The global chocolate industry is worth roughly $100 billion per year and provides income for upwards of 6 million smallholder farmers in the tropics. It’s a vital industry for much of the world, but a new study finds cacao production is limited by two important factors: pollination and temperature. As pollinators decline globally and the world continues to warm amid climate change, researchers warn that cocoa production may suffer. Cacao plants are naturally pollinated by insects and sometimes by wind or water. To evaluate how effective natural pollination is in cacao production, the researchers conducted a series of experiments on cacao trees in Brazil, Ghana and Indonesia. At each study site, the researchers subjected cacao trees to one of six pollination treatments. They ranged from 0%, in which all flowers were naturally pollinated, to 100%, in which all flowers were hand-pollinated; the researchers manually transferred pollen to recipient flowers. To calculate the influence of temperature on the trees’ yields, the researchers used climate data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and calculated the monthly average temperature for their study sites at 2 meters (6.5 feet) above ground level. The study found that on average, only around 17% of the flowers were naturally pollinated. But hand-pollination increased cacao yield by 20%. It also found that in December, during the hot season in Brazil and Indonesia, sites that were cooler by 7° Celsius (12.6° Fahrenheit) had increased cacao yield by up to 31% compared with the warmer sites. With rising…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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