Cocoa Pest Management: Good Practices & Prevention Strategies

1. Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) andGood Warehousing Practice (GWP) in cocoa production and trade Yaoundé, 8/5/2011 Roy Bateman http://www.dropdata.org

2. Prevention (not cure!) • Pest problems • Where are pesticides used? • A Manual • Good Agricultural & Warehouse Practices • IPM (and RPU) • What to Apply? • How to apply pesticides? • When to apply? • MRLs: case studies and communication • Policy issues http://www.dropdata.org

3. Cocoa pesticides are there for a reason • Black pod diseases: Phytophthora spp. especially • P. megakarya • losses of ~90% if left untreated • respond well to chemical control … • … coupled with good cultural practices (crop sanitation, shade management, etc.) http://www.dropdata.org

4. Phytophthora disease control • Traditionally: copper (oxide, hydroxide, oxychloride etc.)protective: since 1760s • enhanced control with copper mixed with metalaxyl (1977; ~M: 1996) • other new(ish) AIs promoted (e.g. Carboxylic Acid Amide compounds: 1990s) - but are they what farmers want to use? http://www.dropdata.org

5. Insects • “Mirid blast” (tree die back) • Crop loss estimates (Ghana ann. of about 100,000 T) … so they are sprayed with insecticides http://www.dropdata.org

6. Long residual contact action Some fumigant activity Broad spectrum Now recommended: - pyrethroids- neo-nicotinoids Originally with insecticides such as HCH (lindane): 1950s - 2001 Photo: GA Matthews http://www.dropdata.org

7. Storage pests Insect Photos courtesy FERA, UK http://www.dropdata.org

8. Insects or residues? • Possibly an important source of high residues • especially sprays to sacks? • Phasing out of methyl bromide, heavy reliance on phostoxin: • resistance issues? http://www.dropdata.org

9. … all of which may leave residues • New regulations for residues on commodities in the EU, Japan & USA. • Shipments of cocoa have been rejected by Japan (including herbicide residues). • September 2008: EC/396/2005 came into force • MRLs first published as Regulation 149/2008/EC • residue tolerances of obsolete compounds (not Annex I,II) at default MRL of 0.01 mg/kg (ppm) • Improved analytical methods? http://www.dropdata.org

10. Complicated and inter-disciplinary, so… • Specific advice requested from ICCO member countries • Neglected subject, no existing manual focusing on pesticide issues in cocoa • Responsible pesticide use and its role in IPM http://www.dropdata.org

11. Context GAP, GWP: Good Agricultural (& Warehouse) Practices IPM: Integrated Pest Management Responsible Use of Pesticides http://www.dropdata.org

12. Frequently quoted: “must be produced according to GAP” FAO - “practices that address environmental, economic and social sustainability for on-farm processes, and result in safe and quality food and non-food agricultural product” What does this mean in practice? Good Agricultural PracticeGood Warehouse Practice http://www.dropdata.org

13. Responsible Pesticide Use (RPU)a sub-set of GAP and IPM: How to apply? When toapply? What to apply? targeting … http://www.dropdata.org

14. Sharing information on pesticide science Connecting interests of cocoa and other stakeholders Emphasising “safety” issues… Overall objectives of manual http://www.dropdata.org

15. What do we mean by safety?… starting in the field http://www.dropdata.org

16. “Full protective clothing should always be worn when using pesticides” http://www.dropdata.org

17. The reality? Photos: GA Matthews http://www.dropdata.org

18. Contents Back-ground “How to do?” ‘Case study’ boxes • Introduction (regulatory) • Pesticides and their properties • Safety, residues (and how to manage them) • Good agricultural practices • Good crop storage practices • Recommendations • Appendices (including ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ AI lists) http://www.dropdata.org

19. Introduction and background • Update on legislation (e.g. 91/414/EEC to be repealed 14 June 2011 and replaced by EC 1107/2009) • Message - stay ‘ahead of the game’ • Pesticide names and formulations: importance of accuracy • Biological activity, modes of transfer • Modes of action • “Technical problems”resistance, resurgence http://www.dropdata.org

20. Good Agricultural Practicestarts in the pesticide store: pesticide selection • Lists are unavoidable(?) http://www.dropdata.org

21. Pesticide lists: Appendix 3 (1st Edition had 2 categories) • ‘Strategic list’ for key pests: EU/Japanese/US import tolerancesand evidence of efficacy • Compounds to be used with great CAUTION (limited time remaining, etc) • Lists of experimental and other potentially useful control agents • Pesticides that MUST NOT BE USED for cocoa http://www.dropdata.org

22. Criteria for inclusion on ‘Strategic list’ • EU, Japanese, (US) import tolerances; • EU MRLs and their status should be checked regularly; those listed here refer to “Cocoa (fermented beans)” as in Reg. (EC) No 396/2005. • show acceptable levels of low mammalian toxicity and environmental impact … do notbelong to the highest toxicity group WHO/EPA Class.I. • have proven efficacious against an important pest species of cocoa, as published in (preferably refereed) literature http://www.dropdata.org

23. Legal and practical notice • Manual stresses the need for accuracy and specificity, so for practical reasons individual compounds are discussed: sometimes in detail, but … • Inclusion of compounds or products in the text is for illustration only and does not imply recommendation or otherwise • Nevertheless, an attempt is made to identify ‘strategic pesticides for cocoa’ http://www.dropdata.org

24. Pesticide labels: (Trade names are for Marketing!) • Should be part of the registration process http://www.dropdata.org

25. Labels in China http://www.dropdata.org

26. National organisations primarily responsible for pesticide registration • Cameroon: Department of Regulation and Quality Control of Inputs and Agricultural Products (MINADER) • Côte d’Ivoire: Direction de la Protection des Végétaux, du Contrôle et de la Qualité, (DPVCQ/MINAGRI), Abidjan • Ghana: Environmental Protection Agency (Ministry of Food and Agriculture), Accra • Nigeria: National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) HQ: Abuja; cocoa issues: Lagos office • Togo:Laboratoire de l’Institut Togolais de Recherche Agronomique (ITRA) http://www.dropdata.org

27. Double rate dosage Label rate Half rate MRL PHI time after application Contents (continued) • What are MRLs? • Not measures of safety! • How to avoid exceeding them • Hazards and risks • Environmental safety • Assessment of residues • Standard methods in future editions? • Good agricultural practices … http://www.dropdata.org

28. Application, starting with suggesting to farmers that tall trees are difficult: • to spray • to monitor • to harvest courtesy J. Cooper http://www.dropdata.org

29. Application: the importance of nozzles! … seeing “spray to run-off” as wasteful - costs money! http://www.dropdata.org

30. “Modern pesticides are too expensive” • Spraying less by improving efficiency • Conflict of interest with suppliers of pesticides (main source of profit) also selling sprayers http://www.dropdata.org

31. Most unlikely to originate from cocoa field e.g. 2,4-D: volatile Focus on quality along the whole supply chain High herbicide residues http://www.dropdata.org

32. Drying:also about PAH, M-OTA, etc. http://www.dropdata.org

33. Recommendations • Harmonisation of standards by importing countries • Strategic cocoa pesticides • Regional recommendations? • Strengthening of registration • R&D, communication: putting responsible pesticide use back “on the agenda” (in FFS etc.) • Developing skills in pesticide science http://www.dropdata.org

34. ‘Next generation’ of pesticide scientists? • many thanks in advance for your further ideas and comments (for 3rd edition end 2011) • websites: Download from:http://www.icco.org/sps /cocoa http://www.dropdata.org