Swollen shoot disease, which has hit cocoa crops in central Ivory Coast, is advancing west into the cocoa belt and researchers are still years away from finding tree varieties resistant to the virus, a top government scientist said on Tuesday. Tiemoko Yo, director general of National Agricultural Research Centre (CNRA), told Reuters swollen shoot had destroyed 80 percent of trees in the growing regions of Sinfra and Bouafle in the past four years, but was now spreading elsewhere.
Sinfra used to produce 45,000 tonnes a year and Bouafle 30,000 tonnes, before an epidemic of swollen shoot infected plantations in these central regions around four years ago, leading many farmers to give up cocoa and plant yams or rubber. Though the western cocoa belt that produces the lion's share of output had been largely spared, Yo said farmers could no longer count on it being contained there.
"Swollen shoot began in Sinfra and Bouafle but now it is already spreading into Daloa and Gagnoa," he said in an interview. "We know how to treat it, and this is what we need to do now. This is the time for treating (plantations)." Ivory Coast produces around 1.2 million tonnes of cocoa a year, around two thirds of global supply, and is expected to manage a bumper crop of 1.3 million tonnes this year, thanks largely to favourable weather. Daloa produces about a quarter of national output and Gagnoa usually manages about 80,000 tonnes a year.
But the cocoa industry has been in disarray since a violent power struggle between President Alassane Ouattara and former President Laurent Gbagbo over a disputed election. A liquidity crunch left many farmers unable to afford treatments for their crops against disease. Fighting in some areas meant plantations were abandoned completely. As the rainy season comes, farmers are increasingly worried about seasonal pests like black pod disease or swollen shoot.
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