"Brazil cocoa farms go high-tech in bid to upgrade ailing market"

" \r\n\r\n Brazil cocoa farms go high-tech in bid to upgrade ailing market \r\n\r\nValuable cocoa beans pour from the pipe of what looks like a small train making its way through tropical fruit trees in Brazil, leaving only husks on the ground.\r\n\r\nThe machine is bringing automation to the husking of ripe cocoa pods \u2014 a significant improvement over the traditional labor-intensive harvesting process of picking fruit from trees and manually cutting through the stalks with a blade.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s part of an effort by agricultural powerhouse Brazil to lead the way to a dramatic modernization of cocoa production methods, helping to spur an industry revival in the country. More broadly, the shift may bring much-needed assistance to global markets facing severe bean shortages from top growers in West Africa.\r\n\r\nCocoa prices have more than doubled this year to a record as extreme weather, disease and structural issues have hurt supplies from Ivory Coast and Ghana. Low pay has hampered farmers\u2019 ability to invest in improvements, limiting how much cocoa their trees can yield. That\u2019s bringing more global attention to Brazil, which has plenty of agricultural know-how and farmers with financial resources to invest in new crops.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe production model in Africa tends to run out of steam over time, and that creates possibilities for other regions,\u201d said Laerte Moraes, a managing director for Cargill Inc.\u2019s South American food ingredients unit. \u201cBrazil has all the conditions to be a very efficient and effective cocoa producer.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe giant trading company is among the groups working with new technology to grow cocoa in atypical areas in Brazil. After a recent agreement with farmers from the savanna region of Cerrado, Cargill is now in talks with chocolate makers, looking to build partnerships with farmers for a next phase in cocoa investments.\r\n\r\nBrazil produces less than 5% of global cocoa supplies, and is currently a net importer of beans. Once a prominent global supplier, the South American nation lost it all to a tree-killing disease known as witches\u2019 broom that decimated crops in the 1980s.\r\n\r\nBrazil, where the main television channel is updating an 1990s telenovela about cocoa farmers, is set on a revival. The country\u2019s cocoa commission Ceplac is seeking to roughly double output to more than 440,000 tons a year by 2030. While still far from top supplier Ivory Coast, that would turn Brazil into one of the top producing countries, likely surpassing Nigeria and Cameroon.\r\n\r\nPreviously, Brazil used production methods that confined cocoa to a few small, more humid areas under the shadows of taller native trees. Now, the new machines can operate under bright sunlight and on plain land slots.\r\n\r\nCombined with better irrigation and large use of fertilizer and pesticides, as well as the selection of tree seedlings that can resist exposure to sunlight, producers are betting they can make cocoa crops more productive, and more resistant to disease and extreme weather.\r\n\r\nSeveral farmers working with the new techniques say productivity can reach about 3,000 kilograms per hectare, much higher than the national average of 491 kilograms per hectare.\r\n\r\nWidespread irrigation is allowing cocoa planting in dryer areas \u2014 similar to an expansion with soybeans and corn in the same regions that helped Brazil become a major exporter of those commodities.\r\n\r\n\u201cA lot of people who are new to the cocoa industry are starting to explore it,\u201d said agronomist Silvino Kruschewsky Neto, who consults for several farms in the country. \u201cThey have a very well-formed business vision, and a culture that dictates the crop has to be productive and adopt technology.\u201d\r\n\r\nFarming group Agr\u00edcola DM4 in the southern state of Bahia is using the train-like harvesting machine to reduce costs. On a farm that also grows black pepper and coffee, cocoa is expanding faster than initially planned as surging prices mean the crop is becoming more profitable, according to Fernando De Martins, chief executive officer of the group.\r\n\r\n\u201cProducers are motivated to plant even more,\u201d De Martins said. \u201cThe cocoa price level has changed, and I don\u2019t believe we\u2019ll see low prices for the next couple of years.\u201d\r\n\r\nEven PepsiCo Inc. is upbeat about cocoa in Brazil. The company \u2014 which uses cocoa in an instant chocolate drink that\u2019s popular in Brazil \u2014 saw good results after trying cocoa plantations in combination with coconut trees located at some of Brazil\u2019s driest regions.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe vitality of cocoa plants surprises even the experts,\u201d said Ricardo Tinoco, an agronomist at the company. Pepsi is considering expansion across 450 hectares (1,112 acres) on one farm it owns, and could also take cocoa to some farms in the region that supply it with coconut water.\r\n\r\nSimilar results were seen at Schmidt Agricola, the company that partnered with Cargill two years ago to foster new techniques for cocoa. The crop development has been encouraging, with an \u201cabnormal\u201d amount of fruit already developing in the trees, Cargill\u2019s Moraes said.\r\n\r\nWhile it will take time before some of the more recently planted areas start bearing fruit, the new farming methods are starting to get the world\u2019s attention as global markets seek alternative cocoa suppliers.\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n\r\n "

"Brazil cocoa farms go high-tech in bid to upgrade ailing market"

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