West Africa’s Cocoa

Trees May Be Saved

ANEW discovery by agricultural scien tists may save 50 million cocoa trees; now dying on the African Goldl Coast.

The trees are victims of swollen shoot; disease which is caused by a mealybug. It; was estimated before the new discovery was made that 400 million trees would be [ killed in the next 20 years. Up till now no cure was known for the disease ex cept to cut out the afflicted tree and! burn it.

A private British firm has now ended! field experiments and claims that they have had 99.5 per cent, success in killing the bugs with a new insecticide.

British West Africa supplies half the world’s cocoa but production has fallen in recent years since swollen shoot dis ease has taken a firm hold. The disease and loss of production in West Africa has been a factor in the phenomenally high prices which cocoa has been bring ing since the end of the war. The disease has not affected cocoa trees in the Pacific and planters there have been reaping a rich reward.

World demand for chocolate is growing all the time but it seems likely that if the millions of West African trees that have been out of production begin again to produce as a result of the new dis covery, it will have some effect on the price world of cocoa.