The University of Queensland and chocolate company Mars Wrigley are working together to save the world’s chocolate supplies.
The multinational company has sponsored a UQ team with 100,000 dollars to help fight the cacao swollen shoot virus or CSSV.
Professor Botella said the virus had devastated many cocoa plantations in western Africa, affecting cocoa yields.
“Currently around 75 per cent of the world’s 4.6 million tonnes of cocoa beans are grown in western Africa, where this disease is becoming ever-more rampant,” he said.
The team has flown into Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire, armed with an improved version of the UQ-developed ‘dipstick’ technology, rapidly diagnosing pathogens.