CFC Project Collection

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A list of accessions with desirable traits representing the diversity of the International Cocoa Genebank, Trinidad

The establishment of the CFC/ICCO/IPGRI project collection is one activity in the jointly-funded 5-year project titled "Cocoa germplasm conservation and utilisation: a global approach" that began in 1998. It was the aim of the Project Collection to develop a selection of cocoa germplasm from the ICG, T with interesting characteristics of resistance to disease, bean size, pod index and representing most of the diversity in the genebank.

Accessions were therefore evaluated for resistance to Black Pod (P. palmivora) and Witches' Broom disease and morphological data was collated along with genetic characterisation data from RAPDs and Isozyme Electrophoresis. The cumulative information was then used to propose a list of clones for inclusion into the CFC Project Collection.

Cocoa Germplasm Utilisation and Conservation – A Global Approach: Collection and Conservation, Characterisation, Verification, Evaluation, Germplasm Enhancement and Distribution of promising genotypes.

This project was jointly funded by

Common Fund for Commodities (CFC)
The Netherlands
Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Alliance, (BCCCA) of the United Kingdom
American Cocoa Research Institute (ACRI), USA (now the World Cocoa Foundation)
Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD), France
Cocoa Research Centre, The University of the West Indies, Trinidad (CRU).

The project involved organisations in 15 countries and began on 1st April 1998. The 5-year term has ended.