Candy company, scientists team up to save chocolate from extinction by 2050

Candy company Mars and scientists from the University of California are working on a technology that will ensure cacao plants can grow amid climate change.

According to a 2014 research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, if “business as usual” continues, countries that produce cacao will increase in temperature by 2.1°C.

The world’s leading producers are Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia. The African countries count for over half of chocolate production globally.

The higher temperatures in West Africa would mean a lack of rainfall, which will cause cacao plants to die.

A solution would be to plant on higher ground. However, as in the case of Ghana, agricultural land is limited because forests are being preserved as natural habitats.

According to Business Insider, UC Berkeley geneticist Jennifer Doudna is leading the partnership with Mars to save chocolate with a genome editing technology called CRISPR/Cas9. Doudna herself has contributed research on it.

Mars, known for M&Ms, Snickers and 3 Musketeers, pledged $1 billion to reduce its carbon footprint by over 60 percent by 2050.

Part of this funding goes to UC Berkeley’s biosciences building where cacao seedlings are stored in refrigerated greenhouses.

Under the supervision of Myeong-Je Cho, the director of plant genomics, the plants’ DNA will be transformed to survive in a dryer climate.

The CRISPR/Cas9, a tool which finds a target DNA, binds an enzyme called Cas9 to the DNA and cuts it.

Projects in Doudna’s research lab aim to help farmers in the developing world. For instance, cassava DNA is being modified so that the crop doesn’t produce as much of a harmful toxin when it is in hotter temperatures.

Other potential uses are editing human genes—possibly producing controversial “designer babies”—and eliminating human diseases.  Niña V. Guno /ra

source: technology.inquirer.net

Cacao production on remote island finally yields Tokyo chocolate

Chocolates made from cacao cultivated in the village of Ogasawara on Hahajima island, a remote part of Tokyo, were unveiled earlier this month after difficulties were overcome in growing the crops. A launch party was held on Feb. 9 in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.

A confectionery maker in Saitama Prefecture initially proposed making “precious chocolate that lives up to the name of Tokyo,” and a farm on the island cooperated with the firm to realize the dream. The farm and the confectionery maker faced a number of difficulties — including a complete die-off of the first cacao trees that were planted — to finally release the preproduction chocolates. The product is expected to be commercially available in 2018.

Cacao is mostly cultivated between the latitudes of 20 degrees north and south. Hahajima island is located about 1,000 kilometers south of the main part of Tokyo on the latitude of 26 degrees north.

Masayuki Hiratsuka, 66, the president of Hiratsuka Confectionery Co. based in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, came up with the idea of cultivating domestic cacao and proposed it to a farmer in Ogasawara.

Cultivation began in 2010 when 1,000 seeds were planted, and 167 of them began to sprout. However, all of those withered within a couple of months.

Kazuo Orita, 68, who is from Hahajima, put himself forward to grow cacao on the island as he “was interested in cultivating southern crops” and had already been growing lemons on the island.

Supported by the confectionery company, Orita built a large greenhouse that was customized to be resistant to typhoons and carefully grew cacao. He finally enjoyed his first harvest in October 2013.

“I was riddled with anxiety at first but became confident as cacao was proven able to grow [in Japan],” Orita recalled.

It is necessary to ferment and dry the seeds taken from cacao pods, and it was in March last year that preproduction was completed. Compared to chocolate made from imported cacao, the type using Ogasawara-grown cacao has a mild taste and is fruity, according to Hiratsuka and Orita.

The farm is expected to harvest about 500 kilograms of cacao from 500 trees this year, and hopes to increase production fourfold next year.

“I want to make Hahajima a cacao island and boost the island’s economy,” Hiratsuka said.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net