In the 1990s witches' broom disease (WBD), believed to have been introduced by humans, ripped its way through the main Brazilian cocoa region of Bahia, leaving 200,000 without work and decimating cacao supplies. As a result, in 10 years Brazil has gone from being the world's second-largest exporter of cocoa beans to a net importer.
Research programmes funded by the Brazilian government, including an attempt to sequence the genes of the pathogen, are aiming to shed light on this notoriously difficult disease that is proving extremely tricky to solve. But according to Dr. Gareth Griffith, a plant pathologist at the University of Wales, a risk assessment should be carried out as soon as possible.
"I feel that this has been disregarded as a small risk, but we need to learn from past mistakes. Improved travel links and world trade could allow fungal infections to spread to uninfected regions such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast," the scientist told FoodNavigator.com.
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