Control Of Parasitic Diseases In Cocoa Using Time Series Analysis

Author(s): Eric Neebo Wiah, S. Katara, E. Danso-Addo

Ecological disturbances exert an influence on the emergence and proliferation of parasitic diseases, including, Black pod disease. Each environmental change, whether occurring as a natural phenomenon or through human intervention, changes the ecological balance and context within which disease hosts or vectors and parasites breed, develop, and transmit disease. This paper deals with these important diseases in the Ghanaian cocoa industry.The objective is to find out whether rainfall and temperature have any effect on these diseases so that plans can be made to control them. The paper has identified the models of these important cocoa diseases in Western region. The results from this work show that the dependence of phytophthora on both temperature and rainfall was not significant and rainfall may not have much influence on black pod, if any. It also came out that, if the infected trees are cutoff and burnt, the other trees may not be infected.

Parasitic diseases, Time Series Analysis, Akaike Information Criteria

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