(Ecofin Agency) - In Côte d’Ivoire, Swollen Shoot disease is worsening in the cocoa belt in the central region.

“That really worries us because  around 2010-11, I had harvested four tons each year. This year, I am at 1.8 tons,” said Cisse Ousmane, who owns 5 ha in Soubre. Producers and exporters told Reuters that the disease’s level boomed in recent years, dropping production.  According to an Abidjan-based exporter, while the decline in production in the central region was offset by higher output in protected forest areas, the government's recent crackdown on illegal cocoa cultivation would affect the harvest volume this year.

Authorities said 6 viral strains of the disease were identified between 2014 and 2017, particularly in the localities of Taï, Bloléquin, Fresco and Issia. For the record, the coffee-Cocoa Council (CCC) announced last January a program to uproot 300, 000 hectares of infected trees over the next three years to help control the outbreak.

First identified in Ghana in 1936, the virus was detected in Côte d’Ivoire in Bouaflé, Sinfra and Oumé.  Manifestations include roots and shoots swelling, leaves yellowing and pods deformation. 

Espoir Olodo