Ghana

Army Worms Invade Ghana
Discovery News, July 2, 1999

Millions of destructive army worms have overrun 322,000 acres of Ghana's croplands, causing extensive damage. Ghana's state-owned newspaper, Graphic, stated that the worms have devoured an average of 2,500 acres of cereal crops each day in eastern parts of the country. Fields of rice, maize and millet have been laid waste by the pests. Agricultural officials are now concerned that the worms will move to the six bordering districts as well. The larvae of army worms travel in multitudes, destroying any fields or grasslands they inhabit.

W. Africa 00/01 Cocoa Crop to Start Slowly
Reuters, June 16, 2000

Cocoa crop forecasters say their pod counters are seeing a weaker than average early development of main cocoa crops in Ivory Coast and Ghana, indicating a slow start for the 2000/2001 season. Another forecaster said he saw earlier poor pod counts confirmed by low totals from counts which came in over the weekend. His June 6 report said the current setting in Ghana and Ivory Coast is lower than any other during the previous decade. The current rate of setting is more than 35 percent below average, he reported. He said that there was still room for things to get better but that the probability of a bumper crop is close to zero.