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Cocoa quarantine shifted from the
Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, to Reading in 1985
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A new facility has opened in
Reading, to safeguard the future of chocolate. It is a bigger and better clearing
house for all the world's new cocoa varieties, which must be quarantined before
they can be grown.
Demand for chocolate is increasing
faster than the global supply of cocoa, of which an estimated 30% is lost to
pests and disease each year.
New varieties are key to solving
this problem, and the International Cocoa Quarantine Centre is the gatekeeper.
Since 1985, when the University of
Reading took over the job from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, all new
cocoa seeds and plants have passed through a facility in Shinfield, a few miles
from the university.
Crucial crop
"One of the principal issues
concerning cocoa improvement is the supply of reliably clean,
"You need some mechanism to
make sure that if you are transferring the stuff, you're not transferring pests
and diseases."
The centre's £1m purpose-built new
home has been operating for a month.
It consolidates the collection of
400 varieties into a single, improved greenhouse and should make the quarantine
process faster, cheaper and greener.
"We use a lot of energy keeping the cocoa
plants in tropical conditions, and we can do that much more efficiently in this
new facility," Prof Hadley told the BBC.
The cool UK climate is valuable as
well because it means the International Cocoa Quarantine Centre (ICQC) is
isolated from the sort of diseases that can affect cocoa in places nearer its
origin, like South and Central America and the Caribbean.
After up to two years in quarantine,
clean and safe cocoa seeds are shipped from Reading to some 20 different
countries, including several in West Africa.
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Two "very green-fingered
technicians" look after the facility's precious collection
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That region produces 75% of the
cocoa used for chocolate worldwide. The crop is crucial to the regional economy
and employs two million people.
If new pests or disease reached West
Africa, Prof Hadley said, it would "absolutely devastate the
industry".
Chocolate crisis
Even while these threats are largely
kept at bay, our global appetite for chocolate already
shows signs of outstripping
supply.
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Seeds go from Shinfield to 20 cocoa-growing countries
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"There is some concern within
the industry that demand is increasing relentlessly - particularly in countries
like China, where the standard of living is increasing and people are getting a
taste for some of these confectioneries," Prof Hadley said.
"So the demand is going up, but
the supply, unless something is done, really can't keep pace."
But Prof Hadfield believes that a
chocolate crisis can be averted. A lot of effort is being put into improving
both the crop and its production.
"Most cocoa is produced by
subsistence farmers, who might be farming one or two hectares. As well as
needing new, more efficient varieties, they also need to improve the way they
grow the cocoa.
"Putting those two things
together, I'm pretty confident. If we did nothing then there would be a crisis,
but there's a lot of effort internationally.
"Nobody's sitting back."
Those breeding programmes rely on
the Reading facility to supply new genetic material - a critical link in the
global network.
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The plants are grown in tropical
conditions, while the UK climate isolates the facility from disease
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Although Prof Hadley runs a large
cocoa research programme within the university, the ICQC's precious collection
is largely in the hands of "two very green-fingered technicians", he
said.
"It's a small team, with a big
responsibility."NaijaGRAPHITTI note: Please see the health benefits of dark chocolate here.
Originally published in BBC
