24 May 2011

BRASIL / MEXICO: New Fungus Threatens Lucrative Cocoa Crop.

WSJ/ J. GUERRERO

     A fungus called "frosty pod rot" is scaring cocoa farmers from Brasil to Mexico...as it slowly spreads through Latin America.
    The fungus is carried by wind and human contact.
    It arrived in 2005 in Mexico but hasn't yet hit Brasil, LatAm's top producer...though it has been found in Peru.
    The cocoa bean is native to Latin America...but most production moved to Africa in the early 1900s because infestations...like frosty pod rot...decimated Latin America's native cocoa crop.