Cocoa Germplasm: an invaluable resource

A new global initiative to co-ordinate activities relating to the conservation and use of cocoa germplasm involves both international and national research institutes. The UN CFC/ICCO/IPGRI Project on Cocoa Conservation and Utilization: A Global Approach aims to help smallholder producers achieve sustainable production of cocoa and to reduce their need for expensive inputs by developing better varieties and through more efficient conservation and use of cocoa genetic resources. The project, developed by IPGRIand ICCO and is supported by leading international cocoa research institutes and organizations including CIRAD, ACRI, BCCCA and the University of Reading, UK. The ten cocoa producing countries involved in the project are Brazil, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Ghana, Malaysia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. The Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), based in Amsterdam, is providing the principal funding.

A key objective of the cocoa initiative is to support existing conservation, characterisation and distribution efforts and to make them more cost effective. Information on cocoa material held in international and national genebank collections is accessible through the University of Reading/LIFFE International Cocoa Germplasm Database (ICGD). Set up in 1988 by BCCCA and supported by IPGRI, ICGD holds data on the origins, present location and known characteristics of germplasm. This information is available to cocoa breeders, genebank managers and collectors and will become an increasingly important resource as further characterisation and evaluation results are obtained from newly evaluated material.

The maintenance of cocoa germplasm is essential as the loss of wild and primitive cocoa types continue due to deforestation and natural calamities such as fire and diseases. Cocoa breeders have created working collections, containing both wild and cultivated materials; these currently contain about 7,000 original accessions. The project will explore and assist opportunities for further collection and conservation of material from interesting new areas. (see also Regions of developing interest)

The exchange of germplasm from one region to another is critical to the work of cocoa breeders as they search for disease resistant and higher-yielding material. Selected cloned material will be exchanged between participating institutions. To prevent the introduction of pests and diseases from one region to another, cocoa material is observed for two years at the BCCCA Intermediate Cocoa Quarantine Facilities at the University of Reading, UK, and at CIRAD, Montpellier France. An additional quarantine facility, also supported by BCCCA, is operated in Barbados, primarily for the safe transfer of material into the cocoa Genebank in Trinidad. Much of the germplasm currently received comes from the International Cocoa Genebanks in Trinidad (ICG, T) and Costa Rica (CATIE), but material has also been received from the wild and from national collections in Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, French Guyana and Mexico. This ICG, T genebank holds one of the most diverse collections of internationally available material containing wild, primitive and selected genotypes from various sources in the Caribbean, Latin and Central America.

Cocoa plantations are known for more than 30 years but their average life span is usually far shorter due to the destructive effect of parasites (mirids, witches' broom, Phytopthora). Many farmers then use their own seed for re-planting but genetic degeneration only compounds problems of disease and reduced yields. Producers therefore depend on national research and extension services to provide them with access to new varieties. However, many cocoa producing countries have been unable to maintain breeding activities during recent years because of limited financial resources and low cocoa prices. Many breeders have often had to operate in isolation. The cocoa project aims to further support the work of breeders and to co-ordinate their efforts. (see also New combat strategies for cocoa)

The project will attempt to identify interesting genotypes, particularly for economically important traits such as disease and pest resistance and yield in the ICG, T as well as in the national collection. Twenty cocoa clones, supplied by intermediate quarantine centres, will be compared in field trials with twenty local clones in each of the countries. Screening methods will be used to study the stability of these clones to fungal isolates of black pod and witches' broom from different geographical origins. In addition, a number of other potentially interesting cocoa trees will be screened and selected in each country for cloning and planting in field observation plots.

The exchange of information will be fostered through working documents, newsletters and workshops during the course of the five-year project. The first workshop which was held in February 1998, standardized procedures for evaluation and selection of cocoa genotypes in project trials and collaborative activities between participating institutes were discussed. A second workshop will evaluate project results and consider future activities.

Back to Menu