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Date: Thu 14 Dec 2017 12:00 AM
Source: The Gleaner [edited]
<http://jamaica-gleaner.com/ar ticle/lead-stories/20171214/de adly-disease-threatens-wipe-ou t-cocoa-industry>

Trading, transportation, and processing of cocoa pods and other
planting material across parish borders has been suspended with
immediate effect, an emergency strategy aimed at curtailing the spread
of the deadly frosty pod disease.

Clarendon is the worst-affected parish, the crop is almost entirely
infected. St Mary is also badly affected, with Portland and St Thomas
the only places where the disease has not yet been detected. The
fungus now threatens to wipe out cocoa cultivation. "The disease has
spread tremendously," Karl Samuda, minister of industry, commerce,
agriculture and fisheries, [said].

After islandwide survey experts determined that more aggressive action
was absolutely necessary, paving the way for the Cocoa Frosty Pod
Order of 2017. "The public is not allowed to move [cocoa plant
material] and go into a cocoa field. It's against the law, there will
be penalties. We have to literally start over again. Those are the
harsh realities."

[Byline: Christopher Serju]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[Frosty pod rot (FPR; also called moniliasis) of cocoa is caused by
the fungus _Moniliophthora roreri_. It is an invasive disease which
was originally identified in Ecuador in 1917 and spread rapidly to
other countries in Latin America during the 1970s. It can cause
complete loss of production and is considered a major constraint to
cocoa production in the region. FPR reached the northern boundary of
the crop with its 1st detection in Mexico in 2006. FPR was only
recently detected for the 1st time outside of Latin America, in
Jamaica's Clarendon parish (ProMED-mail post
http://promedmail.org/post/201 61004.4534271).

FPR-affected pods show large brown lesions on the outside, but these
may appear less serious than the associated bean loss inside the pods.
Mummies (shrivelled pods) and internal necrosis are also common. The
fungus produces large quantities of powdery spores giving affected
pods a frosted appearance. It is a specialised pathogen that invades
only actively growing pods of cocoa and related species of _Theobroma_
and _Herrania_, which may serve as pathogen reservoirs. Conventional
control measures, including phytosanitation, have failed to halt the
progress of FPR. Integrated management strategies suited to
smallholders and collaborative resistance breeding programmes are
being developed.

The related fungus _M. perniciosa_ causes witches' broom (WB) of cocoa
and is spreading in the same region. It has ravaged production in
parts of Brazil and led to abandonment of cocoa cultivation in many
areas. Both pathogens also pose a potential threat to cocoa growing
areas in Africa and Asia if they are introduced there.

Maps
Jamaica:
<http://www.caribbean-on-line. com/jm/images/map-of-jamaica.g if>
Jamaica parishes:
<http://www.my-island-jamaica. com/images/jamaica_parishes_ma p.jpg>
Caribbean, overview:
<http://www.worldatlas.com/img /areamap/fe82a41adeba42e2e8916 33dbb223b7d.gif>

Pictures
Frosty pod rot:
<http://www.plantmanagementnet work.org/pub/php/review/cacao/ images/cacao15s.jpg>,
<http://www.miic.gov.jm/sites/ default/files/styles/article_i mage/public/field/image/Frosty %20Pod%20Rot1.jpg?itok=8- GSBoLp>,
<https://chocolatour.net/wp-co ntent/uploads/2015/01/IMG_2014 .jpg>,
<https://ars.els-cdn.com/conte nt/image/1-s2.0-S0261219417300 200-gr4.jpg>,
<https://c2.staticflickr.com/4 /3595/3360640554_b3ce047002.jp g> and
<http://farm1.static.flickr.co m/142/329110543_ed638a9007.jpg >

Links
Information on FPR:
<https://www.cabi.org/isc/data sheet/34779>,
<http://apsjournals.apsnet.org /doi/abs/10.1094/PHYTO-97-12- 1644>,
<http://www.refdoc.fr/Detailno tice?cpsidt=15000016>,
<https://www.plantwise.org/Kno wledgeBank/Datasheet.aspx?dsid =34779>
and via
<http://www.agriculture.gov.tt /publications/pest-alert/frost y-pod-rot-of-cocoa.html>
Information on cocoa diseases including FPR and WB via:
<http://www.plantmanagementnet work.org/pub/php/review/cacao/ > and
<http://discovermagazine.com/2 002/aug/featchocolate>
FPR alert Jamaica:
<http://www.miic.gov.jm/conten t/pest-alert-frosty-pod-rot- cocoa>
_M. roreri_ taxonomy and synonyms:
<http://www.indexfungorum.org/ Names/namesrecord.asp?RecordID =317823>
and
<http://www.speciesfungorum.or g/GSD/GSDspecies.asp?RecordID= 317823>. -
Mod.DHA]

[See Also:
2016
----
Frosty pod rot, cocoa - Caribbean: 1st rep (Jamaica)
http://promedmail.org/post/201 61004.4534271
2015
----
Frosty pod rot, cocoa - Bolivia: 1st rep (LP)
http://promedmail.org/post/201 50617.3444419
2013
----
Witches' broom, cocoa - Brazil: (BA)
http://promedmail.org/post/201 30515.1714323
Emerging crop diseases - Bolivia
http://promedmail.org/post/201 30504.1690667
2011
----
Frosty pod rot, cocoa - Latin America: update
http://promedmail.org/post/201 10527.1617
2009
----
Frosty pod rot, cocoa - Latin America
http://promedmail.org/post/200 91102.3778
Witches' broom, cocoa - Brazil
http://promedmail.org/post/200 90330.1222
2005
----
Frosty pod rot, cacao - Belize: 1st report
http://promedmail.org/post/200 51113.3327
2001
----
Cacao diseases http://promedmail.org/post/200 10222.0341]
.............................. ...................sb/dha/ec/d k
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