New RADA Strategy Yields Positive Outcomes in Fight Against Cocoa Frosty Pod Rot

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) has reported a positive response from cocoa farmers across Jamaica to newly introduced techniques aimed at combating the frosty pod rot disease.

These techniques, which include top grafting and basal grafting, have proven instrumental in enhancing the resilience of cocoa fields against the disease.

Director of Project Management and Coordination at RADA, Dwayne Henry, told JIS News that the techniques, though simple, have proven effective.

“Sometimes some technologies are pretty simple [and] create a big impact for us. We are facilitating training of farmers in both top grafting techniques and basal grafting techniques as a means of adding disease tolerance and variety to existing cocoa fields in order to increase the resilience,” Mr. Henry said.

Top grafting involves attaching disease-tolerant cocoa varieties to the healthy upper sections of mature plants.

“If you have an old field and you want to improve the resistance to frosty pod rot disease, some of those trees which are old, we graft the new tolerant varieties on a healthy part of the whole plant, and once that catches and starts bearing fruit, we remove the old plant to allow that tolerant variety to help you in managing the disease,” the Director outlined

He further explained that basal grafting, by contrast, involves introducing disease-tolerant cocoa varieties at the base of the plant.

“When that catches, we remove the other section of the plant. So that reduces the time that the crop will be out of production literally, because you don’t remove the old crop until the new crop is actually bearing,” Mr. Henry said.

He pointed out that “after we train farmers, they know what the diseased pods look like”.

“If the diseased pods are not in the field and the fungus is not allowed to build up, they can remove them and either bury them or heap them and add agricultural lime or marl to break down the pods and kill the fungus quickly,” Mr. Henry added.

The effectiveness of these techniques is reflected in the marked increase in cocoa pod yields and the notable decline in the incidence of frosty pod rot.

“We have assessed a consistent and healthy increase in pod production [ranging] between 52 per cent and 78 per cent, after interventions. Among involved farmers, we have seen an average 91 per cent reduction in the disease, and up to 100 per cent removal of the frosty pod rot disease from their fields,” Mr. Henry reported.