African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (2), pp. 143-150, February 2005          
ISSN 1684–5315 © 2005 Academic Journals

Review

Crop protection strategies for major diseases of cocoa, coffee and cashew in Nigeria

T. O. Adejumo

Dept. of Microbiology, Adekunle Ajasin University, P.M.B. 01, Akungba-Akoko,Ondo State, Nigeria. E-mail: toadejumo@yahoo.com.

Accepted 19 December, 2004

A great percentage of people in the developing countries are engaged in agriculture, but the yields of their produce are low due to diseases that plague their crops. In Nigeria, crop protection measures that are cheap, simple, cost-effective and sustainable are desirable to combat Phytophthora pod rot (black pod) and cocoa swollen shoot virus diseases of cocoa, coffee leaf rust and coffee berry diseases, inflorescence blight disease of cashew in order to make farming profitable and sustainable. Disease control strategies include the use of resistant cultivars, chemicals, biological, botanicals, cultural, physical controls and application of biotechnology, each of which is discussed in this paper.

Key words: Crop protection, cocoa, coffee, cashew, diseases.