SCIMATB Reaction Paper One of the most in demand commodities in our world today is the cacao, it is actually declared

as one of the top ten commodities in the world. Cacao is basically in demand because of the nutrients and benefits that it brings, not only is it delicious, but at the same time it is very healthy also. People could get very high orgasmic reactions from cacao, the Orgasmic Reactions Around Chocolate (ORAC) score of a raw cacao is 23,000, while the ORAC score of other agricultural products such as raw spinach is only 1,260. We could see the vast difference in the numbers, which is why cacao nowadays is highly in demand in the market. Cacao can only grow in 33 countries and luckily, Philippines is one of the countries capable of producing cacao. Our country has all the requirements for the production of cacao such as 18 to 30 degrees Celsius temperature, humid areas such as the tropics, and pH value of 4.5 to 6.5. However we are still falling behind other countries in terms of the amount of cacao that we produce each year. The top country that produces cacao each year is Africa, followed by the Americas such as Brazil and Ecuador, and lastly the Asian Oceania which includes countries like Indonesia. Sadly, we are not included in this list of countries and 70% of our countrys cacao is actually imported from Indonesia and Africa. Even though our cacao tastes much better than that of the other countries, we still have to buy from them because there are only a limited number of cacaos being produced each year. There is an interest to restore the cacao industry in the Philippines by planting 50 million trees. Given the fact that we produce better tasting cacao than the other countries, we could surely compete with them. Cacao production is actually a good business opportunity since it bears fruit all year round. Filipino consumers generally have a sweet tooth, and they love products that contain chocolate , this can be seen in the increasing numbers of chocolate products being launched each year, Furthermore there is an increasing demand for cocoa globally as well

as within the region. Another business opportunity for cocoa production is the fact that the cocoa butter could be exported. Cocoa Butter is usually used in chocolates such as Cadbury, they could not be used in the Philippines because they would melt easily hence we export them to countries with lower temperature. As it could be seen, there are a lot of benefits for the businessmen that would be producing cocoa especially Filipino businessmen since Philippines have experience in producing cocoa and we have the suitable land for cocoa cultivation. One of the ways that the country could restore the cacao industry and increase its production is through the use of biotechnology. Although producing cacao promises great benefits, it is not that simple. Just like any agricultural product, there would be pests that would destroy the fruit and this is where biotechnology would come in. Lately, biotechnology is being used to create methods that would protect the cacao product and to successfully conduct cacao proliferation, since the country plans to mass produce cacao plants/trees. Cacao biotechnology included semiochemicals against major insect pests, biological control, and particle film technology. Under the semiochemicals, there are methods such as the Karmomines and Sex Pheromones. Karmomines involves the purification of volatile compounds from cocoa pods that attracts CPB females. Sex Pheromones on the other hand uses delta traps CPB trap catch, wherein they would fool the male cacao pud borers by thinking that their mate is inside the tap. Under the biological control, there is the classical and the native biological control. In the classical biological control, they would immediately kill the insects while it is still in the parasitoid level. In the native biological control on the other hand, they would make use of entomopathogens and endophytic microorganisms wherein they would insert microorganism in creating insecticides. Lastly, the Particle Film Technology which makes use of kaolin clay, the kaolin clay would protect the product. Its effect would be to deter or avoid the insects into

depositing or feeding from the plant part. The farms that use this are declared to have organic products. I think this is the most suitable for our country, since it is simple and safe. Moreover it carries with it the label of being organic, and we all know how the world is craving nowadays for something that is organic. Moreover it studies that using a replant such as the kaolin clay is better and safer than spraying on the plants.