Native fine-flavor cacao can match commercial varieties in yield, study finds
image:
The study was conducted over a three-year period on 12 cacao farms in Peru's Piura region.
view moreCredit: Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
Piura, Peru, July 21, 2026. A study carried out on smallholder farms in northern Peru shows that Blanco de Piura, a native fine-flavor cacao variety, can achieve productivity levels comparable to those of commercial varieties widely grown across Latin America.
The research, led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and the University of Göttingen in collaboration with Cooperativa Agraria Norandino, shows that Blanco de Piura—renowned for its exceptional flavor and aroma—can produce an average of between 1,200 and 1,500 kilograms of dry beans per hectare. Achieving such high productivity, however, depends on good tree management.
Under smallholder farming conditions, these yields match—and in some cases exceed—those of commercial clones widely cultivated across Latin America, such as CCN-51, which have long dominated the market because of their reputation for high productivity.
Although fine-flavor cacao accounts for about 12% of the global market, 90% of it is produced in Latin America. Buyers pay premium prices for its sensory attributes, yet native fine-flavor cacao has long been regarded as low yielding. The study's findings show that this is not always the case.
For decades, farmers have faced pressure to replace their native varieties with commercial hybrids because of the belief that native cacao was less productive. This project's finding is particularly significant because it demonstrates that, by selecting highly productive plant material already present in farmers' fields, yields can reach economically viable levels while conserving the region's agrobiodiversity.
Other key findings
The study was conducted over a three-year period on 12 cacao farms in Peru's Piura region, all owned by members of Cooperativa Agraria Norandino. Researchers evaluated different clones, planting arrangements, and levels of agronomic management to determine their effects on crop productivity.
The study showed that renewing the canopies of mature trees through grafting with selected native plant material increased production by 59% in just three years, regardless of the clonal arrangement, improving production more rapidly than establishing a new plantation. The greatest impact, however, came from good agronomic practices: farms that pruned twice a year and managed the crop more frequently achieved yields 118% higher than farms with lower levels of management.
"We confirmed that certain Blanco de Piura cacao genotypes can self-pollinate, which facilitates their planting and ensures production in the field, contrary to what was previously believed," said researcher Carolina Ocampo Ariza, one of the study's authors.
The researchers also found that, on farms with less intensive management, polyclonal planting designs acted as a form of "insurance" that compensated for a lack of pruning, while designs using a single clone or genotype reached their highest productive potential when combined with intensive agronomic management.
"The findings show that farmers do not have to choose between conserving agrobiodiversity and improving their incomes. When selected native plant material and good management practices are used, both goals can be achieved simultaneously, making this an economically viable strategy," said Evert Thomas, also an author of the study.
At these production levels, Peruvian farmers gain a dual competitive advantage: the high volume needed for profitability and the premium prices paid in international markets for the unique sensory quality of Blanco de Piura cacao.
"These results strongly support the work we have been carrying out at Cooperativa Agraria Norandino to improve our farmers' livelihoods by increasing productivity. We are currently scaling up the use of Blanco de Piura cacao clones on farmers' farms. Today, many of them produce around 500 kilograms per hectare, but the study shows that, with a well-managed plantation and the use of these materials, yields can increase significantly, even reaching 2,000 kilograms per hectare. This is a very important step toward further strengthening a cacao that is already internationally recognized for its sensory quality and now also demonstrates its enormous productive potential," said Eduardo Espinoza, Cocoa Value Chain Manager at Cooperativa Agraria Norandino.
This scientific advance is essential to protecting Peru's heritage as a country with high cacao diversity and preventing its local resources from being replaced by hybrids, thereby ensuring that this diversity is not lost for future generations.
This effort is the result of years of genetic selection initiated in 2007 by Cooperativa Agraria Norandino and the Asociación Peruana de Productores de Cacao (APPCACAO), with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through GIZ.
The study was published in: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-026-01127-5.
About Blanco de Piura cacao
Peru is home to an extraordinary diversity of native cacao varieties, many of which have been conserved through the efforts of farmers, cooperatives, and research institutions. Blanco de Piura is a native cacao genetic group specific to northern Peru, recognized for its superior sensory characteristics and the unusual pale or white color of its beans. It is classified as fine-flavor cacao, allowing it to command higher prices in specialty markets.
The study's authors emphasize that identifying, selecting, and promoting local plant material with high productive potential will be essential to strengthening differentiated markets and preventing the loss of valuable genetic resources.
Renewing trees through grafting with selected native plant material increased production by 59% in just three years.
Credit
Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
Journal
Agronomy for Sustainable Development
Article Title
Selected native genotypes, plantation design, and management intensity boost fine flavor cacao productivity
Article Publication Date
20-Jul-2026
Coffee grounds can be converted into a raw material for producing biofuels
A URV study has optimised a process to extract oil from spent coffee grounds, enabling the recovery of almost 90% of the yield obtained by other techniques, but with fewer impurities and with the remainder of the biomass able to be repurposed for new uses
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Coffee grounds that usually end up being thrown away can have a second life as a raw material for producing biofuels and other high-value-added products. A study by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) has evaluated how to extract oil from coffee grounds efficiently while preserving the rest of the plant material so that it can also be utilised in other processes.
The research, published in Biomass and Bioenergy, focuses on spent coffee grounds, which are a very abundant waste product. According to the article, global coffee bean production stands at around 10 million tonnes per year, only a small proportion of which actually ends up in the coffee after the drink is brewed. The remainder becomes solid waste in the form of coffee grounds, which contain approximately 15% lipids, that is, fats that can serve as a basis for producing biodiesel.
The research team, comprising Jorge F. Romero, Alberto Tampieri, Daniel Montané, Magdalena Constantí and Francesc Medina, all from the URV’s Department of Chemical Engineering, studied how three key factors influence the extraction of this oil: temperature, processing time and the solvent-to-coffee-grounds ratio. To do this, they used n-hexane, a solvent commonly used in fat extraction, and applied an experimental design that allowed them to analyse the combined effects of all these variables.
"We have found that the optimal conditions are at 45°C for 60 minutes with a ratio of 35 millilitres of hexane per gram of dry residue," explained Magdalena Constantí, one of the study's authors. With these parameters, the process is able to recover approximately 90% of the quantity of oil that can be obtained with Soxhlet, a laboratory technique widely used as a point of reference because it offers high yields, but at the same time requires more time, more energy and is not as suitable for industrial applications.
In addition to the amount of oil recovered, the study emphasises the quality of the extract. The optimised process yielded an oil with a very low impurity content of 0.3%, in contrast to Soxhlet, where this figure is 3.9%. Analysis of the fat composition showed that the fatty acid profile remained stable under different test conditions and was dominated by linoleic and palmitic acids, two components that indicate this oil’s potential as a raw material for biodiesel production.
"In our study, we also demonstrate that extracting the oil does not mean that the rest of the material cannot be used for something else," pointed out Francesc Medina, a researcher at the Department of Chemical Engineering who participated in the research. In fact, one of the objectives of their research was to preserve the so-called lignocellulosic matrix of the residues, which is made up of components such as cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. These ingredients can be used to obtain other products, such as bioethanol, lactic acid, polyhydroxyalkanoates, or precursors for sustainable aviation fuels and phenolic compounds.
The extraction process not only recovers oils but also acts as a pretreatment. The fats present in the residue can prevent solvents or catalysts from accessing the rest of the biomass. By removing this barrier without significantly altering the material's structure, the fat free residue is left in a better state for subsequent use.
The research team also compared their method with techniques such as ultrasound- or microwave-assisted extraction. Although these alternatives can accelerate the initial extraction, the study concluded that they do not offer a sufficient advantage in terms of oil quality, overall efficiency, energy demand and scalability. For this reason, the batch process with n-hexane under moderate conditions looks as if it is likely to be a better, more balanced option for integration into a biorefining strategy.
The scientists’ research forms part of efforts to develop techniques for a circular economy and addresses the need to develop renewable fuels for hard-to-electrify sectors, such as heavy transport. By using every part of the coffee grounds, the researchers are able "to transform a typically underused waste product into various energy vectors and bio-based chemical products, and to reduce the environmental impact associated with its accumulation," explained Daniel Montané, a researcher in the same department, who also participated in the research. This in turn paves the way for the sustainable production of biofuels.
Journal
Biomass and Bioenergy
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
Lab-produced tissue samples
Article Title
Systematic evaluation of batch hexane extraction as a scalable pretreatment for the comprehensive valorization of spent coffee grounds
