Optimizing cacao pollination for higher yields

A research team including Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter's Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology has investigated how the cultivation of cacao can be improved by using the right pollination technique. The success of ...

Benefits of cacao farms for birds and bats

Cacao farms not only provide us with the pleasure of chocolate, but also offer potential advantages for biodiversity-friendly agriculture. The benefits to biodiversity have been widely studied in tropical rainforests, but ...

Reducing cadmium levels in cacao

Chocolate is almost universally adored. But few know the complicated process of how cacao beans become chocolate. Did you know cacao tree farming is done mostly by small-scale low-income farmers in Latin America, particularly ...

Improving the cacao genome and phytozome

According to the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), global cocoa bean production in 2017-2018 was 4.6 million metric tons. The global chocolate brands couldn't exist without cocoa. But today the plant is under threat ...

I.Coast to destroy cocoa trees in fight against virus

Ivory Coast, the world's biggest cocoa producer, announced Monday it would rip up 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of cocoa trees in a bid to roll back a plant virus called swollen shoot.

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