CACAO FOR PEACE (CfP)

CACAO FOR PEACE (CfP)

FY 2018 Q1 REPORT

Award # AID-514-T-16-00001

October 1 2017 – December 31, 2017

Top cover photo: presentation of Colombia's cacao potentialBottom cover photos: work group in field for training

Contents

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................... 2

2. PROGRAM OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................ 3

2.1 PROGRAM DESCRIPTION .............................................................................................. 3

2.2 GEOGRAPHIC AREA TARGETED ................................................................................. 52.3 Key Partners and Stakeholders ........................................................................................... 62.4 Deliverables Status.............................................................................................................. 73. PROGRAM FOCUS AREAS .................................................................................................. 11

3.1. Cooperative Research ............................................................................................................. 113.2 Agricultural Extension ............................................................................................................. 113.3 Education ................................................................................................................................ 123.4 Technical Assistance and other ............................................................................................... 144. MONITORING AND EVALUATION .................................................................................. 15

5. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING ................................................................................... 16

6. AGREEMENTS WITH IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS ..................................................... 16

Appendix 1: Cacao for Peace –Penn State –Q1-2018 Report ...................................................... 17

Appendix 2: Fulbright Scholar Research Proposals .................................................................... 19

USAID/USDA Colombia Cacao for Peace | FY2018 Q1 Report

1 United States Department of Agriculture

LIST OF ACRONYMS

AmCham American-Colombian Chamber of Commerce APOMD Agricultores de Productos Organicos del Municipio de Dibulla ARS USDA Agricultural Research Service Cd Cadmium CfP Cacao for Peace project CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture Corpoica Colombian Corporation for Agricultural Research FAS USDA Foreign Agricultural Service FEDECACAO Colombian cacao producer association FINAGRO Colombian Agricultural Sector Financial Fund GDP Gross Domestic Product ICA Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario LGU USDA Land Grant University MARD Colombian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development MCIT Ministry of Trade, Industry and –Tourism MT Metric Ton OCBD Office of Capacity Building and Development PROCOLOMBIA Colombian Tourism, Foreign Investment and Export Promotion PCV Peace Corps Volunteer PNUD Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo, (UNDP, English acronym) PSU Pennsylvania State University SENA Colombian National Training Service (Servicio Nacional de Apredizaje) SHRS Subtropical Horticultural Research Station SNP Single Nucleotide Polymorphism SOP Standard Opperating Procedure SOW Statement of Work SPCL Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory Swisscontact Swiss international development consulting firm UFL University of Florida UNODC United Nations Office against Drugs and Crime USAID U.S. Agency for International Development USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture



1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The “Cacao for Peace” (CfP) initiative is a five year program that seeks to strengthen Colombia’s public and private institutions in the cacao sector. The objectives are to increase cacao productivity, increase cacao farmer incomes, and contribute to rural stability and peace in Colombia. Through CfP, USDA will build Colombia’s research and extension capability leading to the enhanced training of small cacao farmers. This is the program’s eigth quarterly report, and it captures major accomplishments and activities. The period covered by this report is October 1st, 2017 – December 31st, 2017. In FY 2018 Q1, CfP collaborated with partners to implement the following activities:

Cacao for Peace partnered with Swisscontact, Fedecacao, UNODC and Red Cacaotera to sponsor Colombia’s participation in the Salon du Chocolat in Paris, France. For the first time in the history of the trade show, Colombia was the guest country. As a result of Colombia’s participation, Colombian cacao producers made deals for the sale of 30 tons of Cacao Beans and 15 Colombian chocolatiers made potential deals for USD $1.8M. Deal prices were negotiated at twice the national average. In addition, participation in the event exposed Colombian cacao producers and chocolatiers to world market opportunities.

Purdue continued to work with three students that have been accepted into the Colfuturo program to get into Purdue’s graduate school program. One student will pursue a PhD. All students are expected to begin classes before May, 2018.1

Purdue continues to make revisions and edits to the supply chain report, based upon feedback provided in late August. Purdue resubmited the revised 170 page report to USDA/FAS, and USDA/FAS is reviewing it further.

All Fulbright Colombia grantees enrolled at Pennsylvania State University (PSU) have successfully completed their first semester. Reports of all student activities are included in this report. In addition, a virtual update meeting was held to introduce the student’s research concepts to the CfP management.

UNODC and Fedecacao continued implementing innovation cacao farms (demo and replica) in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region, where training activities are taking place in matters such us: cacao pollination, pruning, and grafting trainings. CfP Peace Corps volunteers (CfP PCVs) worked with UNODC, FEDECACAO, and community leaders to assist with trainings on cacao pollination, pruning, grafting, and transformation. In addition, they continued providing organizational assistance to the cacao producer associations. The PCV working with cacao producer association Guardabosques de la Sierra conducted capacity building in accounting, marketing and processing, and helped facilitate a 1 ton sale of raw cacao to buyers from Germany.

1 This will allow them to remain eligible for the Colfuturo scholarship.



2. PROGRAM OVERVIEW

2.1 PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The United States confection industry, which relies on cacao imports, accounts for $35 billion in annual retail sales, and directly employees 55,000 people in the United States. In addition, more than 400,000 jobs in agriculture, retail, transportation and other industries rely in part on the sale of confections. For every job that is created in confectionery, another seven are supported in related industries. Annually the U.S. confectionery sector purchases more than $770 million in sugar, $450 million in U.S. dairy products, $190 million in peanuts (mostly from U.S. farmers), and $150 million in California almonds and nuts. Annual exports of U.S. chocolate and cocoa products are approximately $1.7 billion (up 145% in the past 10 years).

CfP has three high level goals: 1) boost cacao output from Colombia to the U.S. to ensure the U.S. confection industry continues to have a reliable source of cacao, 2) develop the U.S. fine flavor chocolate market through increased access to fine flavor, fine aroma Colombian cacao, and 3) contribute to rural stability and peace in Colombia. In order to achieve these three goals, CfP will strengthen Colombia’s public and private institutions in the cacao sector by:

1) strengthening local cacao research capacity for the development of new practices andinputs;

2) increasing in-country capacity for agricultural extension, and providing agricultural extension assistance that increases productivity and cacao farmer incomes;

3) providing educational opportunities for cacao researchers and stakeholders to obtainpost-graduate degrees and training and

4) providing technical assistance through a value chain analysis study and follow-upactivities; developing a cacao market information system; identifying pesticides tocombat cacao diseases; and establishing maximum residue levels for cacao diseasepesticides to prevent trade disruptions.

While cacao is native to the region, Latin America lags substantially behind West Africa in cacao production. In 2014, Latin America produced approximately 16% of the total world production of cacao. Within Latin America, Colombia is the fifth largest cacao producer, after Brazil, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Peru. In 2016, Colombia produced 56,785 metric tons (MT) of cacao. In 2016, Ivory Coast, the top global producer, generated 1,565,000 MT of cacao.

Colombian and regional Industry experts believe that cacao is an underdeveloped domestic industry with great potential. These experts are confident that Colombia can become one of the largest cacao producers in the world. Rural violence and lawlessness have negatively impacted agricultural investments and growth in rural Colombia. However, now that peace negotiations have concluded, agricultural employment will be a critical outlet to engage demobilized ex-combatants.

The potential growth of the cacao sector has substantial promise for being an engine for job creation and inclusive economic growth within Colombia. Foremost, cacao is produced by small-



scale farmers with very low incomes. According to FEDECACAO, the Colombian cacao producers association, there are 38,000 cacao producers in Colombia. As cacao comprises a critical cornerstone within the rural economy of Colombia, increasing cacao yields and cacao farmers’ incomes represents a strong potential opportunity for advancing USAID’s developmental objectives in the country.

2.2 GEOGRAPHIC AREA TARGETED

The program selected the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region as a zone of focus for the following reasons:

• Producers have successfully transitioned from coca to cacao as a means of alternativedevelopment

• It has access to three ports

• Unique fine flavored cacao genetic varieties are present

• Peace Corps, FEDECACAO, and UNODC expressed interest in collaborating in the region

• USAID requested CfP work in the region

CfP is currently providing training and technical assistance to cacao producers from three associations: Guardabosques de la Sierra (San Rafael), APOMD (Dibulla), and Aso-Arhuaco (Perico Aguao). CfP is also working to strengthen the capacity of FEDECACAO (Bogotá) and Corpoica (Palmira). In the future, CfP plans on expanding to Aracataca – Fundación, Magdalena; San Juan Nepomuceno, Bolivar; and Valencia and Tierralta, Cordoba.

Current Activities:

• Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Region

o Dibulla, Perico Aguao, San Rafael

• Bogotá – FEDECACAO capacity building

• Palmira – Corpoica capacity building

Future Activities: o Aracataca – Fundación, Magdalena; San

Juan Nepomuceno, Bolivar; and

Valencia and Tierralta, Cordoba.

Map of Colombia with current and future work areas highlighted


6United States Department of Agriculture

2.3 Key Partners and Stakeholders

CfP has brought together key partners interested in strengthening the cacao-chocolate value chain in Colombia through its activities and coordination efforts. CfP is working with these partners to conduct activities in the areas of 1) cooperative research, 2) agricultural extension, 3) education and 4) technical assistance. Activities in these areas will assist Colombia increasecacao productivity and yields for the country to reach its productive potential.

Table 1 Key Partners

Focus Area

Partner Cooperative Research

Agricultural Extension

Education Technical Assistance

Agricultural Research Service (USDA) ✓ ✓

CIAT ✓ ✓

Colfuturo ✓ ✓

Corpoica ✓

FEDECACAO ✓

Fulbright-Colombia ✓ ✓

Peace Corps – Colombia ✓ ✓

Pennsylvania State University ✓ ✓ ✓

Purdue University ✓ ✓

UNODC ✓ ✓

University of Florida ✓ ✓ ✓

In addition, CfP has involved the following key stakeholders as participants and/or collaborators in relevant activities:

• Agustin Codazzi Geographical Institute (IGAC, Spanish acronym)

• Cacao Hunters

• Casa Luker

• Colombian Ministry of Agriculture (MADR, Spanish acronym)

• FEDECAFE

• Finagro

• Alexander Von Humboldt Institute (Colombian biological resources research institute)

• Compañía Nacional de Chocolates

• PROCOLOMBIA

• Red Cacaotera

• Rural Agricultural Planning Unit (UPRA, Spanish acronym) of MADR

• Swisscontact

• Universidad de Caldas

• Universidad de Magdalena

• Universidad Nacional



• Private sector investorsUSDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service has contributed a significant amount of financial resources to the project, and the CfP team has had great success mobilizing and leveraging funding from partners.

Table 2 USDA In-Kind Contributions, Mobilized and Leveraged Funds

Contributor Expense

FAS/Bogotá Travel, Salary, and Services

FAS/Washington D.C. Penn State Research Symposium

FAS/Washington D.C. Cochran Fellowship Program (5)

FAS/Washington D.C. Borlaug and Scientific Exchanges (3)

FAS/Washington D.C. Ecuador Study

Sub-total

Colfuturo Scholarship

FEDECACAO Training and Technical Assistance

Fulbright-Colombia Scholarships

Pennsylvania State University

Tuition Waivers for Fulbright Scholars

Purdue University Partial Tuition Waiver

UNODC Training and Technical Assistance

Sub-total

Total

2.4 Deliverables Status

The table below provides the status of project deliverables organized by focus area and partner(s).

Focus Area Partner(s) Deliverable Estimated

Completion End Users

Cooperative

Research

Penn State A technical document containing the organization and implementation of the cacao research meeting

Complete CIAT, Corpoica,

FEDECACAO, Colombian

Cacao Researchers, US

based cacao researchers

Technical document describing the cacao research agenda for the Caribbean

node including priority cacao research areas as identified and agreed upon by

the participants of the strategic planning session in during the research

meeting in Barranquilla, May 2017

Complete

Assist USDA-FAS in selection of four or five new interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research projects to be supported by the CfP seed grant program

September 2018

Proposal for implementation of a strategy for future funding of collaborative research in Colombia. Proposal should analyze the current funding sources available in-country and internationally

September 2018

Public CfP web‐based multi‐stakeholder knowledge platform for cacao Complete

Scientific publication in high impact journal 2019

USDA/ARS Collaborative Research Agreement between ARS and Corpoica Complete Corpoica and the

Colombian cacao research

community, extensionists,

cacao producers

Identify new cacao collections of new genetics from Colombia September 2019

A rationalized cacao collection with minimum mislabeling and redundancy September 2018

Identified germplasm accessions, and alleles for key agronomic traits and

quality attributes

September 2019

Develop breeding activities that will generate new cacao varieties with

improved traits such as high productivity, disease resistance and new

rootstocks that limit cadmium uptake

September 2019

Test a set of superior cacao clones developed by ARS under high disease

pressure

September 2019

Assess the biodiversity collection of cacao disease causing organisms September 2019





Research to improve the management and production and address priority

issues, such as cadmium and heavy metal toxicities.

September 2019

Agricultural

Extension

UNODC

FEDECACAO

Demonstration farms implemented 45 Complete

Ongoing

Cacao producers,

FEDECACAO, Cacao

Extensionists Activities led by UNODC and FEDECACAO, supported by USDA-USAID leading

to its Capacity Building for Training and technical assistance for FEDECACAO

In Progress

1/2021

Education Fulbright-

Colombia

Penn State

University

Four postgraduate degrees in agricultural fields from Penn State University for

Colombian cacao researchers

June 2019 Colombian Cacao

Researchers, Colombian

cacao sector MSc. research projects in support of CfP objectives

Colfuturo

Purdue

University

Three Colombian post‐graduates trained to contribute to the Colombian cacao

sector

June 2020

Three graduate research theses and peer reviewed publications. Purdue will

ensure that theses and peer‐reviewed publications are aligned with the Cacao

for Peace objectives stated in the USAID/USDA Participating Agency Program

Agreement.

Research theses concepts. Researchers will develop research proposal

concepts during the first few months at Purdue which will be presented to FAS

in a virtual workshop for comments.

Trip reports for any trips taken by the CfP‐Colfuturo researchers. Within 10

days of trip

Technical

Assistance

Purdue

CIAT

Organization and execution of workshop to present cacao value-chain study

and solicit feedback

Complete USAID, CfP, FEDECACAO,

Red, Corpoica, U. Nacional,

other key stakeholders

Final version of the supply chain and extension studies. Final products must

be delivered in Spanish and English. Study will include analysis of Ecuador

value-chain to determine how the country has been able to grow into a

major international cacao exporter.

May 2018

Value-chain Study Booklet in English and Spanish. Complete





Organization and execution of workshop to present final Value-chain Study Complete

Penn State Cacao genetic diversity map for Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region including

information on the genetic type, location, photographs and other notes on

trees growing on farms in our target communities

September

2018

Corpoica, CIAT, and U.

Nacional, FEDECACAO,

extensionists, CfP, cacao

producers Database including the information of the cacao genetic survey: sampled plant

locations, raw SNP data files for all genotypes, genetic ancestry analysis

Specific recommendations for future improvement of genetic diversity and or

potential marketing strategies based on genetic varieties

September

2018

Scientific publication in high impact journal 2019


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3. PROGRAM FOCUS AREAS

The purpose of CfP is to strengthen Colombia’s key cacao agricultural institutions in the public and private sectors with 1) cooperative research, 2) agricultural extension, 3) education, and 4) technical assistance. CfP will expand longer-term opportunities in ways that spread the benefits of investments, economic growth and development to help Colombia’s cacao become more competitive and profitable. Using a whole of government approach, CfP will support Colombia’s peace process by establishing a road map for post-conflict agricultural development, focusing on cacao and facilitating initiatives to improve economic opportunity, stability, and peace in targeted rural areas.

3.1. Cooperative Research See section “3.3 Education” for an uptade on cooperative research activities by Fulbrights scholars at Penn State university.

3.2 Agricultural Extension The main agricultural extension activities USDA coordinates under CfP are the following:

1) Strengthening the capacity of FEDECACAO’s extension service

2) Conducting cacao farmer trainings and extension capacity building

3) Developing cacao demonstration farms

4) Partnering with Peace Corps Colombia, FEDECACAO and UNODC in support of the aboveinitiatives

UNODC and FEDECACAO has been leading extension trainings, with frequent assistance from the Peace Corps Volunteers. The continual training has been well-received by the communities being served. Notable activities this quarter include:

• The first transformation workshop at the processing center was held in GuardabosquesDe La Sierra.

• In Guardabosques de la Sierra, a three day “manejo de cacao” workshop was held forthree different associations.

• UNODC deployed a field facilitator that worked for the strengthening of organizationalskills of APOMD and Guardabosques. They also helped, along with the UNODC andFedecacao field personnel, to coordinate efforts by other organizations such us PNUD,Gobernaciones de Guajira and Magdalena, with CfP’s actovoties for the benefit of CfP’sorganizations.


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• Cacao innovation farms (demo and replica) for APOMD and Guardabosques werecompleted. In the case of Arhuacos, implementation of innovation farms has not beenposible due to the fact that the baseline for the community is still being developed. It isimportant to report that apart from demo and replica farms which are partially financedby CfP, new farms have started to voluntarily duplicating those activities implementedin demo and replica farms. We are now considering them as Duplicate Farms.

• Productivity was raised far away from the program’s target indicators. The target for thelength of the project is 422 kg/ha per year and the actual is 642 kg/ha per year.

The Peace Corps has also continued to conduct financial education trainings for cacao producer

associations and help improve their business processes. For APOMD, the PCV stationed there

offers financial management classes twice a month, and is working with the association to

estimate the cost of production for the transformation of cacao beans to chocolate.

The PCV stationed in San Rafael, Magdalena worked with cacao producer association

Guardabosques de la Sierra to develop a Small Projects Assistance (SPA) grant. The grant is

funding a logistical solution to transport the harvest of cacao from farms in the mountains of

the Sierra Nevada, to the association processing center on the main road. The grant money is

being used to provide mules, that are a standard resource for transport in the mountains. This

initative will increase farmer incomes, and in turn improve their livelihood.

3.3 Education CfP has partnered with in-country institutions to offer scholarships and educational fellowships In order to address the challenge of limited access to post-graduate degrees and training in cacao research in Colombia. CfP partnered with Fulbright-Colombia and Colfuturo (a Colombian non-profit that promotes post-graduate degrees) to offer a total of seven Colombian cacao research scholarships. These scholarships are enabling Colombian students to attend U.S. universities for post graduate degrees in academic subjects that support CfP objectives. The students’ research will seek solutions to Colombian cacao sector challenges. Scholars will work with advisors to publish their studies. The scholars are highly incentivized to return to Colombia after their studies to work in the cacao sector.2

Fulbright All four CfP Fulbright-Colombia scholars are enrolled at Penn State University (PSU). All Fulbright grantees proceeded to travel to Pennsylvania State University after the completion of their pre-academic courses. All four grantees have commenced their classes on a regular basis.

Scholar University Program Status

1 Pennsylvania State University MS Candidate in Soil Sciences First year

2 They have either committed to doing so in writing or have reimbursement of their student loans tied to their return.


of studies

2 Pennsylvania State University MS Candidate in Agricultural Extension and Education

First year of studies

3 Pennsylvania State University MS Candidate in Horticulture First year of studies

4 Pennsylvania State University MS Candidate in Rural Sociology First year of studies

The CfP team established an advisory committee comprised of CfP team members to oversee Fulbright scholar research and ensure it is in line with CfP objectives. During this reporting period the Fulbright scholars participated in the following teleconferences organized by the CfP team, with the participation of representatives of the National Ministry of Agriculture of Colombia, USAID, Penn State University professors, Corpoica and the four grantees:

Date of Teleconference Topics

October 4th, 2017 Academic update; Advisors update; Questions/Comments

December 13th, 2017 Follow-up on the research proposals.

The purpose of the meetings were to do a follow-up on the scholars’ progress towards achieving their program objectives.

The Fulbright Scholars’ theses topics are as followings:

1. Evolution of effector and other pathogenicity related genes in frosty pod rot fungusMoniliophthora roreri causing frosty root rot disease in Theobroma cacao

2. Evaluation of Cd remediation materials, plant indicators and mapping protocol foroptimized cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) production

3. Socioeconomic and technological factors that influence technology innovation of cacaofarms in three regions of Colombia: contributions to rural development programs forpost-conflict

4. Evaluation of cacao projects in Colombia to explain their success drivers: a study case ofProductive Partnership (PAAP)

See Appendix 2 for detailed research thesis proposals.

Colfuturo-Purdue Scholars Five students were identified and accepted by both Colfuturo and USDA. These students were interviewed by Purdue, and regularly communicate with Purdue staff. One of the five students decided to leave the program. A table displaying the progress made by the remaining students is presented below:

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FY2017 Q4 FY2018 Q1

1 Has been accepted into Purdue University. Program: Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Has commenced studies and has applied for a PhD. With Colfuturo and Cacao for Peace funding they will graduate with Masters in 2 - 2.5 years and is seeking addition funds for a PhD.

2 Application has been completed and submitted. TOEFL passed. Program: Agricultural Economics

All signs indicate acceptance.

3 Application has been completed and submitted. TOEFL passed. Program: Horticulture and Landscape architecture

All signs indicate acceptance.

4 Application is submitted.

Did not pass TOEFL.

Acceptance unlikely.

3.4 Technical Assistance and other USDA possesses a wealth of agricultural expertise housed within USDA agencies and accessible via Land Grant Universities. CfP partnered with Purdue University and CIAT to conduct an in-depth study of the cacao value chain in Colombia. During this period Purdue revised the 170 page value-chain report, and it is undergoing further editing and revisions.

CfP also partnered with Peace Corps Colombia to provide cacao producer associations with targeted technical assistance. During this period a PCV in San Rafael, Magdalena continued training cacao producer association Guardabosques de la Sierra’s executive board in business administration and management. The volunteer is working with them to better track expenses and income. In addition to strengthening the association, he is working with 15 Guardabosques de la Sierra farmers interested in transforming cacao to chocolate by creating a cost analysis of raw material and labor. Finally, the volunteer is assisting with the organization of logistics for transport of the upcoming harvest and connectng new communities to the association including: La linea, El Encanto, and Kogi in the Orinoco.

Per USAID Colombia’s request, Cacao for Peace partially sponsored Colombia’s participation in the Salon du Chocolat. For the first time in the history of the trade show, Colombia was the guest country. Colombia sent an excellent delegation consisting of over 50 Colombian cacao producers and chocolate manufacturers. CfP sponsored the attendance of a winner of the “Cacao de Oro” contest, and partially funded a 24 mt2 stand promoting Colombian cacao and chocolate at the event. As a result of Colombia’s participation, Colombian cacao producers made deals for the sale of 30 tons of Cacao Beans and 15 Colombian chocolatiers made potential deals for USD $1.8M. Deal prices were negotiated at twice the national average. In

14


15

addition, participation in the event exposed Colombian cacao producers and chocolatiers to world market opportunities.

CfP and Fedecacao started talks with the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Magdalena in order to fund and support training of last year students for them to act as junior technical assistants for Cacao for Peace. This is a way to start creating critical mass for the cacao sector and to tackle the issue of lacking specialized cacao agronomists in the country.

4. MONITORING AND EVALUATION

The program manager will work with FAS/Bogotá and implementing partners on the development of the activity monitoring and evaluation plan (AMEP), which will be done in close coordination with USAID/Colombia. The purpose of the plan is to connect relevant information and data from activities implemented under CfP and to assist in the oversight, continously inform program implementation and provide an assessment on the progress in meeting objectives and results. The current AMEP encompasses years 1-5 of the CfP program. The AMEP is intended to be shared with sub-awardees, other CfP stakeholders and beneficiaries to ensure the program is meeting stated objectives.


5. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

Activities have been entered into USAID/Colombia’s MONITOR system to ensure they are reviewed by USAID/Colombia’s Environmental Officer.

6. AGREEMENTS WITH IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS

• USDA – UNODC Cooperative Agreement: in progress.

• USDA – Parré Chocolate MOU: in progress.

• USDA – UFL Cost-Reimbursable Agreement executed on 12/13/2017.


17

Appendix 1: Cacao for Peace Website and Facebook page users Cacao for Peace Website http://plantscience.psu.edu/research/labs/guiltinan/cacao-for-peace

• Q1 Unique users: 108

• Average monthly unique users: 36

Facebook Insights Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Penn-State-Cacao-for-Peace-194111894352902/

Graphs of Total Page Followers

We tested using facebook promotions for a period of time to promote both the website and the Facebook page with good results. Without active promotions, views significantly slowed down. Further promotions can be made upon direction from FAS.

http://plantscience.psu.edu/research/labs/guiltinan/cacao-for-peace

https://www.facebook.com/Penn-State-Cacao-for-Peace-194111894352902/


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Screen shot of CfP's Data Storehouse Server

Data Storehouse Server: A data server site is housed in the Box.com website. Users can access this site by registering with Box.com and sending a request to via box or via email to [email protected].

Report and other data sharing moved to Samepage site started by FAS. Data sharing site located on Box.psu.edu site for larger files such as the videos and photographs from the Bootcamp.

mailto:[email protected]


Appendix 2: Fulbright Scholar Research Proposals

Evaluation of cacao projects in Colombia to explain their success drivers: a study case of Productive Partnership (PAAP) Thesis Research Concept

MS Candidate in Agricultural Extension and Education Advisor Background

The Colombian cacao sector presents economic growth and social development opportunities specifically in the context of post-conflict development (Abbot et al., 2017). Cacao is considered as the peace crop and there are real opportunities for farmers to increase their revenues from cultivating cocoa (Swisscontact, 2016). However, currently despite the fact that Colombia has the knowledge, the varieties, and the environmental conditions to produce 2.0 ton-Ha/year of cacao the average production in the country is low of approximately 0.5 ton-Ha/year (Rojas, 2006). Low technology adoption and lack of extension services are among the factors that contribute to this low productivity. In 2013, it was estimated that the cacao cultivation area in Colombia includes199.000 hectares (DANE, 2016) while the total production reported was 46.739 tons (Fedecacao, 2015), indicating cacao average yields of approximately 230 kilograms per hectare. Recent projects to promote development in the sector have focused on expanding cacao production, post-harvest management, establishment of producer organizations and exploration of niche markets, but despite these interventions, the sector still performs below its potential (Abbot et al., 2017).

Problem Statement

In Colombia, evaluation of extension activities and their respective impacts in the agricultural sector are limited, thus presenting difficulties in creating successful new successful strategies to improve extension (Rodríguez, 2017). In general, effective evaluation of existing and past programs is the foundation for making future programs recommendations and planning and ultimately contributing to social betterment (Caffarella, 2002; Seevers & Graham, 2012; Torres & Pinzon, 2017). However, currently there are no evaluation procedures that have proven to yield reliable data. As such the first step in the process if improving extension in the cacao sector in Colombia is the development of new effective evaluation mechanisms. The identification of Cacao as a major peace crop will foster futures national and international efforts to promote the development of this sector in Colombia, especially through development or support of projects (El Espectador, 2017; MADR, 2016; RCN Radio, 2017). The existing difficulties in Colombia to accomplish successful cacao projects, in one side, and the upcoming funding to develop cacao projects, by the other, create the need to find out the components and activities contributing to achieving successful outcomes. This new information will support the planning and development of more efficient programs in the future. Proposed methodology:

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Cacao programs implemented in Colombia will be evaluated using both qualitative and quantitative data. In site visits to Cacao projects already implemented and questionnaire survey research will be done. Existing information on the programs will be used too (secondary data). The study will be based on the Productive Partnership project (PAAP) for its Spanish abbreviation. Between 2002 and 2015, the PAAP program had sponsored 775 Productive Partnerships, of which 152 were with cacao. Successful evaluation: The success of the projects (successful index) will be considered as the dependent variable and will be defined by the evaluation of: 1) Achievement of stated objectives; 2) Farmers satisfaction with the project; 3) Motivation to participate again in a similar project; 4) Knowledge and Skills gained in the project; 5) Social, Economic and Environmental conditions and 6) Cacao crops condition. Project’s key components evaluation: The project’s success will be determined by factoring individual components as independent variables. Based on existing literature (Bunch, 1985; Caffarella, 2002; Donaldson, 2014; Medel, Suárez, Hernández, & Íñiguez, 2015; Pumisacho & Sherwood, 2005; Saavedra & Briones, 2016; Seevers & Graham, 2012) I have selected the following project components 1) Program focus; 2) Situation Analysis; 3) Farmers Inclusion; 4) Trainers characteristics; 5) Program articulation; 6) Program Design and planning; 7) Program duration and schedule; 8) Program implementation; 9) Technical Content-Innovations; 10) Project evaluation; 11) Program Coverage, Cost and duration;12) Program continuity.This selection of the independent variables will be further refined.

Expected Results important for Colombia and cacao:

The present research outcomes will allow: To establish a methodology to evaluate cacao projects in Colombia To assess program context and impacts as well as program processes and outcomes To support the planning and development of more efficient programs in the future To revise existing programs of a similar nature

References:

Abbot, P., Benjamin, T., Burniske, G., Croft, M., Fenton, M., Kelly, C., … Wilcox, M. (2017). Un Análisis de la Cadena Productiva de Cacao en Colombia. Bunch, R. (1985). Two Ears of Corn (Second). Oklahoma City: World Neighbors. Caffarella, R. (2002). Planninf Programs for Adult Learners (2nd ed.). DANE. (2016). Tercer censo nacional agropecuario: Hay campo para todos-Tomo II Resultados. Bogotá. Retrieved from https://www.dane.gov.co/files/images/foros/foro-de-entrega-de-resultados-y-cierre-3- censo-nacional-agropecuario/CNATomo2- Resultados.pdf%5Cnhttps://www.dane.gov.co/files/images/foros/foro-de-entrega-de-resultados-y-cierre- 3-censo-nacional-agropecuario/CNAT Donaldson, J. (2014). Extension Program Planning , Evaluation & Accountability. Knoxville. El Espectador. (2017). El difícil paso de la coca al cacao. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from https://colombia2020.elespectador.com/pais/el-dificil-paso-de-la-coca-al-cacao Fedecacao. (2015). Guia Tecnica para el Cultivo del Cacao (6th ed.). Bogotá.

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http://www.dane.gov.co/files/images/foros/foro-de-entrega-de-resultados-y-cierre-3-

http://www.dane.gov.co/files/images/foros/foro-de-entrega-de-resultados-y-cierre-

http://www.dane.gov.co/files/images/foros/foro-de-entrega-de-resultados-y-cierre-


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MADR. (2016). MinAgricultura siembra paz con proyectos de cacao y cultivos complementarios en el Meta. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from https://www.minagricultura.gov.co/noticias/Paginas/MinAgricultura- siembra-paz-con-proyectos-de-cacao-y-cultivos-complementarios-en-el-Meta.aspx Medel, R., Suárez, R., Hernández, H., & Íñiguez, C. (2015). Los procesos de extensión rural en México * Rural extension processes in Mexico Resumen. Pumisacho, M., & Sherwood, S. (2005). Guía metodológica sobre ECAs - Escuelas de campo de agricultores. RCN Radio. (2017). Portugal ayudará a Colombia en sustitución de cultivos ilícitos con proyectos de cacao - RCN Radio. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from http://www.rcnradio.com/nacional/portugal-ayudara- colombia-sustitucion-cultivos-ilicitos-proyectos-cacao/ Rodríguez, H. (2017). Nuevo Sistema Nacional de Innovación Agropecuaria. Retrieved December 1, 2017, from http://www.udea.edu.co/wps/portal/udea/web/inicio/udea-noticias/udea-

noticia/!ut/p/z0/nVHLbsIwEPwVOHCMbEKAcIwiitQmLUhQgS_VyjFh28QOsU3bv68NKlB642LP7HtnCSNr wiQcsASDSkLl-IaN3uJJGvaTiGZ0FI1oMppHw3E4GyxfKXkkzAU8L4bTfpjSbDZeTmiyCpPpeJA- xTn1FcI2T_OSsAbMLkC5VWTNl Rojas, J. (2006). La Participación del Gremio Productor de Colombiano de Cacao en la Implementación de las ECAS. In Taller Regional Andino de Metodologías de Transferencia Tecnológica en Cacao (p. 92). IICA. Saavedra, D., & Briones, M. A. (2016). El modelo de extensión desde la demanda, desarrollado por FUNICA - Fondo de Asistencia Técnica-FAT. Managua. Seevers, B., & Graham, D. (2012). Education Through Cooperative Extension (Third). Fayetteville: University of Arkansass Bookstore. Swisscontact. (2016). Cocoa Value Chain Development. Retrieved from http://www.swisscontact.org/fileadmin/user_upload/HEAD_OFFICE/Documents/Topics_Brochures/Brochu re_Cocoa_Value_Chain_Development.pdf Torres, M. A., & Pinzon, L. A. (2017). Developing a systemic evaluation methodology - Paper. Bogotá: Los Andes University.

http://www.minagricultura.gov.co/noticias/Paginas/MinAgricultura-

http://www.rcnradio.com/nacional/portugal-ayudara-

http://www.udea.edu.co/wps/portal/udea/web/inicio/udea-noticias/udea-

http://www.swisscontact.org/fileadmin/user_upload/HEAD_OFFICE/Documents/Topics_Brochures/Brochu


Socioeconomic and technological factors that influence technology innovation of cacao farms in three regions of Colombia: contributions to rural development programs for post-conflict

Thesis Research Concept

MS Candidate in Rural Sociology Advisors

Background

The most recent report of Monitoring of Territories Affected by Illicit Crops, indicates that Colombia reached 146,000 hectares planted at the end of 2016, which means an increase of 52% compared to 2015. Moreover, this activity involves 106,900 households and generates 3% of Agricultural GDP (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime - UNODC, 2017). Given the socio-economic importance of this phenomenon and its relation with violence, the Peace Agreement signed between the government and guerrilla group of FARC includes commitments to eradicate these crops, nevertheless the main concern today is to identify productive and sustainable alternatives to replace such cultivations. In this context, cacao production has been declared as the activity with the greatest potential for this purpose, however, it is known that this bet requires big efforts in order to overcome the difficulties that this cultivation has to express its potential. On the other hand, the government advances in the participative construction of Programas de Desarrrollo

Rural con Enfoque Territorial- PDET for 170 municipalities defined as post-conflict áreas1, in that context it is expected that communities include cacao as one of the productive alternatives for their future, considering that 146 of those municipalities already have cacao plantations and many of them had obtained favorable results. According to data from the Datos Abiertos MinTIC platform (using the source of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), domestic production increased by 59% between 2007 and 2016 from 57,481 MT to 91,140 MT, however, this is mainly due to the increase in harvested area (62%) from 106,057 to 171,310 hectares, while national productivity decreased from 0.542 MT / Ha in 2007 to 0.532 MT / Ha. Other sources show more discouraging results, according to Abbott et al (2016) based on FAOSTAT, the national productivity of cacao cultivation

barely reached 0.332 MT/Ha in 2015. FEDECACAO2 data also yield national average nearby, 0.332 TM/Ha in 2015 and 0.328 in 2016. In general, sectorial diagnoses pose the cacao low productivity as a problem caused by multiple factors, however, the low technological innovation in the farms is consider the most relevant, especially in small-scale cultivations (Mantilla et al, 2000; Mojica and Paredes, 2006; Acosta and Villarraga, 2006; Castellanos et al, 2007; Torres and Rodriguez, 2010; Arboleda and González, 2010; SIC, 2012; García–Cáceres et al, 2012; Technoserve, 2015; Abbott et al, 2017; Palencia, 2017; and Rios et al, 2017.)

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Despite the efforts to analyze this lag, studies have been few and limited to the most relevant production region (Santander), as well as limited in term of the number of innovations they review. For that reason, this proposal aims to broaden the investigation of this problem towards production areas enabled by the post-conflict scenario, as well as incorporating a broader set of local innovations. Understanding the reasons why cacao farmers have had difficulties to undertake a technology innovation process appropriate, will contribute to defining more efficient and pertinent actions within rural development programs and especially in the PDETs where it is expected that cacao play as an alternative for the illicit crops substitution.

Problem Statement

This research proposal aims to analyze the problems associated with technology innovation in Colombian cacao farms from a holistic perspective. To address this inquiry the following research questions are proposed: How socioeconomic and technological factors influence the technology innovation of cacao farms in Colombia? To what extent land tenure type, access to extension service, organizational participation and market access influence technology innovation in cacao farms? How can these factors be promoted or counteracted in order to benefit an improvement in productivity based on technological innovation?

Expected Results

According to all above, this research will yield three deliverables: a) Regional Technology Catalog for every region, b) Analysis of correlation and causality between Technology Innovation Degree and the set of socioeconomic factors often covered in alternative development programs, others could arise in the advance of the research, and c) A package of recommendations to promote or counteract the effects found between variables.

References

Abbott, Philip; Benjamin, Tamara; Burniske, Gary; Croft, Marcia; Fenton, Marieke; Lundy, Mark; Rodriguez- Camayo, Fernando; and Wilcox, Michael (2017). Un Analisis de la Cadena Productiva de Cacao en Colombia. USAID. Colombia. p. 1-73

Acosta, Sofía y Villarraga, Marlen (2006) Diagnóstico tecnológico del cultivo de cacao (Theobroma cacao) en el municipio de El Dorado, Departamento del Meta. Universidad de los Llanos.

Arboleda, Ricardo y González, Alejandro (2010) Análisis socieconómico del sector cacaotero colombiano. Escuela de Ingeniería de Antioquia.

Baffoe-Asara, Richard, Abrefa- Danquah, Jones and Annor-Frempong, Festus (2013). Socioeconomic factors influencing adoption of CODAPEC and Cocoa High – tech Technologies among small holder farmers in Central Region of Ghana. American Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 3 (2): pp. 277-292.

Castellanos, Oscar; Torres, Luz M; Fonseca, Sandra; Montañez, Victor; Sanchez; Sanchez, Adriana (2007) Agenda Prospectiva de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico para la cadena productiva de cacao-chocolate en Colombia. Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural - Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

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Caltayud, Salvador; Pan-Montojo, Juan AND Pujol, Josep. (2002) Innovación y cambio técnico. Historia Agraria, SEHA, p. 15-40

Davis, Fred D; (1985) Technology Acceptance Model for empirically testing new end-user information systems: theory and results. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1985.

FEDECACAO – Fondo Nacional del Cacao (2017). Economia Nacional (Indicadores). Consulted on 10/19/2017. Available at http://www.fedecacao.com.co/portal/index.php/es/2015-02-12-17-20-59/nacionales

García-Cáceres, Rafael; Perdomo, Alejandra; Ortiz, Osca; Beltrán, Paulina; and López, Karen. (2014). Characterization of the supply and value chains of Colombian cacao.

Mantilla, Jairo; Argüello, Aura Linda; y Mendez, Hernando (2000) Caracterización y Tipicación de los productores de Cacao del Departamento de Santander. Corpoica.

Mojica, Almilcar y Paredes Joaquin (2006). Caracteristicas del cultivo del cacao en Santander. Ensayos sobre Economia Regional: Centro regional de Estudios Económicos Bucaramanga. Banco de la Republica. p. 1-38

Palencia, Gildardo. (2017) Propuesta Metodológica para la Organización de la Red de Gestión del Conocimiento Tecnológico para la Cadena de Cacao del Departamento de Santander. Universidad Santo Tomas, Bucaramanga. Consulted on 10/25/2017. Available at

Rogers, Everett M. (2003) Diffusion of innovations. Rev. ed. of: Communication of innovations. 2nd ed.1971. Consulted on 09/23/2017. Available at https://teddykw2.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/everett-m-rogers-diffusion- of-innovations.pdf

Ríos, F., Ruiz, A., Lecaro, J., Rehpani C. (2017). Estrategias país para la oferta de cacaos especiales: Políticas e iniciativas privadas exitosas en el Perú, Ecuador, Colombia y República Dominicana. Fundación Swisscontact

Colombia. Bogotá D. C. 140 p.

Sigleton, Royce and Straits, Bruce (2010). Approach to Social Research. Fifth edition. Oxford University Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (2012) Cadena productiva del cacao: Diagnóstico de libre competencia Consulted on 09/20/2017. Available at

Technoserve (2015). Análisis de medios de vida y cadena de valor del cacao en el Municipio de San Vicente de Chucurí – Santander. Asociacion Nacional de Industriales ANDI. p. 1- 47 Consulted on 10/21/2017. Available at https://www.datos.gov.co/Agricultura-y-Desarrollo-Rural/Cadena-Productiva-Cacao-Area-Producci-n-Y- Rendimie/7rr4-csic/10

Torres, Felix y Rodriguez, Diana. (2015) Análisis de la adopción de tecnología mejorada para la producción de cacao en el municipio de Rionegro - Santander. Universidad Santo Tomas, Bucaramanga

UNDOC (2017). Monitoreo de Territorios Afectados por Cultivos Ilicitos 2016. p. 17- 130

http://www.fedecacao.com.co/portal/index.php/es/2015-02-12-17-20-59/nacionales

http://www.datos.gov.co/Agricultura-y-Desarrollo-Rural/Cadena-Productiva-Cacao-Area-Producci-n-Y-


Evaluation of Cd remediation materials, plant indicators and mapping protocol for optimized cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) production


MS Candidate in Soil Science Advisor

Background Colombia has suffered a violent internal conflict resulting from coca production/corruption/political ideology differences during the last 50 years, which has resulted in poverty, corruption and social distress across the country. In 2016, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos signed the Peace Agreement with the main terrorist group, the Revolutionary Colombian Forces (FARC, Spanish acronym). One of the main outcomes of this accord is the promotion of a modern, competitive agriculture development program in areas that used to be war zones and coca (Erythroxylum coca) growing territories. This program is officially known as Integral Rural Reform (Office of the High Commissioner for Peace, 2016). Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) has been identified as a major replacement crop for coca, which affords an opportunity for small-scale farmers to return to their lands, improve their lives, and ultimately become an engine of peace and wealth in Colombia. Although Colombian cocoa is recognized as a fine-flavored product, characteristic of only the 5% of all the cocoa produced in the world (Abbott, 2017). However, evolving European Union food regulations directed at cadmium (Cd) in edible products, would likely have a critical impact on Colombian cocoa exports, given that large proportion of the cacao cultivation in Colombia occurs on soils with cadmium. I hypothesize that soil remediation techniques using well-tested and cost-effective materials will decrease the mobility and uptake of Cd by cacao plants. I also hypothesize that the use of affordable and worldwide available short-term crops can serve as Cd presence indicator plants substantially reducing soil testing costs. Finally, I propose that a detailed soil Cd exploration in South America will permit the design of a mapping protocol for cacao suitability areas.

Problem Statement Cacao production supports more than 35,000 small-scale family farmers in Colombia (Pinzón, 2007). The Colombian Strategic Plan in Science, Technology and Innovation for the Agricultural Sector, indicates that the major agricultural funding investment within the next ten years will be associated with harvest, post-harvest and transformation operations for several crops, included cacao (MADR, 2016). The Cd content in soil across several areas of Colombia could limit the tremendous potential for cacao production. Hence, there is an emerging need for cacao producers to increase productivity and solve the Cd cocoa contamination issue. European Union legislation

proposed to go into effect on January 2019 limits Cd in cocoa powder to 0.6 mg kg−1 of cocoa powder (EFSA, 2012). Unfortunately, in Colombia, there are limited studies available regarding Cd concentrations in soils, its sources, the use of cost-

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effective materials to remediate Cd, and the use of Cd indicator plants. Coarse mapping of cocoa suitability has been developed, which broadly considers cadmium, but these are not publically available for use in a geographic information system and further analysis.

This study is aligned with the of the Cacao for Peace project (CfP) objectives to promote suitable cacao production in Colombia and include increasing the scientific understanding of the spatial presence of Cd in soils and exploration of novel techniques to manage/remediate/identify this toxic metal in soils with potential for cacao cultivations.

Proposed methodology

Chapter I. Remediation of Cd study Objective. To evaluate the use of red mud (iron oxide), synthetic zeolite (ZSM-5) and bentonite as Cd remediation materials under greenhouse conditions.

Cacao plants will be planted in soils with different Cd contents, under greenhouse conditions. The remediation materials will be added to the soil in different amounts. Samples of the soil experimental units will be analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the remediation materials.

This work will be in collaboration with PhD student Francisco Menéndez Burns, who will be evaluating the cacao physiologic response to different levels of Cd in this study.

Chapter II. Evaluation of indicator plants to Cd uptake Objective. Evaluate the response of spinach (Spinacia oleracea), swiss chard (Beta vulgaris L. subsp. vulgaris) and kale (Brassica oleracea L. var. sabellica) as cost-effective Cd indicator plants under field conditions.

Using a similar study design to Chapter 1, we will add different concentrations of Cd to soils in the greenhouse. Indicator plants will be planted across treatments and physiological (image analysis of leaf tissue, plant height, mass, mean leaf mass, brix level) and chemical responses noted (via plant tissue testing).

Chapter III. Exploration of Cd content in Colombian and Peruvian soils Objective. To identify Cd sources in soils and fertilizers, and to design a protocol for cacao suitability mapping purposes. Study locations. Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region, Northwest, Colombia. Piura, Northwest, Peru.

Initial analysis efforts will take place at The Pennsylvania State University and involve spatial analysis using a GIS to refine the geographic extent of study areas and conduct preliminary digital soil mapping. Focal study areas will be visited to collect preliminary data and to form partnerships and make plans with local partners. GPS data, photographs, soil and leaf samples will be collected. The density of soil sampling would be determined prior to the field visit, but

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adjusted to focus on production areas and their problem specific soil conditions. Data collected on the soil and vegetation survey would be used for spatial analysis would be conducted to refine mapping and create new digital map layers. Leaf samples will be used for DNA extraction and SNP analysis to determine the genetic background.

Funding sources Chapter I, II and III (Colombian soil exploration) funded by CfP and Fulbright Grant (CfP scholarship), The Pennsylvania State University, Penn State College of Agriculture

Chapter III (Peruvian soil exploration) funded by The Pennsylvania State University, College of Agriculture Expected Results 1) Determination of the best remediation material for cacao Cd uptake; 2) Selection of the bestCd indicator plant; 3) Development of a GIS protocol to determine sources and suitable areasfor cacao cultivation in South America.

References Abbott P.C., Benjamin T.J., Burniske G.R., Croft M.M., Fenton M.C., Kelly C., Lundry M.M., Rodríguez-Camayo F., Wilcox Jr. M.D. (2017). An analysis of the cocoa productive value chain in Colombia. USAID-CIAT-Purdue University Publication. Colombia. 86p Colombian Government - Office of the High Commissioner for Peace. (2016). The Peace Accord. Available on: http://www.altocomisionadoparalapaz.gov.co/procesos-y-conversaciones/Documentos%20compartidos/24-11- 2016NuevoAcuerdoFinal.pdf Date: August 27, 2017 European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) (2012). Cadmium dietary exposure in the European population. Eur. Food Saf. Authority (EFSA) J. 10 (1): 2551. MADR (Spanish acronym) Colombian Agricultural Ministry. (2016). The Strategic Plan in Science, Technology and Innovation for the Agricultural Sector in Colombia PECTIA (Spanish acronym), 2016-2026. Summary version 1.0. Colombia. 40p Pinzón U.J., Ardila J.R., Rojas F. (2007). Technical guide to the cocoa cultivation. FEDECACAO. Colombia. 192p

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http://www.altocomisionadoparalapaz.gov.co/procesos-y-conversaciones/Documentos%20compartidos/24-11-


Evolution of effector and other pathogenicity related genes in frosty pod rot fungus Moniliophthora roreri causing frosty root rot disease in Theobroma cacao


MS Candidate in Horticulture

Background Except for Brazil, whose production is affected mainly by the witches’ broom disease, the fungus Moniliophthora roreri represents a growing threat for the cacao production in Latin America and Caribbean. Since the beginning of the 20th century this pathogen has spread over this region and currently is present in all cacao growing countries in the region causing losses between 20 to 80% (Ploetz, 2016). Studies analyzing the genetic diversity of representative isolates of M. roreri from different countries have suggested that the probable center of origin of this pathogen is the Northeast region of Colombia (Ali et al., 2015; Jaimes et al., 2016). The studies demonstrated relatively low genetic diversity that could potentially result in clonal reproduction strategy of the fungus (Jaimes et al., 2016). This implies that the capacity of M. roreri to gain adaptive traits to infect cacao plants through sexual recombination is limited and the structure of the population is relatively homogeneous. Díaz-Valderrama and Aime (2016) corroborated that although representatives M. roreri isolates from Latin American countries possess biallelic A and B mating loci (have genetic capacity to undergo sexual recombination) M. roreri doesn’t appear to outcross and reproduce clonally. As a consequence of these findings it could be assumed that the cacao as a host will be able to overcome the infection. However only few cacao cultivars have been reported to have tolerance to frosty pod rot disease and the losses due to the disease are still devastating for the farmers in many Latin America countries. Effectors are proteins secreted by pathogens in order to suppress the immune response of the plant and to facilitate the germination, infection and further proliferation in plant tissues. Pathogens need to increase their effector repertoire in order to improve their ability to infect and to minimize detection by plant host. In some pathosystems it has been hypothesized that specific instability in fungal genomic regions containing effector genes leads to defeat plant immune responses (Huang et al., 2014). Besides recombination, activity of transposable elements and Horizontal gene transfer contribute to diversification of virulence factors in fungal pathogens (Lo Presti et al., 2015), which makes necessary to evaluate the variability of these genes and how they potentially contribute to the virulence of different fungal genotypes.

Problem Statement Although the structure of the worldwide population of M. roreri is considered relatively homogeneous, the cacao resistance is low in most environments in which M. roreri has been

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reported. Thus one question to be answered includes: what is the variability in effector-like and fungal pathogenicity genes in the M. roreri population and how it is related to the genetic diversity of this fungus.

Proposed methodology Considering that isolates found in Colombia are representative of the pathotypes found in all other countries, I propose to study the composition and dynamics of effector-like and other fungal pathogenicity genes of M. roreri populations in Colombia (Phillips-Mora et al., 2007). Using different criteria, the list of potential effectors reported by Bailey et al. (2014) will be narrowed for important selected transcripts involved in the pathogenesis of M. roreri. As the genome sequence of M. roreri is publicly available, it will be further mined to incorporate other DNA sequences related to fungal pathogenicity genes. Once DNA targets are selected I propose to develop PCR primers to each DNA target. In order to study the allelic diversity of potential effector and fungal pathogenesis genes and assess their evolution across the M. roreri population, it will used the Corpoica, Fedecacao (Colombian institutions which hold isolates from representative areas of the country) and USDA collections of M. roreri isolates.

Expected Results important for Colombia and cacao. The study will generate candidate genes of M. roreri involved in the pathogenesis to cacao. Additionally I will development of a phylogenetic structure in the M. roreri population. Understanding the composition and dynamics of fungal pathogenicity genes of M. roreri in diverse cacao-growing regions in Colombia will be useful for breeding programs to cultivate resistant varieties.

References

Ali, S., Shao, J., Strem, M., Phillips-Mora, W., Zhang, D., Meinhardt, L. and, Bailey, B. 2015. Combination of RNAseq and SNP nanofluidic array reveals the center of genetic diversity of cacao pathogen Moniliophthora roreri in the upper Magdalena Valley of Colombia and its clonality. Frontiers in Microbiology 6, 850. Díaz-Valderrama, J. and Aime, M. 2016. The cacao pathogen Moniliophthora roreri (Marasmiaceae) possesses biallelic A and B mating loci but reproduces clonally. Heredity 116, 491 – 501. Huang, J., Si, W., Deng, Q., Li, P. and, Yang, S. Rapid evolution of avirulence genes in rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. BMC Genetics, 15 – 45. Jaimes, Y., Gonzalez, C., Rojas, J., Cornejo, O., Mideros, M., Restrepo, S., Cilas, C., and Furtado, E. Geographic differentiation and population genetic structure of Moniliophthora roreri in the principal cocoa production areas in Colombia. Plant Disease 100 (8), 1548 – 1557. Lo Presti, L., Lanver, D., Schweizer, G., Tanaka, S., Liang, L. and, Tollot, M. 2015. Fungal effectors and plant susceptibility. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 66, 513–545. Phillips-Mora, W., Aime, M. and, Wilkinson, M. 2007. Biodiversity and biogeography of the cacao (Theobroma cacao) pathogen Moniliophthora roreri in tropical America. Plant Pathology 56, 911 – 922. Ploetz, R. 2016. The Impact of Diseases on Cacao Production: A Global Overview, Chapter 2. In: Cocoa diseases. Bailey, B. and Meinhardt, W. (eds.). Springer

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