Cocoa farmers lose over 700 million dollars per year to crop disease. That is why scientists have been hard at work trying to dissect the cocoa genome. Researchers aim to study over four million parts of the genome, hopefully providing information that will help make the plants less susceptible to disease. It could lead to improvements in taste as well!

The companies that are financing the project say the research will greatly benefit the farmers, especially those in Africa, where about seventy percent of the world's cocoa is produced. Researchers hope to be able to determine which breeds will be best for the specific area in which they are grown and which will better withstand crop disease.

One would think that due to the fact that virtually no cocoa is produced in the United States, America would have little interest in cocoa research. However, many other industries, such as raisins, rely heavily on chocolate.