Project Number: 1275-21000-264-02
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Apr 01, 2006
End Date: Apr 01, 2009

Objective:
To focus upon the restoration of abandoned cacao farms by developing sustainable management practices that promote a commercially productive cacao /agroforestry system that maintains and promotes environment biodiversity. To explore the effects of shade canopy type and composition on the incipient biodiversity and productivity of different Theobroma cacao systems, either active or abandoned, with emphasis upon the herbivorous species, pollinators, fungal microflora pathogens, insectivores, other vertebrates and insect population.

Approach:
In cooperation with ARS and its collaborators, specifically the Sustainable Perennial Crops Lab (SPCL), Beltsville and the ARS-CABI cacao research station, CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica: 1. Conduct a census of significant flora and fauna, including invertebrate and microflora associated with cacao and ancillary canopy at various sites in Costa Rica, including at Finmac, Sarapiqui Valley, Upala and Cahuita regions. 2. Conduct measurements and populations of relevant invertebrates and herbivories. 3. Conduct, through banana pseudostem experiments, an assessment of pollinator densities in cacao systems, including, but not limited to midges. 4. Conduct agronomic studies (e.g., pod quality, productivity, disease resistance etc.) involving the rehabilitation of abandoned cacao farms in a broadly defined agroforestry environment in the Cahuita and Upala regions. 5. Conduct, to the extent permitted by resources and within permissible organic practices, collaborative trials with ARS scientists and their collaborators, including CATIE, on the efficacy of biological control agents and competitive endophytes in the reduction of disease pressure in selected agroforestry sites as defined above.