Enhancing the sustainability of cocoa production through biopesticide solutions

In many cocoa growing countries there is an urgent need to reduce the reliance on chemical pesticides for controlling pests and diseases, to benefit human safety, protect ecosystem services and improve resistance management. Therefore, this PhD studentship's aim is to enhance our understanding of how to successfully integrate biopesticides into cocoa growing systems. Biopesticides could provide a sustainable alternative because they contain an active ingredient of natural origin rather than a synthetic chemical and they do not come with significant health, environment, residue and resistance concerns.

This project will explore the strategic application of biopesticides against some of Indonesia's key cocoa problems, with the aim of providing clear guidance on biopesticide use to support the management and control of cocoa pests and diseases. This involves working in Indonesia, utilising biopesticide field trials to investigate the use of biopesticides to control four key cocoa issues, namely Phytophthora, mirid bugs and the cocoa pod borer. There will also be significant research time in the UK, primarily laboratory-based, to investigate features of the biopesticides which could improve their efficacy, this could include studies on formulation, application, mixtures, physiological enhancements, genetics and production.

This project will be based predominantly in the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development at the University of Reading, a leading centre globally for cocoa research and home of the international cocoa quarantine centre. The student will also have the opportunity to conduct laboratory experiments to investigate biopesticide development with their co-supervisor at CABI. The industrial sponsor is Mondelez International (MDLZ) who have recently established a cocoa crop science R&D technical centre in Indonesia, proving the student access to lab facilities and on-station and on-farm field trials.