| Summary: | Annual losses of cocoa in Ghana to insect pests are significant. The use of integrated pest
management (IPM) tools is critical for effective pest management. Previous studies on
the subject have considered how farmers perceive the economic impact of insect pests on
cocoa. These studies however did not investigate farmers’ ability to identify pests, associated
damage symptoms and their implications for pest management. The current study,
therefore, assessed farmers’ ability to correctly associate insect damage with the pest
species that caused it. A total of 600 farmers were interviewed in the Eastern, Ashanti,
Western, Brong Ahafo and Central Regions of Ghana with a structured open and closedended
questionnaire. Most farmers (>85%) were unable to correctly identify and associate
pests to their damage. The majority (>80%) of farmers also could not link the immature
stages of insect pests to their adult stages. Wrong identification of the major pests
(>85%) led to a wide variation in the timing of insecticide application amongst farmers.
The majority of the farmers (60%) interviewed had not received training in insect pest
identification. The study shows that 90% of the farmers, who had received some training,
got it from the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED) of the Ghana Cocoa Board
(COCOBOD). Almost all respondents (98%) agreed that correct pest identification is
critical for effective pest control. The importance of pest identification and monitoring as
a component of IPM is discussed.
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