Cadmium threatens the cocoa sector

Ecuadornews:

European Community last year opened its market to Ecuador by eliminating tariff barriers, but two years later it will put a barrier to stop one of its flagship products: cocoa.

It will do it the year 2019, with a sanitary restriction, to demand low levels of cadmium, a heavy metal that would cause health problems in those who consume it.

Already the Minister of Agriculture, Rubén Flores, knows this and has created a team working together with other countries in the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) to prepare for this restriction.

By surface cultivated, almost 600 thousand hectares, is the cocoa the most important product of the country. It is also due to the number of farmers and their effect on the rural sector.

“What is being researched is how the cadmium reaches the cocoa bean. There is a hypothesis that Ecuador has been developing it for more than 20 years and we are finding interesting clues about how the same soil can generate that ingredient, or through photosynthesis. The nutrition of the plant is key, “the minister tells Diario EXPRESO.

These investigations are being carried out, nothing is finished, “we have clues”.

“The central issue is the new protectionism developed and that has to do with all this ability to set technical, phytosanitary standards. It is the center of the matter, “he emphasizes.

Since last year, several haciendas began to work on certifications, which guarantees the sale to export companies that supply the European market, due, as EXPRESO has known, to the presence of this metal in some areas. “It is a threat,” said a large producer who bet on an international certification.

This month, ICCO and the European Union will analyze this technical norm in order to see how it is made more “lax and flexible”, highlights the minister.

But many cocoa farmers, small and medium, especially, do not know what cadmium is, how it reaches the plantations and how it is fought. “It’s an unknown topic in the field,” says researcher Ana Lema.

Some attribute their presence in cocoa beans to the use of waters polluted by illegal mining activities, but the Government is finding other traces of their presence.

The issue is that if the authorities in Europe require exporters minimum levels of this metal (one of the most toxic heavy metals known), they will ask the same to their local suppliers.

The situation

The production

Not all cocoa is contaminated. A national sampling is necessary.

559,617 hectares had the country until 2016.

Sales grow

Last year, 308 thousand tons were exported, 21.5% more than in 2016.

$ 689 million exported Ecuador (2017)

Efficiency

Manabí and Los Ríos have more hectares, but Guayas produces more tons.

Cadmium

Between 0.60 to 0.10 milligrams of cadmium, per kilo, is allowed.

0.60 milligrams for cocoa powder

For preparations

For milk chocolate with less than 30% total cocoa solids, 0.10 milligrams.

$ 102 receives the producer per quintal

What does it cause?

Cadmium generates: rickets, anemia, demineralization of bones, etc. (I)

Source: http://www.expreso.ec/economia/comercio-cacao-agricultura-cadmio-exportaciones-LH2108904