Topic “cocoa” — Exporter Magazine

Confectionery giant Mars predicts a major cocoa shortage by 2020 and reveals harmonization of global cocoa certification programmes to ensure meaningful income hikes for farmers is one of its sustainable cocoa project goals, according to ConfectioneryNews.com. The report said researchers from food-maker Mars, technology giant IBM, several universities and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have almost completely sequenced the genome of the Forastero cacao tree, which accounts for 80-90% of the world’s cocoa production.