Another Consequence of Deforestation Tony Lass MBE Chairman

Another Consequence of Deforestation Tony Lass, MBE Chairman, Cocoa Research Association (CRA) Ltd CHOCOA, Amsterdam 23 rd February 2018

Introduction to Cocoa in the Wild • Put simply, much (but not all) of the natural diversity of the cocoa species originates in forests of head waters of the Amazon River - in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru; an area shown to be a ‘centre of diversity’ for cocoa • In that area, potentially valuable wild cocoa material is being lost for ever due to intense development pressures from roads, agriculture, mining, tourism, hydroelectric schemes and other developments • However, we have potentially saved a number of wild cocoa types through expeditions in the past 80 years to these areas; many of these types have been successfully established in national and international collections; these are of potentially huge (but often unknown) future value • Conclusion: Good start made but much remains to be done; diverse wild cocoa types essential in future breeding programmes for sustainable cocoa production

Crop diversity - 1 • “Crop diversity is essential to life. It underpins nearly everything that we eat and drink but this diversity is rapidly disappearing”(The Crop Trust 2018) • Genetic diversity within a crop offers ability for plant breeders to produce new varieties though combining different traits in new combinations (Hawtin, 2007) • The value of this diversity is steadily increasing as knowledge grows - making it now possible to identify potentially useful genes (for disease resistance, flavour etc) • With every individual lost we lose options for the future (Hawtin, 2007)

Crop diversity - 2 • Many germplasm collections (including those of cocoa) are themselves under threat from lack of reliable funding • A decade ago this realisation led to the creation (by The Crop Trust & others) of the so-called Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the permafrost of the Artic Circle in Norway (at – 18 degrees C) • Presently, cocoa can only be conserved in living collections (ie as a plant in a field) • Conclusion: Funding for care & maintenance (and then evaluation) of these collected wild cocoa trees needs to be secure - as of now, such longterm funding is not assured at an adequate level and so cocoa diversity is being lost for ever

Current on-farm diversity of Cocoa in West Africa and Southeast Asia - 1 • Cocoa production in Africa and Asia is based on some 12 to 15 cocoa types mainly Upper Amazon Forastero clones (much from collections made by Pound in 1938) • Breeding efforts in the past 70/80 years have been reshuffling this small fraction of genetic diversity of cocoa, with little addition of new variations • The risk is that on-farm genetic diversity currently in Africa and Asia may not meet the challenge of the mounting pressure of pest and diseases and changing climates • New characteristics (or traits) from, as yet, untapped cocoa types must be incorporated into breeding work for cocoa • After Zhang and Motilal (2016)

Current on-farm diversity of cocoa in west Africa and South East Asia - 2 • Lachenaud & Motomayor (2017) “Only seven true criollo clones are conserved in the international collections” • Padi et al. (2016): “There is large scope for increasing yield of commercial cocoa plantings in Ghana by utilizing clones from genetic groups that have not been utilized for variety development but are in the international collections” • Umaharan (2018): “To date perhaps a mere 6% of genetic diversity of cocoa has been utilized in cocoa breeding” • Conclusion: Cocoa breeders have only used a small part of the genetic diversity available in international collections; risks to security of funding for maintenance of these collections exist and, for the safer future of this industry, must be overcome

Action Plan • Individuals in the international collections have been placed in the public domain and so are available on request (after suitable quarantine); • Care of the collected wild cocoa individuals in collections is of paramount (and increasing) importance • CRA is now working with Bioversity and the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) to gather further financial support from additional industry members and international donors for improvements in the conditions in these international collections and to assure adequate on-going funds for cocoa conservation in support of future cocoa breeding efforts • Conclusion: Any support (moral, practical and financial) for this important effort from any organisation attending CHOCOA would be most welcome

References The Crop Trust (2018) https: //www. croptrust. org Hawtin, G. (2007) Securing crop diversity- assuring the future. Tropical Agriculture association, AGM November 2007 Lachenaud, P. and Motomayor, J. C (2017) The Criollo Cacao tree: a review. Genet Resour Crop Evol 64: 1807 -1820 Pound, F. J. (1938) Cacao and witchbroom disease of South America with notes on other species of Theobroma. Yuille’s Printerie Port of Spain, Trinidad. Reprinted in Archives of Cocoa Research 1: 20 -72 Padi, F. K. , Ofori, A, and Akpertey, A (2016) Genetic base-broadening of cacao for precocity and cropping efficiency. Plant Genetic Resources; 110. NIAB, Cambridge Umaharan, P. (2018) Personal communication, February 2018 Zhang, D. and Motilal, L (2016) in Cacao Diseases. Bailey, B. A and Meinhardt, L. H (eds. ) pp 3 -31, Springer International Publishing, Switzerland

Acknowledgements The Cocoa Research Association (CRA) is a not-for-profit UK based Scientific Research Association working, in particular, on conservation of cocoa genetic resources. It was initially created with a legacy from a member of the Cadbury family and is supported by generous regular contributions from Mars Wrigley, from Mondelez International and from ICE Cocoa Futures Europe See: http//: www: cocoaresearch. org. uk for further on the work of CRA

Thank you for your kind attention CONTACTS: michelle. end@cocoaresearch. org. uk and tonylass@foxconsultancy. com