Effectiveness of the eradication campaign of cocoa swollen shoot virus disease in Ghana: the extension and implementation problem

Abstract

The cocoa swollen shoot virus disease persists in Ghana in spite of the implementation of an eradication campaign against the disease by the government since 1948. Two major factors are identified as limiting the success of the eradication campaign. First, the extension problem, namely, the low level of growers’ knowledge (know-why) concerning the disease, including knowledge of the causal agent (3.8%), the vectors (2.3%), and the recommended preventive measures (8% to 67%). Second, the implementation problem, namely, the failure of growers and government-employed labourers to follow the recommended policy of cutting-out and replanting cocoa farms. Thus, about half (51%) of the affected farms were not correctly treated, despite the specialized labour provided and paid for by the government to implement treatment. In addition, about 73% of the growers who treated their affected farms without government support did so incorrectly. Other factors include the direct treatment cost (US $513.00 ha⁻¹) to be borne by growers, as well as land tenure arrangements, and the waiting time of at least three years before the first harvest after replanting. A more researcher-grower collaborative approach in managing the disease could enhance growers’ knowledge and the adoption of recommended practices to limit the spread of the disease. In addition, policy decisions on a nationwide disease management strategy that require growers’ collective efforts should consider growers’ socio-economic conditions like land tenure arrangements and disease treatment cost (direct and indirect) incurred by growers.

Keywords:

• Knowledge
• adoption
• disease
• policy
• treatment
• Ghana

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Solomon Sefa Oduro, Dickson Agyapong, Edmond Oti Boateng, Edwin Badger, Samuel Ofori, Prince Frimpong Brannor and Moses Asani for their efforts in data collection and entry. The authors appreciate the vital critique of anonymous reviewers that improved the paper. This research paper (CRIG/05/2019/001) is published with the permission of the Executive Director of CRIG.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author [FAA]. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.