Iran (IMNA) – It’s a horrible nightmare for cocoa farmers; walking through their croplands and discovering some red-veined leaves. The fact is that trees are doomed to life-threatening swollen-shoot disease. The worse thing is that, the neighboring plants may probably contaminated too, but the symptoms won't appear for even years.
Swollen shoot is unique to West Africa, where about three-quarters of the world’s cocoa is planted. The virus was identified about a century ago, yet scientists believe that early detection is the only solution to save the trees.
Now, An Iran-made bio-fertilizer has received the attention of African farmers as an effective way to treat the life-threatening disease in Ivory Coast.
The swollen shoot virus has reportedly become widespread in cocoa farming areas of Ivory Coast and Ghana for the past two years; to eliminate the virus, trees should be cut to plant new ones. This preventive action can influence the world market of cocoa.
Some cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast who have been using the Iranian bio-fertilizer called Nitro Kara reported that their farm is still productive.
Siamak Alizadeh, director of Kara industrial biotechnology Co., says the company has managed to accomplish more than 60,000 orders of this fertilizer from Ivory Coast in 2013.
There are many knowledge-based companies in Iran that have been able to open up new export gates to Iranian technology-based products, relying on Iranian knowledge with competitive prices.
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