Cocoa bean grow a variety of fruit-bearing shade trees to supplement their income to help cope with the volatile cocoa prices. Although cocoa has been adapted to grow under a dense rainforest canopy, agroforestry does not significantly further enhance cocoa productivity. Cocoa bean The cocoa bean or simply cocoa (), which is also called the cacao bean or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of "Theobroma cacao", from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substances) and cocoa butter (the fat) can be extracted. Cocoa beans are the basis of the sweet food preparation called chocolate, and of such
Cacao swollen-shoot virus of total cocoa crop loss in the world. Cacao swollen-shoot virus Cacao swollen-shoot virus (CSSV) is a plant pathogenic virus of the family Caulimoviridae that primarily infects cacao trees. It decreases cacao yield within the first year of infection, and usually kills the tree within a few years. Symptoms vary by strain, but leaf discoloration, stem/root swelling, and die-back generally occur. The virus is transmitted from tree to tree by mealybug vectors. It was first discovered in Ghana in 1936, and is currently endemic in Togo, Ghana and Nigeria. Over 200 million trees have already been claimed by this disease,