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December 2009 Archives

Cocoa Borlaug Fellow Alumni participate in the 16th International Cocoa Research Conference

Entry: Rhodina Cena, University of Southern Mindanao and Muhammad Junaid, Hasanuddin University

Two Cocoa Borlaug Fellow Alumni, Ms. Rhodina B. Cena (the Philippines) and Mr. Muhammad Junaid (Indonesia) participated in the Cocoa Producers’ Alliance 16th International Cocoa Conference from November 16-21, 2009 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia with the theme “Towards Rational Cocoa Production and Efficient Use for a Sustainable World Cocoa Economy”.

The said conference was attended by about 250 cocoa scientists of all disciplines and other cocoa stakeholders from all over the world which opened opportunity for us to learn about cocoa research conducted in the Southeast Asia Region and in other cocoa-producing regions of the world. It was a great chance for us to meet personally world renowned and eminent cocoa scientists whom we knew from their publications. Exchange of ideas and possible linkages and collaboration was also one of the privileges that were undertaken.

During the event, Muhammad Junaid presented his poster entitled “Detection of Thanatephorus theobromae, cause of vascular streak dieback of cacao in tissues Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi” and presented a paper during the INCOPED Workshop held last November 23, 2009. The research was carried out at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Beltsville Area Research Center Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Lab with Gary J. Samuels and Adnan Ishmaiel as well as Ade Rosmana at Hasanuddin University. The research will help scientists in the development of the phylogenic tree of VSD’s pathogen anywhere without culturing into media. This research project was conducted through his Borlaug Fellowship with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the World Cocoa Foundation.

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Rhodina B. Cena also acted as one of the note takers during the first session of the conference and had a chance to attend the Asia-Pacific Regional Breeders Meeting and INGENIC Workshop together with Tracey Duffey, World Cocoa Foundation Program Director for Southeast Asia and West Africa, and regional breeders from Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Mars Incorporated scientists Smilja Lambert, Juan Carlos Motamayor Arias and Martin Gilmour also attended the workshop.

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We would like to thank the Norman E. Borlaug Agricultural Science and Technology Fellows Program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the World Cocoa Foundation for giving us the opportunity and financial support to participate in this momentous event of the cocoa industry. We are going back home full of ideas and hope for the cocoa stakeholders in our respective countries.

Posted on December 3, 2009 4:45 PM | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

ECHOES: West African Program Benefiting Youth and Young Adults in the Cocoa Sector of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire

Entry: David Noyes, World Cocoa Foundation Program Coordinator

I wanted to share with the readers an update from my recent travels in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. For those who don’t know me, my name is David Noyes, World Cocoa Foundation Program Coordinator for ECHOES, an initiative funded by USAID and World Cocoa Foundation company members. I am working with Charlie Feezel on the second phase of the program with the ambitious goal of reaching over 160,000 youth and young adults in West Africa.

On December 8, 2009 I joined ECHOES partners in Ghana for a local work planning meeting to coordinate activities over the next two years. ECHOES partners IFESH, Winrock International, and World Education brought together their local field staff, IFESH volunteers, and country coordinators to discuss timing of activities in the communities, collaboration and coordination of these activities, and the monitoring and evaluation plan for ECHOES.

One of the interesting new activities under the new phase of the program is Community Resource Centers which will be operated by our partners, together with local communities. By October 2010 Winrock International, with significant community contributions, expects to have established eight ICT-enabled community resource centers in the Western Region of Ghana. These centers will be based at junior high schools and will be equipped with computers, internet access (or simulated access through the e-Granary system), printers, photocopiers, scanners, projectors, and books. Once the centers have been established, all three partners will use the space to coordinate training activities, including ICT training for teachers, administrators, and center managers; ICT training for youth; computer-based literacy training for adults; and training for young farmers to enable them to gain access to agricultural information. The first two centers will be operational by the end of January 2010.

The ICT centers are particularly interesting to me, since young people in remote areas of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire will have access for the first time to computers and the internet. Thinking back on when I was a math and science teacher with the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso, I would not have imagined that this would be possible on this kind of scale. As the second phase of ECHOES develops, I look forward to sharing with you some of the achievements, and challenges of bringing improved educational opportunities to youth through this important program.

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Posted on December 11, 2009 4:21 PM | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Cocoa Sustainability Article

Entry: Bill Guyton, World Cocoa Foundation

We wanted to share with our readers an article written by Bernie Pacyniak, a long time friend of the World Cocoa Foundation. He raises some good points which we wanted to share with you regarding the chocolate industry's commitment to cocoa sustainability.

Happy holidays!



The True Meaning of Sustainability
by Bernie Pacyniak
December 16, 2009

Haves and have nots. It’s a lot easier to espouse sustainability when you have plenty of resources to … well, sustain oneself, as opposed to being in a position where you’re fighting to establish a livelihood for yourself and your family.

There’s an awful lot of hype out there about sustainability these days. Initially, I wasn’t sure what that actually meant — something akin to being green, I suspected. From what I remember, Kermit the Frog was green, but in his day that just meant being different.

So I thought it best to check on what definitions are out there regarding sustainability.

According to Wikipedia, “Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. In ecology, the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans, it is the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being, which in turn depends on the well-being of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources.”

That sounded reasonable to me. But as I read the Wikipedia entry further, things got more complicated, with UN resolutions and differing interpretations of what the term means economically, environmentally, politically and the like.

In these days of instant labeling, conservative versus liberal, Boomer versus Generations X and Y, senior versus tweenie, it was actually comforting to read that sustainability isn’t necessarily black and white. (What really is, anymore?)

From a confectionery point of view — a narrow one, I’ll admit — there’s a clearer version of sustainability, specifically when it comes to cocoa and chocolate. The major manufacturers of chocolate products — Mars, Nestle and Hershey — together with the major suppliers to the industry — Barry Callebaut, ADM, Cargill, Blommer and Delfi — all recognize the fragile nature of sustaining a quality cocoa pipeline.

Dubbed the orphan crop because it’s grown, nurtured and harvested by small-scale family farmers as opposed to large-scale corporations, cocoa farming hasn’t received the benefit of large-scale government or industry support.

Only recently, thanks to the efforts of the World Cocoa Foundation — and the broad array of manufacturers, suppliers and agencies that support its efforts — have concerted attempts been made to make cocoa farming truly sustainable.

In my interview with Peter Blommer of Chicago-based Blommer Chocolate Company, featured in this month’s issue, the newly promoted president reiterates that the biggest challenge facing his company and the industry is guaranteeing the availability of good, quality cocoa in the future.

Here, too, the answers are straightforward. Part of the solution involves investing in good science, unraveling the cocoa genome and supporting the sometimes not-so-glamorous work of researchers out in the field.

Another key component has to do with helping farmers in Third-World countries to implement good husbandry, from pruning to proper pesticide and disease control. It’s also about paying fair prices — premiums, even — to farmers to encourage good practices.

And as Blommer relates, despite all the genuine efforts from manufacturers, suppliers, non-profit agencies, government groups and concerned individuals, “we’ve only scratched the surface” when it comes to making cocoa a truly sustainable crop.

I totally agree. And it’s our responsibility as an industry that the complexity of the problem not overwhelm us. Moreover, making cocoa a sustainable crop versus an orphan crop would truly set an example of what the word “sustainability” can mean.

Posted on December 17, 2009 8:50 AM | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)