CABI - Biocontrol News and Information 24(3) September News

Biocontrol News and Information

September 2003, Volume 24 No. 2

IPM Systems

This section covers integrated pest management (IPM) including biological control, and techniques that are compatible with the use of biological control or minimize negative impact on natural enemies.

Sulawesi Setting for Cocoa IPM Initiatives

Cocoa, like many plantation crops, has a long tradition of over-dependence on chemical pesticides. But it also has the distinction of being a birthplace of IPM. In the 1960s, Gordon Conway, now President of the Rockefeller Foundation, identified use of chemical insecticides as the cause of outbreaks of bagworms and nettle caterpillars on cocoa and worked out the process since dubbed the `pesticide treadmill'. IPM became the underlying principle of cocoa pest and disease management in plantation systems, but over the last 30 years cocoa has increasingly become a smallholder cash crop. An estimated 80% of the world's cocoa is now produced by smallholders. Often these farmers do not have the knowledge to enable them to implement IPM, and traditional top-down extension has proved to be an inappropriate vehicle for providing IPM training in many crops. In cocoa, which has the capacity to be an important engine of sustainable development, the situation is exacerbated by low farm-gate prices, which mean farmers cannot afford inputs necessary for good soil and crop health. This contributes to the impact of pests and diseases in terms of both increased aggressiveness and an increased range of the organisms involved. Farmers are seeing yields decline, but are trapped in a downward spiral.

Indonesia was one of the world's smaller cocoa producers until coinciding events in Brazil and Indonesia changed this. In the mid 1970s, indigenous smallholders in Sulawesi, using private and public finance, began planting in new areas. The area planted to cocoa increased to more than 0.5 million hectares in 20 years. As the cocoa sector was growing in Indonesia, witches' broom (Crinipellis perniciosa) was decimating Brazil's production following the arrival of the disease in the key production areas of Bahia State in 1989. This created a gap in the market which Indonesia could fill, and it is now the world's third-largest cocoa producing and exporting country. There are close to 400,000 smallholder cocoa growers in Sulawesi alone, producing 350,000 tonnes of cocoa annually. The average size of holding is small at 1-2 ha for each farm family.

This rapid explosion of cocoa growing, with 70% of Indonesia's cocoa produced by smallholders, has created its own set of problems. Firstly, the rapid expansion in Sulawesi has not been matched by the development of support institutions, infrastructure or expertise, and this has been compounded by the rapid pace of political reform and decentralization in Indonesia. Secondly, the expansion sometimes threatens the integrity of rainforest adjacent to the cocoa-growing regions, including the Lore Lindu National Park, a vast area of virgin rainforest in Central Sulawesi containing many rare mammals and birds.

Over the last 2 years, smallholders in Sulawesi have experienced a dramatic decline in saleable cocoa with losses now averaging 40%, largely attributable to three major pest and disease problems:

Cocoa pod borer, Conopomorpha cramerella (CPB), a moth that infests over half the cocoa plantings in Sulawesi, causes an estimated 25-40% yield loss; in 2002 these losses were estimated to be 150,000 tonnes, worth US$200 million.
Phytophthora (or black) pod rot and canker, caused by the oomycete P. palmivora, typically cause losses of 15%.
Vascular-streak dieback (VSD), caused by the fungus Oncobasidium theobromae , is common but appears not to be destructive on established trees.

Additional losses, estimated at US$25 million, are caused by poor quality of dry beans, mostly due to lack of fermentation.

Lack of farmer know-how in managing pests and diseases is illustrated by an analysis of how Sulawesi's farmers currently deal with CPB. Peter van Grinsven, speaking at a recent workshop (see PRIMA Cocoa project, below), said that very many of Sulawesi's smallholder cocoa farmers use chemical control measures to try and control CPB, but these are probably not used in an effective or efficient way, and there is room for improvement with regard to safety of application.

The constraints faced by the smallholder cocoa sector in Sulawesi are similar to those of many countries, but Sulawesi is also home to some innovative projects that aim to bridge the technology and knowledge gaps and facilitate an improvement in cocoa productivity and quality.

First Success

The SUCCESS (Sustainable Cocoa Extension Services for Smallholders) project uses Farmer Field Schools (FFSs) to demonstrate IPM practices in cocoa to farmers and to show that the extra effort is financially worthwhile. The project has been funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in partnership with the American Cocoa Research Institute (ACRI) (later merged with and renamed World Cocoa Foundation (WCF)) and the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Alliance (BCCCA) in the UK, and implemented by ACDI/VOCA (an international non-profit organization working toward agricultural and smallholder development) in collaboration with the local governments of three provinces in Sulawesi. WCF is a US-based organization, launched in 2000 by the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, ACRI and the Cocoa Merchants Association of America.

Building on the work of the SUCCESS Project which ends in September 2003, a new 3-year project initiative called SUCCESS Alliance has already begun in Sulawesi and West Papua. The project is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by ACDI/VOCA, in alliance with WCF and Masterfoods/USA. SUCCESS Alliance aims to improve the quantity and quality of smallholder-grown cocoa in Indonesia and carry on training farmers, through FFSs, farmer-led research and participatory means, to adopt good crop husbandry methods and effective IPM practices which will sustain a regular source of income for them. The new project also seeks to strengthen the partnership between the local governments, universities and farmer groups and the US private sector to better utilize resources to support the sustainable development of the cocoa industry in Indonesia. The project also has regional outreach where it works in the Philippines, assisting local institutions on cocoa production and setting up tree nurseries for cocoa.

Both SUCCESS and SUCCESS Alliance work to improve the income of cocoa smallholders in Sulawesi by reducing crop losses from the CPB through good crop husbandry practices: frequent harvesting, better pruning, sanitation of pod husks and improving fertilizer use, both chemical and organic. These methods are widely know in Indonesian as PsPSP (Panen Sering, Pemangkasan, Sanatasi and Pemupukan) and were recommended as a result of previous research in Indonesia by Dr John Mumford of Imperial College London, UK, with support from BCCCA, ACRI and ASKINDO (the Indonesian cocoa association).

Participatory training has been gaining in acceptance since the 1980s as an effective way of increasing farmer uptake of sustainable production methods. The FFS approach was developed in rice in Southeast Asia and has been adapted for a number of other annual crops. However, adapting it for a perennial tree crop such as cocoa presented new challenges.

The SUCCESS Project has trained over 35,000 to date in 2.5 years, well above the targeted 20,000 farmers. The project successor, the SUCCESS Alliance, will train an additional 30,000 farmers in good crop husbandry practices through FFS. The SUCCESS extension message was built on 2 years of extensive field research conducted in Sulawesi by ACRI, BCCCA and ASKINDO, alongside provincial agricultural department, or Dinas Pekerbunan, staff. The combined approach by government and the producing and manufacturing industries ensured a solid foundation to establish a unified extension programme. Involving local extension staff in project development meant the project was designed to fit local constraints and build capacity within the local extension services to address CPB.

In each training village, a demonstration plot is set up where FFS training teaches PsPSP methods to control CPB infestation, good crop husbandry practices are taught and farmers learn about the pest's life cycle by observation. Armed with this knowledge, they then learn how to manage the pest through complete and frequent harvesting, pruning, sanitation and the safe and prudent use of fertilizer, and how to identify the right time for each intervention. Rather than being a passive learning process, the farmers conduct research for themselves to confirm the value of each practice.

Just one year into the SUCCESS programme, cocoa losses from CPB amongst the trainees were down from an average of 40% to 15%, and quality had also improved. By following the practices they learnt at the FFSs, farmers not only saw reduced losses from CPB, but also saw pod sizes improve through better crop management, and benefited from decreased pressure from Phytophthora pod disease and rodent problems.

The sustainability and further dissemination of the project message (key issues for farmer participatory training) were also promising. In some areas, trained farmers were hired by untrained farmers to share their skills, which is both an indication of the confidence of trained farmers and a sign of growing business acumen that puts the spread of this technology on an entrepreneurial and more sustainable course.

Building from Local Diversity

An Australian-Indonesian collaborative venture to improve cocoa quality and insect and disease resistance by selecting from local cocoa plantings is being funded by ACIAR (the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research). The project team, from The University of Melbourne and Latrobe University in Australia, Masterfoods Australia/New Zealand, Ballarat (part of Mars Inc.), the Agricultural Technology Assessment Institute (BPTP) in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, and the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute in Jember, East Java, began work in 2000.

From the outset, the project engaged with local stakeholders. The first workshop, at Kendari in June 2001, was attended by agricultural extension staff from 10 cocoa-growing provinces of Indonesia, and cocoa researchers from Java, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Australia. Participants summarized the current status of the cocoa industry and planned the development of straightforward methods for identifying and screening improved individual trees, especially trees with resistance to CPB, Phytophthora pod rot and VSD, from existing cocoa plantings. The purpose was to ensure that selections are adapted to the local environment, and that cocoa growers, extension workers and local scientists manage and control the selection process. Promising genotypes were identified and collections established. Trials to screen the field selections in the face of natural epidemics of the pests/diseases and trials investigating improved farm management practices were also established. A second workshop held at Kendari in June 2002 focused on technical aspects of disease diagnosis and treatment. The newly constructed facilities at BPTP, Kendari were equipped for research in applied plant protection. Thus the project enhances the infrastructure and capability within Indonesia using locally available resources, especially the great genetic diversity of the cocoa already being grown in the country.

So far over 40 collections of promising genotypes, including some international genotypes, have been established at two sites. Cuttings of promising genotypes are prospected with the help of farmers and extension staff, collected from the field and transported and grafted onto existing cocoa trees for evaluation under local conditions. In this way the mother trees are not damaged, and the grafts begin producing pods within 18 months. Yield, pest and disease resistance and cocoa quality attributes can then be assessed under trial conditions. The trials also represent a locally available collection of potentially useful genotypes that can be readily propagated for distribution to farmers. It is planned that elite selections will be distributed widely for propagation, use in other cocoa projects in Sulawesi, and eventual release to farmers. The majority of grafts are now flowering and setting fruit, and assessments of their resistance to VSD, Phytophthora pod rot and CPB, and cocoa quality attributes have begun.

While it is expected that some useful selections of high quality pest and disease resistant planting material will be made available to growers as a result of this, and other, projects, an important aim of the project is to demonstrate the usefulness of local selection of improved planting material using straightforward methods based on locally available genetic diversity within the crop. It has been previously shown in PNG that it is possible to select cocoa genotypes with durable resistance to VSD from among a great diversity of planting material exposed to a natural epidemic of the disease. This amounts to natural selection - very susceptible genotypes are killed by VSD and are no longer available for propagation; the failure of the commonly occurring VSD to kill trees in Sulawesi (as occurred dramatically in PNG in the 1960s) suggests that the cocoa there has gone through this selection process over the last 30 years. The aim of the ACIAR project is to repeat this process with Phytophthora pod rot and CPB. (There is already evidence of resistance to CPB, as shown by the studies of a scientist at Tadulako University in Palu, Central Sulawesi). This approach is important in a country like Indonesia with its great genetic diversity of a wide range of tropical crops. So far the project has taught some valuable lessons in how to proceed with research and development based on local resources. The method being used in the trials of sidegrafting of improved budwood onto existing trees also demonstrates a method of upgrading existing cocoa plantings with minimal loss of yield during the process, methods already being adopted by some farmers following their observations of the trials. The SUCCESS project is keen to incorporate this method of local selection and sidegrafting, and also any useful cocoa clones that emerge from the project, into their FFS programme.

Reducing cocoa losses due to pests and diseases will also reduce the pressure to expand cocoa plantings into virgin rainforest. Previous studies have shown that integrating cocoa growing with traditional mixed farming minimizes pesticide use and retains up to 70% of the original biodiversity. In a further illustration of good collaboration between universities and industry, PT Effem (a part of Mars Inc.) is assisting with the logistics of establishing the field trials and cocoa quality assessments of pest and disease-resistant selections.

IPM Linked to a Chain Approach

Pest problems in cocoa that lead to poor yields and low quality beans affect not just farmers but cascade along the cocoa chain to where the beans are processed. For this reason, PRIMA Cocoa (Pest Reduction and Integrated Management for Cocoa), a 2-year project that began in January 2003, is piloting both integrated management of pests and a chain approach to cocoa production in Sulawesi.

Despite the achievements of the projects above, the pest and disease status of Sulawesi's cocoa is still sufficiently serious that PT Effem Indonesia in Makassar had to close down its cocoa processing plant temporarily in 2002 as there were simply not enough quality beans available. The situation faced by PT Effem was not unique, as evidenced by the temporary shutdown of a number of cocoa processing factories in Indonesia, and complaints of high waste in Sulawesi beans by regional and international cocoa grinders. The situation in Sulawesi is thus of great concern to all in the cocoa industry.

Masterfoods and the worldwide cocoa industry are committed to promoting sustainable cocoa production systems. With this in mind, PT Effem together with its European sister unit Masterfoods Europe, Veghel and Senter International (part of the Netherlands government international development agency) are funding a project which will introduce, on a pilot scale, an integrated management system to control CPB and also raise bean quality and production by improved agricultural practices and post-harvest treatment. Promising biocontrol methods are being identified, then tested and validated in cooperation with the University of Hassanuddin, Makassar and a local entrepreneur to establish whether they have wide-scale application.

The total pipeline approach also includes cocoa collectors in the pilot area, who will be trained in techniques for proper drying and grading of beans which are then purchased by PT Effem for processing. The improvements should increase the income of smallholders and benefit the environment through the promotion of sustainable cultural and biological control methods. Given the importance of the cocoa sector, its relevance to development on Sulawesi is potentially huge and it is intended that all stakeholders (smallholders, cocoa collectors and cocoa processors) will benefit.

One of the project's first activities was a Technical Brainstorming Meeting on Biocontrol Technologies for IPM in Cocoa in Makassar in June 2003. There has been a good deal of scientific and field-based research on ways of enhancing cocoa production through controlling CPB by mechanical, cultural and biocontrol methods. The majority of this knowledge is spread around different research and academic institutions and private farms in Indonesia and Malaysia. The meeting brought together people with knowledge of CPB control by these various methods to discuss and define the most promising farmer-friendly and practical options for a use in an IPM strategy to control CPB and improve cocoa production in Sulawesi. The most promising CPB control systems will be implemented as part of the PRIMA Cocoa programme.

Topics discussed included genetic improvement, use of ants as predators, entomopathogenic nematodes and fungi, and more efficient sleeving methods. The challenges to designing IPM for the combination of pests and diseases that attack cocoa were highlighted in some of the discussions:

It seems that where ants are present the incidence of CPB infestation is reduced. However, it is unclear what is needed for successful establishment, what effect a history of pesticide use might have, and what impact introducing ants would have on existing predator populations. In addition some species may carry pathogens such as Phytophthora .
Sleeving has been practised in the past but is a time-consuming process and thus farmers tend to abandon it. A simple pipe and stick technique, which enables >600 pods/hour to be sleeved, has one big drawback: plastic bags are used, which are both expensive and a source of environmental pollution (for 1 ha potentially 6000 bags could be used). Again, there may be a danger of encouraging Phytophthora pod rot.

Participants agreed on future research directions, and a basket of measures for immediate incorporation into the PRIMA Cocoa project:

Harvesting: weekly and complete
Height management: trees should be <4m; side grafting to rehabilitate old trees
Sanitation: removing damaged and diseased pods and covering spent husks with plastic for 2+ weeks
Off-season sleeving, but try to move away from using plastic bags
Rational pesticide use
Conserving ants
Introducing black ant ( Dolichoderus thoracicus ) where confident of success

Websites:

ACDI/VOCA: www.acdivoca.org/

ACIAR: www.aciar.gov.au

Mars, Inc.: www.mars.com/

SUCCESS Alliance:
www.successalliance.org

WCF: www.chocolateandcocoa.org/WCF/wcfindex.htm

Contacts:

Robert Rosengren,
SUCCESS Alliance Team Leader ,
PO Box 1538, Jl. Adhiyaksa #17, Makassar, South Sulawesi 90231, Indonesia
Email: robertdr@indosat.net.id
Fax: +62 411 454 300

David Guest, School of Botany,
The University of Melbourne,
Vic. 3010, Australia
Email: diguest@unimelb.edu.au
Fax: +61 3 93475460

Philip Keane, Department of Botany,
La Trobe University, Vic 3086, Australia
Email: p.keane@latrobe.edu.au

Smilja Lambert, Masterfoods, Ring Rd.,
Ballarat, Vic 3350, Australia
Email: smilja.lambert@ap.effem.com

Martin Gilmour, Cocoa Research Manager,
Masterfoods, Dundee Road,
Slough, SL1 4JX, UK
Email: martin.gilmour@eu.effem.com
Fax: +44 1753 51 4811

This article has been developed from a series of articles that appeared in the newsletter GRO-Cocoa (Nos 1 & 3). See:

www.cabi-commodities.org/

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