ABSTRACT
Cocoa plant propagation techniques to supply farmers with improved planting materials Michelle End, INGENIC (The International Group for Genetic Improvement of Cocoa), UK; Brigitte Laliberté, Bioversity International, Italy; Rob Lockwood, Consultant, UK; Augusto Roberto Sena Gomes, Consultant, Brazil; George Andrade Sodré, CEPLAC/CEPEC, Brazil; and Mark Guiltinan and Siela Maximova, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
1 Introduction
2 Propagation by seeds
3 Conventional vegetative propagation
4 Cross-cutting issues
5 Phytosanitary considerations
6 Predicting demand for planting materials
7 Considerations on estimating costs
8 Future trends and conclusion
9 Acknowledgements
10 References
The availability of high-performance planting materials to cocoa farmers is an important component in a package of measures to improve the productivity of cocoa farms and thus the sustainability of the cocoa economy. It has been estimated that currently only about 25% of all cacao plantings consist of improved varieties. If farmers cannot access improved materials, or cannot afford to do so, then they will continue to use their own materials, or those of their neighbours, and be unable to benefit from the breeding work that is delivering varieties with improved yield, quality and resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses.
