Phytophthora palmivora

Phytophthora palmivora is an oomycete, a water mold rather than a true fungus, that causes bud rot in palms and a fruit rot of coconut and areca nut known locally as kole roga, along with root rots, cankers and collar rots on a range of other hosts. Its host list includes coconuts, papayas, cacao, mangoes, citrus, durian, black pepper and rubber, giving it a moderately broad reach across tropical agriculture in Africa, India, South America and even some temperate parts of North America. The pathogen is a major economic threat: it is blamed for an estimated ten to twenty percent of global cacao production lost each year, with losses reaching as high as seventy five percent in particularly wet regions and seasons, and it can reduce coconut yields by roughly two and a half percent per month during the rainy season. Its severity was serious enough that commercial black pepper cultivation in Brazil was abandoned because of it, and the pathogen's impact on cacao in particular affects the price and availability of chocolate worldwide.