|
Smaller Farms, Higher Yields Large plantations may start out profitably, but they swiftly become dependent on costly fertilizers and pesticides, and hostage to low rates of pollination. A plant might be covered with flowers, but typically only 1 to 3 percent of those flowers are fertilized and produce seed pods. As a result, acres and acres of cacao trees may yield only a very small harvest.
"We decided that the hypothesis would be that rather than clearing the rain forest, we'd work to increase the pollination rate," explains Young. At his plantation, "we discovered that the smaller the plantation of cocoa or cacao and the closer it is to the rain forest, the better the pollination because the pollinating insects will move into the plantation from the surrounding forest." Though trees are fewer and grow more slowly in the shade of the rain forest, they are much healthier when they reach maturity. "It's going to be less costly to the grower to do it that way and you're going to get a harvest of equal or better than what you found in the open," says Young, adding, "And who else wins? The rain forest wins."
|