Chocoholics beware!Chocoholics may soon find themselves deprived of their favorite food. Every year, deadly plant diseases destroy 20 percent of the cacao cacao (kəkä`ō, –kā`–), tropical tree (Theobroma cacao) of the family Sterculiaceae (sterculia family), native to South America, where it was first domesticated and was highly prized by the Aztecs. beans used in chocolate production, and an expert warns that figure will increase dramatically if the diseases spread. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The most lethal--black pod--occurs all over the world. Two others--frosty pod and witches broom--are found only in tropical America but would wreak havoc on the chocolate industry were they to spread to West Africa West Africa A region of western Africa between the Sahara Desert and the Gulf of Guinea. It was largely controlled by colonial powers until the 20th century. West African adj. & n. . Billions of dollars are at stake. Four million metric tons of beans worth more than $4 billion are produced each year, and the entire chocolate market as a whole is worth $75 billion annually. In West Africa, warns Randy Ploetz, a plant pathology plant pathology: see diseases of plants. Plant pathology The study of disease in plants; it is an integration of many biological disciplines and bridges the basic and applied sciences. professor at the University of Florida University of Florida is the third-largest university in the United States, with 50,912 students (as of Fall 2006) and has the eighth-largest budget (nearly $1.9 billion per year). UF is home to 16 colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes. at Homestead, "... either disease could reduce yields by an additional one million more metric tons per year." |
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