INSECTICIDE HANDLING IN COCOA PRODUCTION IN FOUR REGIONS IN GHANA

Management of insect pests of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) using insecticides began in 1950 and has since gone through various programmes with concomitant challenges and successes. Presently Imidacloprid (Confidor®), Bifenthrin (Akatemaster®) and Thiamethoxam (Actara®)are recommended by Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) for the management of insect pests. A survey was conducted in the Ashanti, Eastern, Volta and Western Regions of Ghana using questionnaires and farm visits of 147 cocoa farmers’ fields to gather information on the characteristics of the farmers and insecticide handling and use by respondents. The survey showed that males dominated cocoa farming (72.7%) and most of them aged between 50 and 60 years. About 44% have had basic education whilst 37.5% of them belonged to farmer based organizations. About 52.8% of the farmers own motorized mistblower but 47.2% of the farmers use knapsack in the absence of a mistblower. About 44.8% do their own spray application whereas 55.2% hire labour. About 60.9% of the population across the regions read the label on the insecticides before application. A few (31.6 %) of the respondents put on the full personal protective costume during insecticide application and 21.9% do not use any protection. There was a positive correlation between farmers’ membership of farmer-based organisation and the costume-wearing farmers in the Ashanti, Eastern and Volta Regions and it was significant in the Ashanti region. It isrecommended that training and monitoring programmes be organized for farmers on the need to handle pesticides properly for personal and environmental safety and consumer benefit.Keywords: Insecticides; pest management; cocoa farmers; safet

Incipient bifenthrin-resistance in field populations of cocoa mirids, Distantiella theobroma (Dist.) and Sahlbergella singularis Hagl. (Hemiptera: Miridae)

Bifenthrin is one of the insecticides approved by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) for the control of cocoa mirids. Bifenthrin-resistance levels of D. theobroma and S. singularis collected from different locations in the Eastern Region (ER), Volta Region (VR) and Central Region (CR) were determined by calculating their resistance ratios (RRs). The highest RRs for S. singularis were recorded from New Tafo in the ER and Logba Alikpati in the VR, which displayed 6-fold and 6.2- fold bifenthrin-resistance, respectively. Populations of S. singularis from Pankese in the ER and Likpe in the VR also displayed 3.6-fold and 3.9-fold bifenthrin-resistance, respectively. The D. theobroma population that displayed the highest bifenthrin-resistance of 3.7-fold was from New Tafo. The results show incipient bifenthrin-resistance in field populations of D. theobroma and S. singularis, which requires the implementation of effective resistance management strategies to prevent full-blown resistance in the cocoa mirids

Evaluation of the Efficacy of Levo 2.4 Sl against the Cowpea Beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) on Stored Cowpea Grains

The adverse effects of synthetic pesticides on the environment and non-target organisms have ne-cessitated the exploration of other safer and equally effective pesticides for the management of pests. The efficacy of Levo 2.4 SL (Oxymatrine 2.4 SL; Prosular oxamatrine a. i.), a botanical, against Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) infestation on stored cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.) (Walp.) was investigated in the insectary of the Entomology Section of the Faculty of Agriculture of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The effects of Levo on the adult mortality, ovipoistion and F1 progeny of the insect were evaluated. Thus 200 g of cowpea grains were treated with three dosages; 0.01 ml, 0.02 ml and 0.03 ml of Levo 2.4 SL. Betallic Supper 2.5 EC (Primophos methyl and Permethrin a. i.) was used as a check and a Control (untreated grains) was also maintained. The mean number of eggs laid and the number of F1 adults that emerged were significantly (P < 0.05) smaller in the Levo treated grains than the control. The higher dos-ages of Levo 2.4 SL were more effective against C. maculatus infestation and damage. At the end of four months of storage, Levo at all the dosages offered complete protection to the cowpea grains. Levo 2.4 SL at a dosage of 0.02 ml is considered the right dosage that can give optimum protection to cowpea grains against C. maculatus