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Cocoa innovations could help West Africa escape poverty Reuters September 21, 2005 Item #1 Ghana looks to profit from cocoa wine and soap Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:48 PM BST DURBAN, South Africa (Reuters) - Ghana is leading efforts to use waste from cocoa farming to produce household products and drinks -- from fertilizer and soap to wine and brandy -- that will boost income for poor farmers. The West African country has attracted massive interest after inviting bids from local and international companies to buy the unused parts of the cocoa plant, Roy Appiah, director of Ghana's Cocoa Research Institute, said on Monday. Appiah said the cocoa pod husks, fermentation juices and usually discarded beans can be used to make delicious wines, brandy and jam. Ghana is the world's second biggest producer of cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate and a $4 billion industry, behind neighbor Ivory Coast, but an estimated 800,000 farmers survive on incomes of just a few hundred dollars a year. The institute hopes the new products made from the two-thirds of the cocoa pod usually dumped as waste can add significant extra income for farmers. "We want to add value to the farm waste. We have been able to use the pod husk as an animal feed ingredient," Appiah said at a nutrition conference in Durban. "We have been able to perfect a soft soap (using the husk) and we realized we could use it as a potassium fertilizer." It was also marketing a wine, brandy, gin and jam range from the "sweating" during cocoa fermentation. Appiah said the institute had only produced small quantities of the by-products but there was interest from private entrepreneurs to buy the cocoa waste and develop a whole new cocoa industry. "The interest has been tremendous. Initially the farmer was not using the product but now he can sell the farm waste and make money," he told Reuters. Item #2 Cocoa health benefits may boost West Africa farms By Gordon Bell Mon Sep 19,10:27 AM ET
Scientists at a nutrition conference in Durban said evidence was growing that chemicals in cocoa could provide massive medical benefits in the battle against heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and vascular dementia. "The benefits (for Africa) are quite remarkable particularly if the health issues continue to be favorable," said Norm Hollenberg, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, researching cocoa's medicinal qualities with unlisted U.S. confectionery giant Mars. War-torn Ivory Coast produces about 40 percent of the world's cocoa and neighbor Ghana about 30 percent. Most of the product for the $4 billion market comes from tiny farms, offering the main source of income for poor families. Hollenberg said a cocoa drink that keeps the benefits of the bitter flavanols -- plant chemicals found in cocoa, and to a lesser degree in red wine and red tea -- without the fattening calories of chocolate could come onto the market soon. Flavanols are usually destroyed during the processing of the cocoa bean when making chocolate, and are not found in large quantities in any product currently on the market. Clinical trials have found that the chemical can boost the flow of blood to key areas of the brain, raising the possibility of treatments for dementia and strokes. A new study has also shown its ability to improve synthesis of nitric oxide by blood vessels could aid treatment of blood circulation problems associated with long-term diabetes. "Overall, there is compelling evidence that a high dietary flavanol intake reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and the associated risk of premature death," said Ian MacDonald, co-director of the Institute of Clinical Research at the University of Nottingham. Hollenberg said that in time the discoveries could boost demand and more than double income for farmers. "(We estimate) an average-size farm of five acres will produce an additional $1,000 a year income. It doesn't sound like a lot but their current income is only $300 a year," he said. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ARTICLE CONTENT COPYRIGHT the Reuters. THIS CONTENT IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. mongabay.com users agree to the following as a condition for use of this material: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental issues. This constitutes 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. If you are the copyright owner and would like this content removed from mongabay.com, please contact me.
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