Cirad 10d ago

An expedition saw scientists and cocoa growers travel to the heart of the Peruvian Amazon to study the region's native cocoa trees. By the end of their arduous 12-day trek through the Amazon forest, the team had identified 165 wild cocoa trees and collected leaves, fruits and grafts, to safeguard them and study their genetics. This constitutes a precious biodiversity resource for the cocoa value chain, which faces health and climate crises in the region and beyond. The work was part of the Nativo project coordinated by CIRAD and implemented in close collaboration with the Choba Choba cocoa cooperative, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, local communities and farmers. It had financial support from the Vontobel Foundation, the Fondation suisse de l’économie cacaoyère et chocolatière, the Temperatio Foundation and Choba Choba AG. @chobachoba3083 @bioversityciat #expedition #cacaoculture #chocolate #génétique #biodiversité Production: CIRAD, 2026 https://www.cirad.fr Licence CC BY-NC-SA 🔔 Subscribe to the CIRAD channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/LeCIRAD Follow us on social media! 👉 https://fr.linkedin.com/company/cirad 👉 https://www.instagram.com/cirad.fr 👉 https://www.facebook.com/Cirad.fr 👉 https://bsky.app/profile/cirad.bsky.social