Frosty Pod Rot

Frosty Pod Rot

Frosty pod rot, also called Monilia, is an invasive disease affecting cocoa caused by the fungus Moniliophthora roreri. Until the 1950s, frosty pod rot was confined to the North-western South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Western Venezuela) and was not of widespread interest to other cocoa-producing countries. Its appearance in Panama in 1956 and Costa Rica in 1978 increased the geographic confines of the pathogen and changed perceptions of the disease. It has a high potential for transmission, carried by the wind, which extends its range.