Marcos J. Ramos

• Researcher at Technological University of Panama

There has been substantial research on shade in cacao agroforestry systems, with most studies focusing on the impact of the shade cast by the associated shade trees on microclimate and yield. However, to our knowledge, no cacao agroforestry studies have explored how shade and its microclimate-modifying capacity influence the agrosystem’s pest and d...

Cacao pest and diseases (P&Ds) infect and affect their hosts in specific ways, which adds complexity to study their global impact on production. Commonly, incidence is used as an indicator to evaluate P&Ds, however, it does not provide any information on yield loss, whether we look at it as a loss in quantity or quality. Therefore, from an agronomi...