Socio‐ecological benefits of fine‐flavor cacao in its center of origin

Abstract

In the tropics, combining food security with biodiversity conservation remains a major challenge. Tropical agroforestry systems are among the most biodiversity‐friendly and productive land‐use systems, and 70% of cocoa is grown by >6 million smallholder farmers living on <2$ per day. In cacao's main centre of diversification, the western Amazon region, interest is growing to achieve premium prices with the conversion of high‐yielding, but mostly bulk‐quality cacao to native fine‐flavor cacao varieties, culturally important since pre‐Columbian times. Conversion to native cacao can be expected to favor adaptation to regional climate and growth conditions, and to enhance native biodiversity and ecosystem services such as biological pest control and pollination, but possibly also imply susceptibility to diseases. Experience from successful conversion of non‐native cacao plantations to fine‐flavor cacao agroforestry with rejuvenation by grafting and under medium‐canopy cover levels (30%–40%) can ensure a smooth transition with only minor temporary productivity gaps. This includes ongoing selection programs of high yielding and disease resistant native fine‐flavor cacao genotypes and organizing in cooperatives to buffer the high market volatility. In conclusion, the recent interest on converting bulk cacao to a diversity of native fine‐flavor varieties in countries like Peru is a challenge, but offers promising socio‐ecological perspectives.

Birds and bats enhance cacao yield despite suppressing arthropod mesopredation

“…All the agroforests included in this study are predominantly composed of the native cacao variety “ Cacao blanco de Piura ,” considered to have a high‐quality flavor profile (i.e., “fine flavor variety,” Tscharntke et al, 2023), which fetches considerably higher prices than those of bulk cacao varieties. All agroforests belong to cacao smallholders associated in the agrarian cooperative Norandino Ltda.…”

Short communication: Opportunities and challenges for Peruvian fine flavored cocoa

“…Entre estas destacan el cacao Chuncho de Cusco, el cacao blanco de Piura y el cacao de Amazonas. Estas variedades no sólo son valoradas por su calidad sensorial, sino también por su importancia cultural y medicinal (Bustamante et al, 2022;Tscharntke et al, 2023). Hoy en día, las variedades nativas de cacao representan una oportunidad única en el mercado, tanto por su calidad como por su historia.…”

“…Este clon, introducido desde la década de 1970, ha sido seleccionado y mejorado específicamente por su alta productividad. Sin embargo, aún queda un 44% del área cacaotera sembrada con cacao nativo (Ceccarelli et al, 2022;Tscharntke et al, 2023). En el Perú se han reconocido múltiples variedades nativas de cacao con distintos perfiles sensoriales, como el cacao Chuncho en las estribaciones andinas del sur de Cusco, el cacao blanco de Piura (también llamado Porcelana) en las llanuras costeras del noroeste, y el cacao de Amazonas, que muestra una mezcla genética con un fuerte antecedente del cacao blanco de Piura.…”

Botanical diversity, structure and composition in cocoa agroforest systems in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala

“…Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is currently a burgeoning crop at a global scale (Barrezueta-Unda & Paz-González, 2018;Carvalho et al, 2023;Palacios & Bokelmann, 2017). Worldwide, approximately 12 million ha of land is under cocoa production (Niether et al, 2020), representing one of the most important cash crops in humid tropics, especially for smallholder farmers (Tscharntke et al, 2022). Around 70% of the world's cocoa is grown alongside shade trees, as well as annual and perennial crops (Matey et al, 2013).…”