Actions to boost cocoa productivity

The University of the Autonomous Regions of the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast (URACCAN), in the Las Minas campus, provides accompaniment from the area of Innovation and Entrepreneurship to Coopesiuna, with the aim of designing proposals for a research and training agenda in the sustainable management of cocoa cultivation.

Theobroma cacao L., scientific name of this plant, is one of the main areas of the region, with high environmental potential; it is also the economic basis of small producers.

Joel Montenegro, from the area of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said that the research and training agenda they are working on will allow the university and Coopesiuna more effective work on how to lead future actions in the short, medium and long term.

"This joint team that we are working between the university and Coopesiuna will allow us to concrete what research component or knowledge we want to generate for the improvement of genetics, agroecological management of crops, for transformation, post-harvest, value-added generation and for entrepreneurship in cocoa sector," Montenegro said.

He added that with this proposal they are betting on designing methodologies for predicting climate variability that could affect or promote the management of cocoa cultivation.

"The university is committed to technological innovation for crop management, but also through the rescue of local knowledge available to producers. This is a combination of scientific and technical knowledge with local knowledge," the expert said.

Montenegro reported that as URACCAN they are betting on having an impact that favors small producers, with the contribution of students, teachers and the different areas that make up this alma mater.