apart from one small farm here, all cocoa is imported into Australia. While we are small on the world stage in production terms (less than four per cent), we see ourselves as part of the global community. We joined WCF to support sustainable farming. Specifically, we joined because Australian manufacturers want the elimination of harmful labor practices in West African cocoa farming communities.”
-- Trish Hyde, Confectionery Manufacturers of Australasia
West Africa: Peer Education for Improved Community Health
“I’m just recuperating from a bout with malaria myself. I want to help other farmers avoid getting sick. Malaria is ravaging our villages,” says Mr. Frebonne Noel, a trainer with a Farmer Field School in Zinzenou, Cote d’Ivoire. Recently, Mr. Noel participated in a training program to become a peer educator on HIV/AIDS, malaria and reproductive health. As part of the training, he learned how to integrate information on these important topics into the Farmer Field Schools he facilitates. Reflecting on the completion of the peer educator training Mr. Noel notes, “I now have a valuable weapon to protect my cocoa farmer brothers and help them stay healthy so they can produce more cocoa beans, sell them to the cooperative, and make money to send their children to school and improve their lives.”
Peer educator training is part of the Building and Strengthening Health and Wellness Activities for the Sustainable Tree Crops Program in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana Program. This program is supported by the World Cocoa Foundation and the US National Confectioners Association and is implemented by Family Health International.
WCF thanks Family Health International for contributing this story.
Southeast Asia: Improving Quality Increases Income for Sulawesi Farmer
Sutarmi, a 33 year old woman from Bila Hamlet, Tapporang Village, Pinrang District South Sulawesi, is known for her perseverance and hard work in managing her cocoa farm. Although her cocoa trees are quite old (18 years), she continues to care for them and look for ways to improve production through the AMARTA Sulawesi Kakao Alliance (ASKA). The ASKA basic training program provides farmers with knowledge to increase productivity, reduce cocoa pests and disease, improve post-harvest handling practices, meet export grade standards, and enhance the quality of their cocoa beans.
Sutarmi improved the overall quality of her cocoa by implementing the PsPSP method that she learned through the training. PsPSP includes frequent harvesting, pruning, sanitation and fertilization to mitigate the negative effect that cocoa pod borer has on cocoa quality. Before her participation in the program, Sutarmi noted, “I never thought my cocoa would get better. The trees have gotten worse over the years and no matter what I tried nothing helped.”
Since receiving ASKA training, one of the most important changes is that she can now sell her improved quality beans to ASKA partner and cocoa exporter Olam. Prior to the ASKA training, Sutarmi used to sell her cocoa with a moisture content well above the industry norm resulting in higher discounting and lower prices. Now, the improved quality beans sell for a higher price. Sutarmi noted, “Last time when I sold 23.5 kgs of cocoa, I went to a local trader who offered me 300,000Rp (US$33) then I went to the Olam buying station where based on the quality I received 501,750Rp (US$55) an increase of approximately 70% in income.”
The AMARTA program is supported by the US Agency for International Development, World Cocoa Foundation and Olam International Ltd. The program is implemented by Development Alternatives Inc.
WCF thanks Olam International Ltd. for contributing this story.
Latin America: Ecuador Cocoa Tour
Following the Partnership Meeting in Guayaquil, WCF and CORPEI hosted a group of 27 WCF members, partners, and staff for a four-day Cocoa Tour visiting sites in the provinces of Guayas and Los Rios. The tour included visits to smallholder farms and associations working with Anecacao; the INIAP research station at Pichilingue; larger, high-input farms operated by members of Aprocafa; a cocoa liquor tasting led by WCF board member Vincent Zeller of Chorrera; the processing facility of Transmar Commodity Group of Ecuador; and the export facility of CasaLuker.
The highlight of the tour was a series of visits to farmers and farmer associations participating in the SUCCESS Alliance Program implemented by ACDI/VOCA. These innovative groups of farmers demonstrated the grafting techniques they use at their nursery, explained their composting operations and use of solar dryers, and asked the tour group to participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of a new dryer they designed and built themselves. WCF thanks CORPEI, Anecacao, Aprocafa, CasaLuker, Transmar Commodity Group of Ecuador, ACDI/VOCA and INIAP whose guidance and support helped to make the tour a success.
Cocoa Basics: What is Frosty Pod Rot (Monilia)?
Frosty pod rot (also known as “moniliasis” or “monilia” in Spanish speaking countries) is caused by the fungus Moniliophthora roreri. This fungus causes the most devastating of the pod rots, even more so than its more famous “cousin,” Moniliophthora perniciosa that causes witches’ broom disease, because it is so aggressive and easily spreads over long distances. So far it is confined to the Americas, and has even recently spread into Belize and Mexico, areas of ancient cultivation by indigenous people. Its range now includes South America -- Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela, Central America -- Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala; and now Belize and Mexico. Damage caused by the disease varies from less than 25% in some areas to a total loss of cocoa production in others, with an annual loss of at least 30,000 metric tons of beans worth over $7.5 million. Great care must be taken if this fungal disease is to be kept out of the other cacao growing regions, especially Brazil and Bolivia, but also West Africa and Southeast Asia, the main cocoa-producing areas of the world.
Moniliophthora roreri completes its entire life cycle in cacao pods, completely destroying the cocoa beans that are developing inside. Detection and removal of infected pods is key to management of the disease. However, this must be accomplished at the time of appearance of early warning signs of infection. Infected pods have to be removed at the first sign of external symptoms, before spores have been produced. Early infection is detected by the conspicuous bumpy swellings on the pod surfaces. Within 12 days after appearance of swellings, sporulation begins over the pod causing a powdery, white to tan discoloration. Pods must be removed before the spores form with the resultant characteristic rapid and widespread dispersal of spores by wind and rain.
Disease management, or Integrated Pest Management (IPM), includes the above sanitation methods. This is accompanied by other cultural practices, including severe pruning to reduce the height of trees so that diseased pods can be easily removed. In addition, traditional cacao breeding programs have been carried out in Costa Rica, with the support of the World Cocoa Foundation, to produce resistant cacao varieties that are now being planted in several areas. This resistance, coupled with “marker assisted” DNA breeding strategies, may be used to reduce the number of years required to put desirable characteristics such as disease resistance into this perennial tree crop. The above IPM strategy also may include biological controls, with the use of beneficial fungi such as Trichoderma spp. against the pathogen, and use of chemicals such as tebaconazole, a triazole fungicide, to inhibit infection. Research on cacao diseases holds the key to preventing the spread of this important fungal pathogen and to the reduction of losses in cocoa production.
WCF thanks Dr. Robert Lumsden for contributing this story.
WCF Cocoa News
Click on the links below to read about WCF staff travel to the field and participation in events. Visit the World Cocoa Foundation blog on a regular basis for updates.
April 2008
Bill Guyton traveled to Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria
Bill Guyton presented at Morgan State University
June 2008