COCOA SUPER TREES

PRONORTE – C&D - SUCCESS STORY

Super Trees Can Provide up to 10 Times the Production of Normal Cocoa Trees

The USAID funded PRONORTE project administered by ARD, Inc. in northern

Ecuador has helped farmers identify and propagate cocoa SUPER TREES which
produce up to 10 times the production of ordinary trees. PRONORTE has developed a
program in which local farmers identify “Super Trees” from their existing plantations.
These trees are high production trees that have naturally evolved to resist diseases and
are easy to maintain. Upon the identification of a super tree, the participating farmers
share the genetic material with members of their local Farmer Field School (FFS) – a
participatory training methodology that allows farmers to learn by doing. In the
meantime, PRONORTE tests the quality of the cocoa beans produced by the super tree
to ensure a high level of quality cocoa production. The farmers learn grafting
techniques for generating their own planting material from the super trees by attending
an FFS and subsequently produce hundreds more of these super trees. Each FFS runs a
community based nursery which propagates the genetic material from these super trees
and then sells it at cost to the local farmers.

To date, a total of 450 FFS nurseries have propagated more than 2.5 million high
producing trees in four northern Ecuadorian Provinces. This has all been accomplished
through local farmer initiative and resources. The farmers identify the genetic material,
raise the root stock, perform the grafting and transplant the trees. The FFS
methodology implemented by PRONORTE provides the farmers with the skills and
knowledge of how to take advantage of super trees by teaching the farmers proper
pruning and grafting techniques. More than 2,500 new hectares of cocoa have been
planted with the improved genetic material. The result of PRONORTE’s efforts
through the FFSs has been an increase of production that has gone from approximately
300 lbs. per tree on old plantations to an average of 2,500 to 3,000 lbs. of cocoa per tree
on those farms implementing the new and improved production techniques.

DERECHOS RESERVADOS ® 2009 CONSERVACION & DESARROLLO

PROHIBIDA LA REPRODUCCIÓN PARCIAL O TOTAL DE ESTE TEXTO /
CONTENIDO SIN AUTORIZACIÓN DE CONSERVACIÓN & DESARROLLO
WWW.CCD.ORG.EC, SUGERENCIAS@CCD.ORG.EC
HTTP://WWW.SCRIBD.COM/CONSERVACION&DESARROLLO
Super tree located in Sacha and its proud owner showing a side grafted tree.

An example of this initiative is the ESS1-8 tree discovered by Edwin Sánchez in Sacha,
Orellana Province. This tree is currently producing more than 500 cocoa pods per tree
in comparison to an annual production of 30-50 pods from other local trees. Moreover,
the cocoa has been tested and was found to be of superior quality. As a result, through
the local FFS, this tree has been used to produce hundreds of cloned trees for other
farmers in the area. Now the “copies” of this super tree have begun to produce high
quality cocoa at an ever increasing rate.

“Thanks to the Farmer Field Schools, we now know how to prune and graft trees. I
have an old parcel of land that is entirely grafted and after just one year, we are now
harvesting four times the volume of cocoa per tree from trees that received pruning”
says Carlos Cañar of the San Carlos Community located in the Amazon Region of
Ecuador.

Local farmers creating new seedlings in their own nursery from SUPER TREE
genetic material.

DERECHOS RESERVADOS ® 2009 CONSERVACION & DESARROLLO

PROHIBIDA LA REPRODUCCIÓN PARCIAL O TOTAL DE ESTE TEXTO /
CONTENIDO SIN AUTORIZACIÓN DE CONSERVACIÓN & DESARROLLO
WWW.CCD.ORG.EC, SUGERENCIAS@CCD.ORG.EC
HTTP://WWW.SCRIBD.COM/CONSERVACION&DESARROLLO