Regional project seeks to reduce cadmium in cocoa: better tools for producers and technical assistants!

Mosquera, Cundinamarca. April 18, 2023. Cocoa producers and technical assistants for this productive system will have better tools to mitigate the presence of cadmium in this crop and derived products, thanks to the project 'Improving the capacity and shared knowledge to support cadmium level management in cocoa in Latin America and the Caribbean,' led in Colombia by Dr. Daniel Bravo, Ph.D. Associate of the Tibaitatá Research Center of AGROSAVIA.

This initiative seeks to propose strategies to improve knowledge about the presence of the heavy metal cadmium, which recommendations to follow, and, above all, which strategies to take and which institutions to seek advice on the subject.

Dr. Bravo commented, "From May 2023, training will be carried out for cocoa producers and technical assistants, starting in San Vicente de Chucurí, in Santander. A series of thematic videos, a promotional video of the project, radio advertisement, and publicity material such as banners have been elaborated to explain in a clear, simple, and proactive way the situation of cadmium in cocoa cultivation in the selected regions and how the project will contribute to improve knowledge of the problem and how cocoa producers should work in agreement with AGROSAVIA and Fedecacao."

The knowledge that will be imparted is based on the experiences published in international scientific articles previously developed by the two leading institutions in cocoa farming in Colombia, as well as on the first three primers on cadmium in cocoa in Colombia, led by AGROSAVIA and published in 2021, along with six other institutions in the country.

The project approved by the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), operated at the regional level by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), and co-executed in Colombia by AGROSAVIA and Fedecacao, will lead proposals to elaborate new regional or local booklets, as each member country makes progress in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

The main objective of the project, financed by the global partnership Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), is to improve our knowledge about cadmium concentrations in cocoa and cocoa-derived products from four producing countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago, through a coordinated regional approach. This producing countries' effort seeks to comply with the new trade measures establishing cadmium limits.

According to Dr. Bravo, "In the end, the project will also deliver a public policy draft for cadmium in cocoa adjusted to the export needs of the four countries, will develop an inter-laboratory to improve the cadmium measurement capacity in beans and chocolates, and will complete the cadmium map in cocoa beans in Colombia."