Accra, May 12, GNA – Scientists are appealing to the government and international bodies to provide funding to conduct a comprehensive surveillance on emerging diseases that threaten food systems in Ghana.
Ghana loses about 30 per cent of its annual crop yields to pests and disease infestation.
Dr Andrew Sarkodie Appiah, who is the Manager of the Plant Disease Research Centre of the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission and a member of the Technical Panel for Diagnostic Protocols of the International Plant Protection Convention, told journalists as part of activities to mark the International Day of Plant Health (IDPH) in Accra.
He said the United Nations had designated 12 May each year as the IDPH to raise global awareness on how protecting plant health could help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect biodiversity and the environment, and boost economic development.
Dr Appiah mentioned cassava brown streak disease, maize lethal necrosis disease, banana bunchy top virus disease, citrus greening disease and Foc TR4 as some of the diseases that threatened agriculture in Ghana.
However, these diseases are yet to be reported in the country.
“Some of the countries where some of the diseases occur are not far from us. For instance, the banana bunchy top disease has been found in Benin, causing serious destruction to plantain and banana plantations,” he stated.
He said insects (Asian citrus psyllid) that transmitted the citrus greening disease, a bacterial disease that affects citrus and result in huge production losses, had been identified in parts of Volta Region.
Dr Appiah added that the citrus greening disease, which originated from Asia, had spread globally through trade and now posed a huge economic threat to nearly all citrus-producing regions around the world.
Pest and disease, he said, reduced crop yields and led to diminished incomes for farmers, and exacerbated poverty, pushing vulnerable populations deeper into hunger and malnutrition.
Dr Appiah said known and emerging plant diseases were spreading and their effects were being exacerbated by climate change, global food trade networks and pathogen spill over.
Mr Patrick Beseh, a Scientist at Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, said although the country had a robust structure, resource constraints and attitudes of the public did not support them to deliver their mandate.
“We conduct surveillance at all ports of entry and conduct pest risk analysis on species that are alien to the country but people sneak them in at our blind side,” he said.
“Aside the smuggling, logging and illegal mining are human activities harming plant species. We are not doing enough to protect the very resources that give us food and medicines.”
Dr Fidelis Ocloo, the Deputy Director of Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research, Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, said a Plant Disease Research Centre had been established to serve as a diagnostic centre to test plant pathogens and promote plant health in the country.
GNA