Cocoa Pod Diseases: Causal Agents and Control

Abstract

Crop losses due to disease are hard to quantify but a fair estimate of that caused in cocoa by pod diseases is around £1500 million per annum. There is, therefore, a strong incentive to control such diseases but the circumstances in which much of the crop is grown are such that effective chemical treatments may not be economically viable. For this reason, good management techniques also have an important part to play.