100 000 cocoa plantation acres will be destroyed over the next few years in an attempt to curb the Swollen shoot, a disease that devastates the production of contaminated areas and threatens the orchard of the world’s cocoa leader.
The uprooting operation was launched this January 22 in Oukoukoffikro, a village located in the center west of the country, by the director general of the Council Coffee Cacao, Yves Koné. It is indeed the only solution that presents itself to an evil for which there is no treatment. “(…) the disease is progressing in the orchard and the uprooting of sick cocoa trees is the only solution to this scourge,” said the head of the CCC.
Discovered in the 1940 years, the swollen shoot is an endemic viral disease that rages in West Africa and spreads through mealybugs. The virus attacks the leaves and then the twigs before destroying the roots of the plants and cocoa pods. The most virulent forms of the disease causing the fall in yields and death of cocoa appeared from 2003. It is estimated that in infected plantations, crop losses range from 25% in the first year to the total loss of production after 3 to 5 years.
“As the disease continues to grow, we must intensify ongoing grubbing operations to eliminate all identified outbreaks that are the source of disease spread in the orchard,” said Yves Koné.
The operation will cost 34,5 billion FCFA, 52,6 million euros. Impacted farmers will receive 50 000 FCFA (about 76 euros) per hectare of plantation destroyed. They will also receive seedlings of “Mercedes Cacao”, a high-yielding variety, to revive their plantation.
The Swollen shoot mainly affects the regions of central western Ivory Coast, in the areas of Bouaflé, Sinfra and Soubré.
