Protease inhibitors from Theobroma cacao impair SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro.

SARS-CoV-2 is a newly emerging virus from the Coronaviridae family that has already infected over 700 million people worldwide and killed over 6 million. This virus uses protease molecules to replicate and infect the host, which makes these molecules targets for therapeutic substances to eliminate the virus and treat infected people. Through the protein-protein molecular docking approach, we detected two cystatins from Theobroma cacao, TcCYS3 and TcCYS4, described as papain-like protease inhibitors. These inhibitors decreased SARS-CoV-2 genomic copies without toxicity to Vero cells. There is a need to perform comprehensive studies in relevant animal models and to investigate the action mechanisms of protease inhibitors from Theobroma cacao that control the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in human cells.

COVID-19, living income differential and decline in income of cocoa producers in C..te d'Ivoire. (Agriculture et syst..mes alimentaires face .. la Covid-19.) [French]

Cocoa farmers in C..te d'Ivoire are mostly below the poverty line. In September 2019, the Ivorian and Ghanaian governments imposed the Living Income Differential (LID) on private companies, an additional $ 400 per ton compared to the international market price, passed on to the producer price (farm gate price). At the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 arose. In this dual context, how did prices change? Has the hope of increased income been achieved? Three approaches are used: (a) monitoring of the selling price of cocoa beans and monitoring of the price of purchased cocoa farming inputs and basic necessities for households;(b) monthly monitoring of farm gate cocoa price in 2020-2021;(c) an analysis of national production data from C..te d'Ivoire and Ghana, the world price, variations in the demand for beans by the grinding industry, and the price paid to producers, over 20 years. The first result is a very temporary and limited rise in the farm gate price of cocoa at the end of 2020, then its fall in 2021 as the price of inputs and basic necessities soar. The 2021-2022 campaign is even more harmful with a tightening of the price scissor. It is therefore the failure of the LID, but the role of Covid-19 in this failure is very nuanced with regard to the declarations of the State and the multinationals. The drop in prices and the loss of income for cocoa farmers in 2020-2022 rather fits into the economic theory of games. Without control of their supply, an agreement between two companies or countries cannot work. The failure is part of a largely endogenous structural change: demographic growth, policies to encourage migration and deforestation, opacity of the sector and finally continued growth of the supply of cocoa from C..te d'Ivoire on the international market.

Competitiveness of southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia's leading export commodity cocoa in the international market

One of Indonesia's cocoa bean production centers is Southeast Sulawesi Province with a production value of 115,023 tons, with a total export value of US$ 1.5 billion in 2019. The export value of this cocoa commodity is still quite high during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Trademap data, the value of Indonesia's cocoa exports in 2021 will reach US$1.2 billion, only down 2.9% from the previous year. The problems faced in cocoa development are the quality of the product is still low, the development of upstream and downstream cocoa products has not been optimal, and the continuity of cocoa supply has not been fulfilled. This study aims to analyze the development of cocoa commodity exports and measure the level of competitiveness of Southeast Sulawesi cocoa in the international market. The analytical method used to see the development of cocoa exports is quantitative descriptive using library research and to analyze the competitiveness of Southeast Sulawesi cocoa using the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) formula. The data used in this study is time series data from 2011-2021. Based on the results of research conducted, it shows that the development of Indonesia's cocoa exports in 2011-2021 fluctuated wherein the decline and increase occurred during the last 10 years, while the development of Southeast Sulawesi cocoa exports could be seen in 2015-2021 with fluctuating increases and decreases. Meanwhile, the results of the competitiveness analysis using the RCA method on cocoa in Southeast Sulawesi during the 2011-2021 period showed a fluctuating RCA value with an average of 4.8. With a value of more than 1, it means that Southeast Sulawesi cocoa commodities have strong competitiveness or it can be said that they also have a comparative advantage.

Development of a community-based COVID-19 intervention in rural Ghana: a document analysis.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the loss of millions of lives and economic breakdowns in many countries across the globe. Despite the limited availability of vaccines and the challenges of poor health infrastructure, few interventions have been developed and implemented for those who live in rural areas, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In response, Cocoa360, a global health nonprofit in rural Ghana designed an intervention called Cocoa360's COVID-19 Preparedness and Outbreak Prevention Plan (CoCoPOPP). This paper aimed to examine the extent to which CoCoPOPP's design aligned with the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) framework. METHODS: We reviewed documents influencing CoCoPOPP's design between March and June 2021. A total of 11 documents were identified for analysis. Using the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) framework as a guide, thematic analysis was done to analyze the extracted data. RESULTS: Overall, CoCoPOPP's design aligned with the evidence, context, and facilitation domains of the PARIHS framework. It positioned CoCoPOPP as an intervention that considered the unique context of a rural Ghanaian setting. It was guided by robust and high-quality published and non-published evidence and engaged external and internal stakeholders during its implementation. CoCoPOPP's context-dependent nature positions it for potential replication in sub-Saharan Africa's rural communities with similar farming contexts. Specific areas that were less well and/or not addressed were the unintended negative consequences of community engagement, the absence of primary data in the guiding evidence, and the lack of a facilitation continuum coupled with the role of power during the facilitation process. CONCLUSION: CoCoPOPP, Cocoa360's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in rural Ghana, is an evidence-driven, context-dependent public health intervention that has been designed to reduce COVID-19 infections and prevent potential deaths. This study underscores the importance of considering the unique community and cultural contexts, employing evidence, and engaging local and external actors as facilitators when designing interventions to respond to global health pandemics.

Amazonian fruits with potential effects on COVID-19 by inflammaging modulation: A narrative review.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a great impact on the mortality of older adults and, chronic non- transmissible diseases (CNTDs) patients, likely previous inflammaging condition that is common in these subjects. It is possible that functional foods could attenuate viral infection conditions such as SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), the causal agent of COVID-19 pandemic. Previous evidence suggested that some fruits consumed by Amazonian Diet from Pre-Colombian times could present relevant proprieties to decrease of COVID-19 complications such as oxidative-cytokine storm. In this narrative review we identified five potential Amazonian fruits: açai berry (Euterpe oleracea), camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia), cocoa (Theobroma cacao), Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa), and guaraná (Paullinia cupana). Data showed that these Amazonian fruits present antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and other immunomodulatory activities that could attenuate the impact of inflammaging states that potentially decrease the evolution of COVID-19 complications. The evidence compiled here supports the complementary experimental and clinical studies exploring these fruits as nutritional supplement during COVID-19 infection. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: These fruits, in their natural form, are often limited to their region, or exported to other places in the form of frozen pulp or powder. But there are already some companies producing food supplements in the form of capsules, in the form of oils and even functional foods enriched with these fruits. This practice is common in Brazil and tends to expand to the international market.

Determinants of Cocoa Farmers' Compliance with Agrochemical Safety Precautions in Ogun and Osun States, Nigeria.

Cocoa is one of the major cash crops in Nigeria and its production is directly related to the effective utilization of agrochemicals. This paper analysed the factors influencing cocoa farmers' compliance with agrochemical safety regulations. The data were collected from 326 cocoa farmers from Ogun and Osun states, using multi-stage sampling procedures. The data were analysed with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and an Endogenous Tobit Regression model. The results showed that majority of the farmers were primarily growing cocoa and average ownership of personal protective equipment (PPE) was less than two. Awareness of manufacturers' instructions was high for insecticides and fungicides, while majority of the farmers were not eating or drinking while handling agrochemicals. Safety compliance indicators were significantly influenced (p < 0.10) by farmers' ownership of PPE, education, age, awareness of manufacturers' safety instructions and health status. It was concluded that utilization of PPE was very low among the farmers and efforts to facilitate safety training on the use of different agrochemicals will facilitate safety compliance through proper understanding of manufacturers' instructions.

Literature and Insights Editorial

How do you genuinely show that you care about the elderly, management of COVID-19 vaccinations, education, funding for the arts, healthcare, remediation after fire and flood, Indigenous representation, pork-barrelling, establishing an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), unemployment and how it is measured, sexual harassment in the corridors of power and workplaces elsewhere, domestic violence, homelessness, the environment, destruction of native animal habitats, the National Disability Scheme (NDIS), climate policy, rorts and much more? “Guilty Me!” by MD Shoaib Ahmed deals, as he has said, with “the precarity of workers in the global supply chains of fast fashion, cocoa farming, and coffee production around the world”. Creative writing in the form of poetry and short prose pieces is edited for the Literature and Insights Section only and does not undergo the refereeing procedures required for all research papers published in the main body of AAAJ.

Cocoa company's financial performance during the COVID-19 pandemic: an economic value added (EVA) approach

The Covid-19 pandemic brings around a multidimensional crisis that sway the world's economy and believed to affect the performance of any industry. Cocoa processing industry, which is well known greatly contributes to Indonesia's economy, is one of industry that is suspected has a significant effect to the performance of Indonesia's economy. As one of export commodity, during the pandemic (2019-2020) the cocoa processing industry contributed for about USD 548 million to total Indonesia's foreign exchange. This lead to a question: does the increase implies that the cocoa processing industry has a good financial performance? Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the financial performance of two cocoa processing company before and during Covid-19 pandemic by occupying the financial report of PT Bumi Teknokultura Unggul TBK and PT Wahana Interfood Nusantara from 2018 till 2020. The Economic Value Added approach was used to evaluate the financial performance of both company. The result of Economic Value Added (EVA) Analysis confirmed that this pandemic seem affecting the financial performance of the two company, which is both company's performance tend to decrease. Yet, a different performance between the two was depicted as well by EVA, in which the EVA of PT Wahana Interfood Nusantara is positive while the PT Bumi Teknokultura Unggul Tbk's is negative. This implies that PT Wahana Interfood Nusantara has a better financial performance than PT Bumi Teknokultura Unggul Tbk.

Agri-food trade in 2020

The year 2020 marked one of the biggest recessions in global economic activity and world trade. During this period, the EU economy contracted by 6% and its international trade followed a similar downward trend - EU exports of goods decreased by 9% and imports by 12%, compared to 2019. By contrast, EU international trade in agri-food reported a slight growth. Over the course of 2020, the value of EU agri-food exports increased to 184.3 billion (a growth of 1.4% compared to 2019), while the value of imports rose to 122.2 billion (a growth of 0.5%). As a result, the EU further reinforced its leading position among the world's biggest exporters. On the import side, the EU has become the third largest importer after the US and China. The contraction in global trade was accompanied by increasing prices of food, including commodities as evidenced by the increases reflected in the FAO Global Price Index. The EU exports a wide range of products from all parts of the value chain which demonstrates the competitiveness of the EU agri-food sector in a variety of product classes ranging from commodities to highly processed food industry products. EU imports, on the other hand, are clearly dominated by basic agricultural food and feed products, which represent about 75% of all imports. Looking at product categories, exports of pig meat and wheat strongly contributed to the increase in EU overall agri-food exports. Conversely, spirits and liqueurs as well as wine are among the sectors that experienced a difficult period for a number of reasons (e.g. the COVID pandemic, US retaliatory tariffs). The growth in EU agri-food imports was mainly driven by increases in import values for oilseeds, other than soya beans;fatty acids and waxes, palm oil, fruit including tropical fruit, and soya beans. China, Switzerland and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region were the major growth destinations for EU agri-food exports in 2020. The value of EU exports fell most to the United States, Turkey, Singapore and Japan. In terms of imports, Canada grew significantly as a source for the EU imports. By contrast, EU imports declined most in value from the United Kingdom, Ukraine and the United States. In 2020, the UK has become the EU's most important partner in agri-food trade, with a share of 23% in total EU agri-food exports and 13% in total imports. With EU exports and imports both decreasing, its trade surplus with the US increased by 2% when compared to 2019, as falls on the imports side were stronger. China became the top destination for US agri-food exports. EU agri-food exports to China were primarily driven by continued record high sales of pig meat which increased by 74%. Pig meat and meat offal - the latter mainly comprised of products originating from pigs - accounted for over 40% of EU exports to China in 2020, demonstrating the importance of this market for the pig meat sector. Brazil's exports to China continued to increase in 2020, absorbing 35% of its total agri-food exports. Combined agri-food exports from Brazil to the EU and the US now account for half of Brazilian exports to China. In 2020, Brazil supplied 50% of extra-EU demand for soya beans and 40% for oilcakes. Wheat continued to be the leading EU export product to Africa with a 23% share of the EU's total export basket, whereas cocoa beans dominate in the EU imports from Africa, with the same share of 23%. Most African countries benefit from duty-free, quota-free access to the EU market under the "Everything But Arms" scheme and for many of them Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) or other trade agreements with the EU are applied, encouraging regional cooperation and trade. In 2020, the EU applied 45 free trade agreements (FTAs) with 77 partners. The share of agri-food trade under preferential agreements is also expanding and in 2021, it accounted for 31% and 41% of total EU agri-food exports and imports, respectively. The value of EU agri-food trade under preferential agreements expanded more in relative terms compared to total EU agri-food trade. EU agri-food ex

Study on the Effect of Bio-Based Materials’ Natural Degradation in the Environment

The article presents an analysis of the impact of bio-based materials on the environment, with a special focus on polylactic acid (PLA), as it is considered one of the most popular bioplastics in the market. The results show that there are several factors that must be taken into account when choosing the best end-of-life option for this type of material, in agreement with the newly introduced concept of the circular economy, according to the physical–chemical analysis obtained at the end of this study. The ecotoxicity tests showed that all tested materials (PLA spoon, PLA filament, b2w technology bag and cocoa paper tray) could be suitable for incineration with energy recovery without producing dioxines during combustion (chlorine content in all tested materials was below 1.00% w/w). It was also determined that PLA was the material with the highest potential for energy recovery since it presented the highest calorific value and highest carbon content (18.73 MJ/kg and 52.23%, respectively). The biodegradation rate of the different bio-based materials was also tested under different environments during three months, with Baltic Sea water and medium-grain sand being the environments in which the majority of the bio-based materials showed the lowest degradation rates. An additional test in a small-scale electric composter with microbe technology was carried out in order to evaluate the degradation of the studied materials in an environment with controlled conditions, and results showed high values of weight loss for the majority of the bio-based materials (all above 80% weight loss) due to the high temperature that the device could reach during the composting process. Finally, a strategy for providing guidance in selecting routes for the waste management of bioplastics, depending mainly on the available infrastructure and material properties, was proposed as a result of this work. For the case of low- and medium-income countries, an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy is proposed as a provisional solution to control plastic waste pollution, which should be complemented by regulations and systems aimed at the successful introduction of bioplastics.

Understanding the history of infectious diseases

Plagues upon the Earth: disease and the course of human history, written by Kyle Harper, starts with the discovery of fire and ends with the COVID-19 pandemic, which is to say that it covers the whole of human history. “The global success of the black rat is the direct effect of our own species' takeover of planet earth”, writes Harper. Late in the book, there is a pleasing detour into plant diseases, among them the wonderfully named swollen shoot of cocoa, powdery mildew of grape, and frosty pod rot of cacao.

An Investigation of the Dynamic of Cocoa Commodity Competitiveness in Indonesia and Ivory Coast Before and During Covid-19 Pandemic

As a primary agricultural commodity, cocoa is the essential commodity and source of income for farmers, workers, and companies in terms of its supply chain. In Indonesia, cocoa is a commodity number three after coconut palm oil and rubber. Therefore, it plays a crucial role in creating job opportunities, which focusing on agribusiness and domestic agroindustry, environmental conservation, and regional development. In conjunction with the significant contribution of cocoa as an agricultural commodity, this study seeks to investigate the cocoa commodity competitiveness dynamics in Indonesia and Ivory Coast before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study calculates the data of export using a four-digit Harmonized System (HS) on the basis of the United Nations' Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) from 2016 to 2020. In determining the country's competitiveness, this study applies the Balassa Revealed Comparative Advantage (BRCA). This study indicates that the competitive dynamics of cocoa commodities occurred in Indonesia and Ivory Coast before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, the chocolate industry network should promote good governance for improving sustainable agricultural resources, including fair and inclusive labour policy and green supply chains incentives. Also, creating a better policy climate for effective agricultural management and developing a downstream chocolate industry should be crucial for both countries. © IEOM Society International.

Mathematical Model Considering Effect of COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application (COCOA) and “GoTo Travel Campaign”

In the end of 2019, the emergence of COVID-19 was reported and confirmed for the first time, and it triggered an international pandemic. In Japan, the strong tendency to spread of infection is still continuing. The Japanese Government has been raised two concepts to overcome this difficulty. One is the thorough measures to control of the spread of infection and the other is the economic recovery. The government has carried out the corresponding two policies: the use of COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application (COCOA) and the application of “GoTo Travel Campaign”. We focus on these two policies and study an ideal situation, which enables us to balance more economic recovery and control of the spread of infection. To pursue this goal, we propose a mathematical model to estimate these policies’s effects and conduct simulations of 28 scenarios. In addition, we analyze each result of the simulation and investigate characteristics of each situation. As a result, we clearly find that it required that not only the increasing the using rate of COCOA but also a positive change of people’s behaviors and awareness. © 2021 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.

Political economy of the oil palm value chain in Ghana

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is of strategic importance to the Ghanaian economy. It is the second most important industrial crop after cocoa and is used widely in local food preparation as well as in industrial processing. In spite of its importance, however, oil palm has consistently underperformed since the early twentieth century. This paper conducts a value chain analysis of the crop, foregrounding the political economy factors that shape the performance of the sector. It draws on a combination of in-depth interviews conducted in March 2020 with a variety of value chain actors and a review of the secondary literature. Additionally, between late May and early June 2020, twelve further interviews were conducted as part of a rapid market survey to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the value chain.

The political economy of the cocoa value chain in Ghana

The cocoa sector has, historically, been the backbone of the Ghanaian economy. Many households depend directly on the cocoa sector for livelihoods, and aspects of the cocoa industry, such as input supplies to farmers and cocoa pricing, have historically featured prominently in national and local politics. This paper examines the basic underlying political economy dynamics of the cocoa value chain, with particular focus on how the interests, powers and interactions of various actors along the value chain have contributed to agricultural commercialisation in Ghana. The paper also explores the challenges affecting the cocoa value chain, social difference within the chain, and how various segments of the cocoa value chain have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana since March 2020.

SIR model-based verification of effect of COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application (COCOA) on reducing infectors in Japan.

As of April 2021, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to spread in Japan. To overcome COVID-19, the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of the Japanese government developed and released the COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application (COCOA) on June 19, 2020. COCOA users can know whether they have come into contact with infectors. If persons who receive a contact notification through COCOA undertake self-quarantine, the number of infectors in Japan will decrease. However, the effectiveness of COCOA in reducing the number of infectors depends on the usage rate of COCOA, the rate of fulfillment of contact condition, the rate of undergoing the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, the false negative rate of the RT-PCR test, the rate of infection registration, and the self-quarantine rate. Therefore, we developed a Susceptible-Infected-Removed (SIR) model to estimate the effectiveness of COCOA. In this paper, we introduce the SIR model and report the simulation results for different scenarios that were assumed for Japan.

Exploitation of polyphenols and proteins using nanoencapsulation for anti-viral and brain boosting properties - Evoking a synergistic strategy to combat COVID-19 pandemic.

The world is currently under the threat of COVID pandemic and has focused every dimension of research in finding a cure to this novel disease. In this current situation, people are facing mental stress, agony, fear, depression and other associated symptoms which are taking a toll on their overall mental health. Nanoencapsulation of certain brain boosting polyphenols including quercetin, caffeine, cocoa flavanols and proteins like lectins can become new area of interest in the present scenario. Besides the brain boosting benefits, we have also highlighted the anti- viral activities of these compounds which we assume can play a possible role in combating COVID-19 given to their previous history of action against certain viruses. This review outlines the nanoencapsulation approaches of such synergistic compounds as a novel strategy to take the ongoing research a step ahead and also provides a new insight in bringing the role of nanotechnology in addressing the issues related to COVID pandemic.