Year Awarded 2023
FFAR award amount $100,000
Total award amount $248,167
Location Turrialba, Costa Rica
Matching Funders CATIE, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique Pour le Dévelopement (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development), Departamento de Cacao de la República Dominicana (Dominican Republic Department of Cacao), VMR Consulting and in-kind donors
Grantee Institution Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE)- grantee name is in english on bbgm
Cocoa is the central ingredient in chocolate and used in numerous products. A devastating pathogen, frosty pod rot, is compromising the cocoa industry in continental America, having recently reached the Caribbean. If not managed properly, the pathogen can cause yield losses of up to 80%, compromising farmer profits and jeopardizing an important U.S. import. Led by Dr. Mariela Leandro, Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) researchers are identifying disease control tactics.