Nigeria's cocoa disease threat drops

The threat of black pod disease in Nigeria's main cocoa regions has receded due to improved weather conditions over the last month, farmers said on Friday. Growers had feared the heavy downpours just before the start of the mid crop in April would trigger an outbreak of the fungal disease, especially in the south-west where many farms are old.
But conditions improved in the last month, with a good mix of periodic rainfall and sunshine providing enough soil moisture to boost the developing mid crop and flowering of the upcoming main crop, farmers said.
"It was raining almost everyday before April, but the rains are now intermittent and sunshine is good. When you have that combination, there is no risk of black pod," Ebenezer Akinmode of Tonikoko Farmers Union in south-west Ekiti state told Reuters. The break in heavy rainfall gave farmers a chance to spray their plantations to minimise the effect of a black pod attack, and ferment and dry harvested mid crop beans, growers said.
"Chemicals were distributed to farmers in time and a number of farms have been sprayed, so the threat of disease has reduced significantly," Lasun Adesoko, a farmer in south-west Oyo state said.
Growers in the south-east, Nigeria's second main cocoa region which shares the same climate with neighbouring Cameroon, also said the risk of a disease outbreak had retreated due to improved weather conditions. "The rains have not ceased completely, but there is usually plenty of sunshine in between the rains, so there is nothing to worry about," said Gabriel Ogar, a grower in Ikom in Cross River state, the cocoa hub of the south-east.
But analysts said it was too early to dismiss the threat of the disease because the heaviest downpours were yet to come and chemicals were either scarce or too expensive in many states. "Let's wait and see what happens in June/July when the big rains come. If it rains persistently, then black pod would be a more serious threat than many think," one analyst said. Black pod is a fungal disease that first appears as a small spot on the pod surface and later spreads to the bean itself.