(Reuters) – Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday it has identified the presence of the cocoa mild mosaic virus (CaMMV) in orchards in northeastern Bahia, the country’s largest producing state of the chocolate-making raw material.
The ministry said in a statement that samples of the plants were sent to a laboratory in the United States that has the patented method of identifying the virus, and the results were positive.
The cocoa mild mosaic virus is invasive. It cuts the vitality of leaves and causes stains in the cocoa pods, leading to losses of productivity in the orchards where it spreads.
There is no cure for CaMMV. Impacted areas are usually destroyed as a way to prevent spreading of the virus.
Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry said it is working on a plan to deal with the situation.
Brazil is the seventh largest cocoa producer and the crop has been expanding recently. It is, however, a net importer of the commodity, but it also exports the beans and its byproducts in certain periods of the year.
(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira in New York; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
