3.3.3 Responsible/Rational Pesticide Use as a component of GAP

An international meeting - the Round Table for a Sustainable Cocoa Economy (RSCE I), held in Ghana during October 2007, included cocoa farmers, cooperatives, traders, exporters, processors, chocolate manufacturers, wholesalers, governmental and non-governmental organizations, financial institutions as well as donor agencies.

A consensus was reached on a number of action points for maintaining sustainable cocoa, often called the “Accra Agenda”.

Pest management issues featured highly in the list of priorities, with the following key needs (amongst several others) identified:

• Remunerative prices and increased income for cocoa farmers, including consideration of the impact of fiscal policies;
• Development and promotion of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) to increase productivity and quality in a manner that respects both the environment and social standards;
• Reduction of losses due to pests and diseases by introduction of Integrated Pest Management (IPM);
• Promotion and support of local services providing improved planting materials, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. and provision of related training;
• Mechanization of farm operations to reduce costs where possible;
• Increased labour efficiency through better management practices;
• Sustainable commercialization includes the development of efficient supply chains to increase the margin received by farmers, while maintaining cocoa quality and improving traceability in the value chain.

As its name suggests, GAP encompasses a large number of crop production procedures that must be safe, effective, recommended and enforced, either on a national or crop basis. 

The objective of using a pesticide is to achieve effective pest control, while leaving a minimum amount of pesticide residue on the crop (within practical limits). 

These limits are regulated, but established principally by the agrochemical company wishing to register its products, having carried out a number of trials that conform to agreed and rigorous protocols.

Insect pest and disease control strategies that rely on the application of a limited number of pesticides are almost certainly not sustainable. 

A research and extension ‘vacuum’ in appropriate pesticide research since the late 1980s has combined with years of poor returns for cocoa crops. 

In consequence, most smallholder farmers are unaware of recent control agents and techniques for pest management, and often apply older, often more hazardous, products.

There is now an urgent need for implementation programmes that transfer rational pesticide techniques in each of the major cocoa growing regions, firstly addressing questions such as:

• What are the true levels of pest control and operational costs (over large areas)?
• Can we replace all the currently used and hazardous (WHO/EPA class I and II) products in the near future?
• Why are older pesticides so popular?
• Are there other control techniques that have a minimal environmental impact, yet effectively control target pests?

The term responsible (or rational) pesticide use (RPU [1], or RU is used in CropLife literature) describes the targeted and safe use of pesticides as part of a pest management strategy. 

Three key elements to mitigate the adverse effects of pesticides are improvements in the selectivity of the products themselves and the precision of their application in both space and time. 

Other potential benefits include: reduction of costs (for both pesticides and labour), improved safety and reduced environmental impact. RPU therefore is about the tactics and tools for managing issues such as residues within an IPM strategy, which in turn is a component of Good Agricultural Practices. 

Subsequent chapters attempt to provide essential background information, leading to a practical description of ways in which pesticides should be used; namely:

1. Diagnosis of the problem
2. Product selection
3. Safe and efficient application techniques
4. Timing of application - not only for better pest control, but specifically for residue management communicated to the user via the Pre-Harvest Interval (PHI - which is the minimum permitted time between the last spray and harvest).

In practice, RPU can only really be achieved with accuracy and understanding about pesticides themselves, their properties and application techniques; this will be the subject of Chapter 4.