Incidence and Severity of Viral and Fungal Diseases of Chili Pepper (Capsicum frutescens) in Some Districts in Ghana

Aims: To assess the incidence and severity of viral and fungal diseases infecting pepper in some major producing areas in Ghana and to identify farmers’ agronomic practices that influence disease incidence and severity.
Study Design: Descriptive survey involving household and field surveys.
Place and Duration of Study: Sekyere South district of the Ashanti Region, Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem district of Central Region, Kintampo South district of Brong-Ahafo Region and North and South Tongu districts in the Volta Region, between April 2013 and September 2013.
Methodology: Questionnaire with both open ended- and closed ended- questions was administered to 30 pepper farmers purposively selected from each of the selected district in each Region in order to determine the farmers’ awareness of the fungal and viral diseases and their agronomic practices which could affect the disease spread in their farms. Thirty hot pepper fields from each district were selected randomly and forty (40) plants from each of the fields were observed for disease incidence and severity. Pepper diseases assessed were pepper mosaic, phytophthora leaf blight, cercospora leaf spot, fruit rot and leaf anthracnose.
Results: There were high incidences (up to 86.3%) and severities (11.8-32.1%) of pepper mosaic disease, leaf anthracnose, anthracnose fruit rot, phytophthora blight and cercospora leaf spot in all the fields surveyed. Majority of the farmers use seeds from their own farms (30-60%), practice monocropping (50-73.7%), rotate their pepper crops with tomatoes and garden eggs (43-60%) and manage diseases in their farms using synthetic pesticides (50-70%).
Conclusion: The adoption of poor agronomic practices by the farmers was the major contributing factor for the high incidences and severities of viral and fungal diseases in their farms.