Bio-pesticide registration for fruit and cocoa growers
About

Updated June 2011
The project has resulted in the Environmental Protection Agency and the Ghanaian registration committee for the first time working with the private sector in the registration of BCAs in Ghana. The effect has been very positive and it is hoped will lead to expansion of this market in the future.

In less than 12 months the Real IPM Company and partners have succeeded in registering and marketing biological control agents in Ghana. This is the first time ever that biological control agents have been registered for use in the country.

Four biological control agents are now registered and approved for use by the Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana. Mass production methods have been developed and distributors in Ghana have been signed up.

The first four biological control agents are:

Campaign (trade name) is a fungus (Metarhizium anisopliae) for the control of mealy bugs in papaya. This product has been commercially launched and has already had its first sales. Campaign is likely to also be effective against thrips, white fly and caterpillars.

Sustain (trade name) is a fungus (Trichoderma asperellum) which has been registered for the control of Phytophthora in pineapples, but which will also be registered for the control of black pod disease in cocoa. This product has been commercially launched in June 2011.

Heltec and Plutec (trade names) are two baculoviruses (HaSNPV and PlxyGV) that are undergoing efficacy trials for the control of bollworm in tomatoes and against diamondback moth which is a major pest of cabbages and other Brassica. Encouragingly, toxicological trials of the baculoviruses being carried out in India have demonstrated no toxic effects. These products are awaiting their commercial launch.

Note
Ghana exports 90,000 tonnes of fresh produce per year to the European Union. The cocoa sector in Ghana, which has 800,000 small-scale growers and produces 379,000 tonnes per year, is also under pressure to adopt integrated pest management (IPM).

To maintain or grow its EU market share, Ghana needs to reduce its pesticide use; the process of biocontrol agent registration is therefore key. By using the recently strengthened registration process, testing the legislation with model organisms, involving two biocontrol companies and promoting the process, the project will increase the use of biocontrol agents and reduce the dependency on conventional pesticides.

The original application to RIU included the registration of two products for use in cocoa production. This had to become a longer-term objective because products for use in cocoa production require the approval of, and field trials, by CRIG (Cocoa Research institute of Ghana) before registration can occur.

However, a major step in this process has been achieved, in that both the Metarhizium products and the Trichoderma product have been registered in Ghana on other crops and so a precedent has been set. The extension of registration to cocoa from pineapple (Trichoderma) and papaya (Metarhizium) to cocoa, it is hoped, will not be such a big step.

Making these products commercially viable will depend on two things. First is what is known as 'extension of label' - getting recognition that the products are effective on a wider range of crops. The second relies on getting other countries to recognise Ghana's registration of these products and supporting fast-tracking of the products into other territories.