Hershey aims to quadruple Mexican cocoa yields
Hershey has held a summit in Mexico to consult key stakeholders on how domestic cocoa yields can be quadrupled in ten years.
The event in Tapachula, Chiapas, hosted farmers, producers, members of the government and research institutes.
It formed part of Hershey “Mexico Cocoa Project”, a 10-year, $2.8 million initiative in collaboration with Agroindustrias Unidas de Cacao SA de CV, a member of the Ecom Cocoa Group, to restore cocoa growing in Mexico.
The Chipas region has been blighted by tree disease Moniliasis, also known as frosty pod rot – which has almost halved cocoa yields since 2005.
Hershey announced its project last year and has since built and maintained nurseries to grow disease-resistant trees.
Following the summit, Hershey has now begun to distribute the first 100,000 disease-resistant trees to cocoa farmers.
