COCOA farmers, despite a $300-million backing from the Government, are taking a pounding in their war with the stubborn and deadly frosty pod rot disease, which has wiped out 80 per cent of Jamaica’s cocoa production each year since 2016.

The highly contagious disease, which attacks the fruit of the cocoa plant, was first discovered in Jamaica five years ago and has defied the stern efforts of the industry and the Government by reducing crop yield by up to 80 per cent per year, the agriculture ministry confirmed.

For its part, the Government threw in over $300 million to tackle the disease, focusing its spend on cultural control, chemical control, research and development, surveillance, and monitoring and evaluation, but have little to show for it.

Jamaica’s cocoa is recognised by the International Cocoa Organization as one of eight with 100 per cent exclusive ‘Fine Flavour’ status, giving it respectability among cocoa-producing countries of the world.

With the coming rainy season when the frosty pod rot is at its most deadly, the Government is urging cocoa farmers to intensify efforts to combat the fungus by consistently implementing follow-up strategies within their fields as outlined by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries’ Plant Quarantine/Produce Inspection Branch, such as regular pruning of trees at least twice a year with an emphasis on maintaining a manageable height of 10-12ft and allowing at least 50-70 per cent sunlight into the field.

Sanitation measures such as weed and pest control along with the removal of infected cherrelles and pods from trees are also heavily advised.

Additionally, cocoa farmers should cover infected pods with agricultural lime and spray their fields with copper-based fungicide using a motorised mist blower.

These measures are instrumental in lessening the disease and its spread within and between fields, the experts suggested.