6093

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Farms at Anloga and other districts in the Volta Region have been 

bedeviled by a strange disease, which is undermining the growth of 

crops and killing them early before the harvest period. The cause of 

the disease is not immediately known and it is virtually eating up 

all crops on farms, compelling farmers to seek remedy to the problem.



Simon Akukorkor Avor, the 1999 National Shallot Farmer, has, on 

behalf of other farmers in the region, appealed to the Food and 

Agriculture Ministry through the Volta Agriculture Extension Officer 

to dispatch experts to the region to study the situation and find 

ways of controlling it.



He expressed concern that farmers may not be able to harvest any crop 

during this farming season, should things continue as they are now. 

He explained that the disease normally attacks crops like shallot, 

tomatoes, pepper, okra, and carrot, adding, "The disease can start 

attacking the crops beneath the ground."



Other farmers who spoke to the Guide also contended that they were 

facing similar problems on their farms, and disclosed that about 20 

years ago, a similar disease attacked their crops. When the Guide 

visited some of the farms, farmers were seen destroying dead crops.





--

J. Allan Dodds





[It appears that the area is affected by a soil-borne pathogen that 

attacks vegetable crops. The source supplies a very blurred picture 

of what may be a tomato crop with patchy yellowing symptoms. 

Soil-borne diseases are usually complex and may involve more than one 

factor. Generally, fungi are the most important group of soil-borne 

pathogens. There are several soil-borne fungi affecting the range of 

crops described above causing root rots and wilts, for example 

_Fusarium_ or _Verticillium_ species, which could be involved in the 

problem. Species of root-knot nematodes (_Meloidogyne_) may also 

affect the hosts mentioned. Less likely in this case would be 

bacterial root rots (for example by _Erwinia_ species which have a 

wide host range). Some soil-borne viruses (genera _Furovirus_ and 

_Nepovirus_) exist as well but seem an unlikely cause for the 

problems above because of the range of crops affected.



Maps



Links



[More information on this outbreak from knowledgeable sources in the 

region would be appreciated. - Mod.MPP]

...................................dha/mj/mpp