BRAZIL鈥檚 cocoa industry could be saved from the ravages of fungal disease by the chance discovery of a new strain of cocoa tree. Witches鈥�-broom, a disease that causes abnormal bushy growth of shoots, threatens to put many of the country鈥檚 cocoa farmers out of business. Over the past five years it has spread like wildfire through plantations in Brazil and Central America.
The new tree called Theobahia, was developed by researchers at Ceplac, the Brazilian government鈥檚 cocoa agency at Itabuna in the northeastern state of Bahia, where 90 per cent of Brazilian cocoa is produced.
Paulo Alvim, an agronomist with Ceplac, says specimens of the cocoa tree, produced by crossing a wild Amazonian variety with a local variety, have been growing at the cocoa agency鈥檚 experimental plantation since the 1970s. 鈥淥ur intention had been to grow a more productive type of plant. It was only when witches鈥�-broom disease got into the plantation that we found the trees were resistant.鈥� Alvim says Ceplac will distribute seeds to farmers in the region.
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The disease has existed in the Amazon basin for centuries but was first seen in Bahia about five years ago. The fungus spreads very quickly and there is no known cure. In its early stages it attacks branches and can be controlled, but in its advanced stage it destroys the cocoa pod.
The fungus has already reduced annual production in Brazil, the world鈥檚 second largest cocoa producer, from an average 360 000 tonnes to 240 000 this year, and farmers say yields could fall still further. The reduction has worried environmentalists as well as farmers. Cocoa trees need the shade of taller trees to grow and their cultivation has ensured the survival of the last remnants of the endangered Atlantic Forest and its rare animal species.
鈥淚f nothing is done to stop the disease, there could be an environmental disaster,鈥� says Ronaldo Monteiro, a cocoa farmer. 鈥淎lready, dozens of farmers have abandoned their farms, chopped down the trees and turned them into cattle pasture.鈥�