In the Tano South district in the Ahafo region of Ghana, the last two weeks have seen constant and abundant rainfalls, which is contrary to the norm.
However, since April the precipitations have been on par with the past or, at times, even below average. The distribution of rainfall (number of wet days) and temperatures have also stayed close enough to the long-term average, such that they did not significantly influence the spread of the black pod pathogen in the field.
However, thanks to the good climatic conditions before the little dry season and to the excellent field maintenance undertaken by the farmers, the pathogen population was lower than average when the recent rainfalls hit – an event which would normally have created favourable conditions for its growth.
In conclusion, Black Pod continues to be under control, despite the recent wet period. If farmers continue to intervene in September to control the Black Pod spread, the pathogen should not pose a threat to the current crop this season.
