International specialists and Puerto Rican cocoa growers met at the first Cocoa Symposium to discuss the future of this growing industry and the challenges it faces, from the threat of a destructive disease that reached the Caribbean and the impact of the climate change in the harvest worldwide, to the urgent plan for the subsistence of farms throughout Puerto Rico.
“Right now, the industry is going through a somewhat uncertain time. What is certain is that it is being affected by climate change. and because of the correlation that this has had with the scarcity of water in some parts and the excess in others, helping these fungi, viruses and pathogens to have the ideal conditions to do whatever they want, and that has had a huge impact,” said the doctor. Viviana Medina Rodriguezregional coordinator of the Caribbean Climate Centerof the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA, in English).
Medina Rodríguez –coordinator of the symposium held this Friday at the Interamerican University of Arecibo– detailed, in a virtual interview with The New Daythat one of the vital topics of the event was the preliminary discussion of a model of suitability (“suitability” in English) of cocoa for Puerto Rico, which will allow identifying where it will be ideal to harvest it in the future.
“The importance of the suitability study is to understand what vulnerabilities could be faced by cocoa farmers in Puerto Rico, who are investing a lot of money, a lot of passion and a lot of effort. We want to understand what these vulnerabilities could be and see what recommendations we could give them so that, when these situations arise, they have a little more resilience and adaptation on their farms,” he explained.
Along these lines, the doctor Nora Alvarez Berriosresearch leader of the Caribbean Climate Center, indicated that the purpose of presenting the work –still in progress– at the event is to have the input of local cocoa growers. “These suitability models help us generate discussions and make important decisions to adapt to these future scenarios.”he commented.
On the other hand, Medina Rodríguez stated that they also discussed the possible arrival of moniliasis in Puerto Rico“one of the diseases that most impacts cocoa cultivation throughout Central America” and that can devastate crops by up to 80%, he added.
“(Moniliasis) devastated all production in Costa Rica, continued through Panama and has continued to increase since it was found in Colombia. And most importantly, it was found in Jamaica a few years ago, through the exchange of winds by a hurricane, it is believed.. And what are we expecting with climate change? Well, hurricanes that are a little more intense, perhaps more frequent, so (the probability of) that possible arrival (to Puerto Rico) increases,” said the cocoa specialist.
Despite the concern this generates, he stressed that the discussion was framed within the prevention and preparation of the industry, stating that “there are ways to live with it.”
Regarding the state of the industry at the international level, Medina Rodríguez indicated that nearly 70% of cocoa production comes from West Africa, mainly Ghana and the Ivory Coast.
| Environmental preferences for cocoa |
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| Temperature: The suitable range for cocoa is generally between 18°C and 32°C. Tolerance of up to 40°C has been documented without significant reduction in yield. |
| Precipitation: varies significantly, depending on the region. Between 1,200 millimetres (mm) and 3,000 mm per year, with optimal conditions around 1,500 mm and 2,000 mm well distributed throughout the year. |
| Additional factors: Soil characteristics, altitude, humidity and genetic diversity significantly influence the suitability and productivity of cocoa. |
“What we have seen in these last harvests is that climate change is devastating production in those countries.that any type of social fight, any type of lack of water, excess of water, significantly changes the supply of this product,” he said.
In Puerto Rico, the industry has achieved international recognition in just over a decade since it began to organize, placing among the top 50 in the world in three consecutive editions (2019, 2021 and 2023) of the prestigious competition. “Cacao of Excellence”.
Some of the challenges faced by local cocoa farmers include a lack of labor and making it a profitable crop in the face of competition with other countries. and, like the rest of the archipelago, interruptions in the light, necessary for the refrigerators that store the product.
“From there being no commercial farms (in 2011), there are now more than 50 documented, but undocumented, we understand that there are many more. The size of these plots varies significantly, we have people who have five or six trees in their little house, to others who say they have 10 and 15 or more acres planted with this crop. There is still a lot of education needed to improve, but what is important to highlight are the achievements that have been made so far.. “Historic, tremendous achievements in an industry that has not been around that long,” said Medina Rodríguez.