The INCOCOA groups are informal networks created to promote the exchange of ideas and information amongst cocoa scientists and others with an interest in diverse areas of cocoa science including agroforestry, pests and diseases, genetics and breeding, soil management, quality and knowledge transfer/socio-economics.
On October 20th the INCOCOA groups are organising a webinar titled ” Working together to tackle the cocoa challenges of tomorrow”. This webinar will provide the opportunity for the cocoa research community to share their views on the challenges facing cocoa production and how we can best work together to contribute to the achievement of socially, economically and environmentally sustainable cocoa farming.
Invited key speakers from each of the cocoa growing regions will provide an overview of the challenges and their ideas on the collaborative and multi-actor approaches needed in their region to address them.
Tentative Programme Outline
In order to accommodate the various groups across different time zones, the webinar will run from 08:00 to 17:30 (GMT) with four main sessions as indicated below (with invited speakers listed):
ASIA 08:00-10:00 GMT
Prof. David Guest University of Sydney, Australia
Cocoa in the 21st century 10:15-12:15 GMT
Jack Steijn (Equipoise, The Netherlands) ‘Learnings (including from the COVID-19 pandemic) to reduce impact of future shocks on the cocoa sector’
Lisi Montoya (Shattell Chocolate, Peru) ‘Improving links from farmers through to consumers and empowering women in the cocoa chain’
Philippe Bastide (independent cocoa consultant, France) ‘New ideas for cocoa cropping systems’
AFRICA 13:00-15:00 GMT
Richard Asare IITA, Ghana
AMERICAS 15:30-17:30 GMT
Prof. Pathmanathan Umaharan Cocoa Research Centre (CRC), The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago
Registration
Details about how to register are available on the INCOCOA website. link
