First rice, then wheat – now scientists unravel the cocoa genome

"Scientists have sequenced the genetic code of the cocoa tree, which they say could triple the yield of the disease-prone crop and transform the lives of millions of poor farmers in Africa and around the developing world who rely on it for their livelihood. The US chocolate firm Mars, working with the computer firm IBM and the US Department of Agriculture, took two years and two months to unlock the genetic code of the tree, Theobroma cacao ("food of the gods"). Instead of patenting the genome, they have placed it online for anyone to use for free....Professor Shapiro, a molecular biologist, said: "We thought: 'Let's put this in the public domain so everyone has free access to it for eternity'. It could be patented and it can't be now. We have full open access. "In West Africa where the average yield is 400 kilos a hectare my goal is that over 10 years we will be able to triple that. The best farmers will probably be able to quadruple that and the worst farmers will probably only double that." ..."