"No chemical can combat swollen shoot virus" - Officer

Akim Oda (E/R), June 17 GNA - Mr Albert Akomaning, Municipal Cocoa Officer in the Birim Central Municipality of the Eastern Region, has said no rpt no chemical had been found to combat the virus that caused the swollen shoot disease. The Municipal Cocoa Officer told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Akim Oda, that, the only way of combating the disease was to cut down diseased cocoa trees. Mr Akomaning swollen shoot also attacked pepper and cassava, adding that swollen shoot was an airborne disease that reduced yields drastically.

He appealed to cocoa farmers to allow the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease Control Unit of the Ghana Cocoa Board to fight the disease for them. He noted that years back, Oda and its surrounding towns and villages could boast of high cocoa production in the Eastern Region, whereas the trend had declined due to the swollen shoot disease. Mr Akomaning asked the farmers to adopt good agronomic practices urged them to spray their farms at the right time to increase their yield.

The Municipal Officer told the farmers to prune the branches of other trees that might disturb the cocoa tree and also to clear unwanted weeds on the farms. He said the pruning should be done during the rainy season to sustain the trees, because when done during the dry season the trees could die. Mr Akomaning advised that it was safer to pluck pod infected with "Anonom", the black pod disease, in the course of working on their farms. 17 June 08