Wouter Vanhove

Factors determining yield and quality of illicit indoor cannabis (Cannabis spp.) production

Judiciary currently faces difficulties in adequately estimating the yield of illicit indoor cannabis plantations. The latter data is required in penalization which is based on the profits gained. A full factorial experiment in which two overhead light intensities, two plant densities and four varieties were combined in the indoor cultivation of cannabis (Cannabis spp.) was used to reveal cannabis drug yield and quality under each of the factor combinations. Highest yield was found for the Super Skunk and Big Bud varieties which also exhibited the highest concentrations of Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Results show that plant density and light intensity are additive factors whereas the variety factor significantly interacts with both plant density and light intensity factors. Adequate estimations of yield of illicit, indoor cannabis plantations can only be made if upon seizure all factors considered in this study are accounted for.

Filling in the blanks. An estimation of illicit cannabis growers’ profits in Belgium

BACKGROUND As a result of increased pressure on cannabis cultivation in The Netherlands, the number of confiscated indoor cannabis plantations in Belgium is rising. Although increases are reported for all plantations sizes, half of the seized plantations contain less than 50 plants. In this study, factors and variables that influence costs and benefits of indoor cannabis cultivation are investigated as well as how these costs and benefits vary between different cannabis grower types. METHODS Real-situation data of four growers were used to perform financial analyses. Costs included fixed and variable material costs, as well as opportunity costs. Gross revenue per grow cycle was calculated based on most recent forensic findings for illicit Belgian cannabis plantations and was adjusted for the risk of getting caught. Finally, gross revenues and return on costs (ROC) were calculated over 1 year (4 cycles). FINDINGS Financial analysis shows that in all cases gross revenues as well as ROC are considerable, even after a single growth cycle. Highest profitability was found for large-scale (600 plants, ROC=6.8) and mid-scale plantations (150 plants, ROC=6.0). However, industrial plantations (23,000 plants, ROC=1.4) and micro-scale plantations (5 plants, ROC=2.8) are also highly remunerative. Shift of police focus away from micro-scale growers, least likely to be involved in criminal gangs, to large-scale and industrial scale plantations would influence costs as a result of changing risks of getting caught. However, sensitivity analysis shows that this does not significantly influence the conclusions on profitability of different types of indoor cannabis growers. CONCLUSION Seizure and confiscation of profits are important elements in the integral and integrated policy approach required for tackling illicit indoor cannabis plantations. The large return of costs evidenced in the present study, underpin the policy relevance of confiscating those illicit profits as part of enforcement.

Yield and turnover of illicit indoor cannabis (Cannabis spp.) plantations in Belgium.

In prosecution, Belgian judiciary currently uses outdated yield figures (28.1g per plant, sold at € 3/g at grower level) for fining illicit indoor cannabis plantations. Using state-of-the-art cultivation techniques, our growth experiments showed that yield is better expressed in g/m(2) cultivated surface area rather than in g per plant, and that yield varies significantly between different cannabis strains. It was found that the lower-bound of the one-sided 95% confidence interval of the yield of an indoor cannabis plantation can be set at 575 g/m(2). Prices and pricing mechanisms were investigated using interviews with respondents selected through snowball sampling. Results reveal that (i) the Belgian cannabis market chain is highly complex; (ii) unit prices are predominantly determined by transaction sizes; but also (iii) a set of product- and socially-related price-fixing mechanisms have an equally important role. At grower level, respondents reported prices for 1 g of dry cannabis buds to range € 3.00-4.25.

Dietary species richness as a measure of food biodiversity and nutritional quality of diets

Significance Current research linking biodiversity and human diets has used metrics without justification from a nutritional point of view. Diet species richness, or a count of the number of different species consumed per day, assesses both nutritional adequacy and food biodiversity of diets for women and children in rural areas. The positive association of food species richness with dietary quality was observed in both the wet and the dry season. Food biodiversity contributes to diet quality in vulnerable populations in areas with high biodiversity. Reporting the number of species consumed during dietary assessment provides a unique opportunity to cut across two critical dimensions of sustainable development—human and environmental health—and complements existing indicators for healthy and sustainable diets. Biodiversity is key for human and environmental health. Available dietary and ecological indicators are not designed to assess the intricate relationship between food biodiversity and diet quality. We applied biodiversity indicators to dietary intake data from and assessed associations with diet quality of women and young children. Data from 24-hour diet recalls (55% in the wet season) of n = 6,226 participants (34% women) in rural areas from seven low- and middle-income countries were analyzed. Mean adequacies of vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, calcium, iron, and zinc and diet diversity score (DDS) were used to assess diet quality. Associations of biodiversity indicators with nutrient adequacy were quantified using multilevel models, receiver operating characteristic curves, and test sensitivity and specificity. A total of 234 different species were consumed, of which <30% were consumed in more than one country. Nine species were consumed in all countries and provided, on average, 61% of total energy intake and a significant contribution of micronutrients in the wet season. Compared with Simpson’s index of diversity and functional diversity, species richness (SR) showed stronger associations and better diagnostic properties with micronutrient adequacy. For every additional species consumed, dietary nutrient adequacy increased by 0.03 (P < 0.001). Diets with higher nutrient adequacy were mostly obtained when both SR and DDS were maximal. Adding SR to the minimum cutoff for minimum diet diversity improved the ability to detect diets with higher micronutrient adequacy in women but not in children. Dietary SR is recommended as the most appropriate measure of food biodiversity in diets.

Value Chains of Cherimoya (Annona Cherimola Mill.) in a Centre of Diversity and its on-Farm Conservation Implications

This paper uses value chain analysis as a novel method to examine the conservation status of and strategies for cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.), an underutilized, perennial fruit species native to the Andean valleys of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. It was found that value chain features such as market channels, chain governance, quality performance and distribution of added value over chain actors differ significantly between cherimoya fruits that are registered by a collective trademark such as the Cumbe variety and another group of more traditionally produced and commercialized cherimoya fruits. The former is exported from its production area (Lima province in Peru) to neighboring Andean countries, is graded and selected intensively, has a higher quality perception and creates significantly more added value for both producers and traders than the other, locally produced cherimoyas whose value chain is governed less intensively. Previous studies on the genetic diversity of cherimoya in the countries of origin have stressed the necessity of conserving cherimoya germplasm in areas characterized by highly diverse (southern Ecuador and northern Peru) or rare (Bolivia) cherimoya germplasm. Although value chain development is generally considered crucial in on-farm conservation of underutilized species, the example of the Cumbe cherimoya shows that intraspecific diversity can be threatened by commercial success. Farmers who believe that quality is exclusively linked to a certain genotype have purchased Cumbe cherimoya grafts from each other, leading to genetic erosion of the local cherimoya genetic base.

The use of pesticides in Belgian illicit indoor cannabis plantations

Cannabis (Cannabis spp.) use and cultivation continue to increase in many (European) countries. The illicit indoor cannabis plantations that supply Belgian and European cannabis markets create problems and concerns about health and safety of intervention staff, dismantling companies, the direct environment of cannabis plantations and, eventually, of cannabis users. Main risks may come from pesticide residues on plants, cultivation infrastructure and materials; left-over plant growth-promoting substances; mycotoxins from fungal pathogens on harvested plants; and/or high levels of cannabinoids in cannabis plant parts for consumption. In the present research, we report on pesticides found in illicit indoor cannabis plantations in Belgium. EN15662 QuEChERS extraction method and LC-MS/MS analysis were used to identify pesticides in indoor cannabis plantations and thus to evaluate the hazards associated with the use, cultivation and removal of cannabis plants in plantations as well as with dismantling activities in the cultivation rooms. We found pesticides in 64.3% of 72 cannabis plant samples and in 65.2% of 46 carbon filter cloth samples. Overall, 19 pesticides belonging to different chemical classes were identified. We found o-phenylphenol, bifenazate, cypermethrin, imidacloprid, propamocarb, propiconazole and tebuconazole, which is consistent with the commonly reported pesticides from literature. In only a few cases, pesticides found in bottles with a commercial label, were also identified in plant or stagnant water samples collected from the growth rooms where the bottles had been collected. We further revealed that, even though most pesticides have a low volatility, they could be detected from the carbon filters hanging at the ceiling of cultivation rooms. As a result, it is likely that pesticides also prevail in the plantation atmosphere during and after cultivation. The risk of inhaling the latter pesticides increases when plants sprayed with pesticides are intensively manipulated during dismantling activities. We conclude that pesticides represent an underestimated and under-documented health risk for intervention staff. The standard procedure for dismantling illicit indoor cannabis cultivation sites should be improved by including guidelines for appropriate personal protection equipment and dismantling protocols that take into account all possible hazards.

Geometric isomers of sex pheromone components do not affect attractancy of Conopomorpha cramerella in cocoa plantations

The cocoa pod borer (CPB), Conopomorpha cramerella (Snellen), sex pheromone was previously identified as a blend of (E,Z,Z)‐ and (E,E,Z)‐4,6,10‐hexadecatrienyl acetates and corresponding alcohols. These pheromone components were synthesized by modification of an existing method and the relative attractiveness of synthetic blends that included different levels of non‐target pheromone components and chemical purities was tested in a cocoa field using Delta traps. Male captures were not significantly different among traps baited with pheromone blends containing 5% to 47% (based on four identified pheromone components) of other geometric acetates [(E,Z,E)‐, (Z,Z,Z)‐, (Z,E,Z)‐ and (Z,E,E)‐4,6,10‐hexadecatrienyl acetates], indicating that C. cramerella males did not discriminate among the pheromone components and other geometric isomers in the blends. Therefore, neither antagonistic nor synergistic effects from other pheromone geometric isomers were observed. The modified synthetic pathway offers the prospect of more economical production of CPB sex pheromone. During 17 weeks when C. cramerella monitoring coincided with the main cocoa pod harvest period in 2013–2014, CPB trap catch data from some blends showed a good correlation with the number of pods with C. cramerella infestation symptoms.

Exploring genetic diversity and disease response of cultivated rice accessions (Oryza spp.) against Pyricularia oryzae under rainfed upland conditions in Benin

The main goal of this study is to gain insight into the relationship between the genetic profile of cultivated rice (Oryza spp.) accessions and their resistance to rice blast. Therefore, the genetic and phenotypic variability of a set of 350 cultivated rice accessions originating from Africa (Benin, Mali and Nigeria, Ivory Coast etc.) was examined. Seventy-seven fluorescent amplified fragment polymorphism (AFLP) markers were used to gain insight into the genetic variation and to classify the germplasm collection. In addition, the rice germplasm was assessed for its resistance to blast disease caused by Pyricularia oryzae in upland field conditions. Huge differences in responses of rice accessions to P. oryzae were observed, ranging from highly susceptible to highly resistant. Twelve percent of all accessions were highly resistant to P. oryzae. Based on their AFLP marker profile these highly resistant accessions could be separated from the other accessions. Stepwise regression revealed that the best prediction of the blast resistance level was achieved with a maximum number of 13 AFLP markers. Marker CTA22 was the most important for accurate prediction of blast resistance, this marker was present in all highly resistant accessions. It can be concluded that AFLP markers are a valuable tool to screen rice accessions for their susceptibility towards blast disease and that, based on a subset of markers, it is possible to predict the resistance to rice blast.

The Health Risks of Belgian Illicit Indoor Cannabis Plantations

We assessed the prevalence of potential health hazards to intervention staff and cannabis growers in Belgian indoor cannabis plantations. Surface mold swab samples were taken at 16 Belgian indoor plantations contained mostly Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus sp. However, their precise health impact on intervention staff and illicit growers is unclear as no molds spore concentrations were measured. Atmospheric gas monitoring in the studied cannabis plantations did not reveal dangerous toxic substances. Health symptoms were reported by 60% of 221 surveyed police, but could not be linked to specific plantation characteristics. We conclude that Belgian indoor cannabis plantations pose a potential health threat to growers and intervention staff. AS there are currently no clear safety guidelines for seizure and dismantling of Belgian indoor cannabis plantations, we recommend first responders to follow strict safety rules when entering the growth rooms, which include wearing appropriate personal protective equipment.

Multistrata Systems: Potentials and Challenges of Cocoa-based Agroforests in the Humid Tropics

Multistrata agroforests comprise a wide range of agroforestry practices that includes assemblage of woody and nonwoody plant components, with the wide range of practices on the continuum from using shade trees in perennial plantation to very diversified agroforests that mimic the original forest-like structure. In the humid tropical lowlands, such systems often consist of cocoa (Theobroma cacao) grown under the shade of trees. In this review, we explore the reliability of research on and the feasibility of achieving the environmental and economic benefits of cocoa agroforests, highlighting future opportunities and challenges of cocoa growing. Unsustainable intensification in a form of monocultures with high agricultural inputs reduces ecological resilience of a land-use system, whereas paradoxically, environmental and climate changes require more than ever a higher capacity of land-use systems to cope with increasing global environmental pressure. Over the past decade, a number of new studies focusing on cocoa agroforests have been published. We review current cultivation of cocoa in the world and outline the establishment and management of cocoa agroforests. Further on, we explored the idea that cocoa agroforests could be a solution to prevent phenomenon of boom-and-bust cycle of cocoa cultivation and highlighted the possibilities for improvement of cocoa cultivation using its vast genetic base. Then the benefits of cocoa agroforests for (agro)biodiversity and soil conservation are summarized and economic perspectives of multistrata systems assessed. In final discussion, we performed a SWOT analysis, highlighting future opportunities and challenges and proposing recommendation to improve the extension, adoption and sustainability of cocoa agroforests.