Abstract:
Côte d’Ivoire is the worldwide largest cocoa producer. However, cocoa’s tree diseases and pests
cause more than 60% production losses. Because of the adverse environmental and human health
effects of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, in this study we tested the innovative natural
biostimulant Banzaï to minimize those losses. Two kinds of parcels were selected in cocoa’s
locality of Tafissou in Côte d’Ivoirefor this pilot study: one with an application of the
biostimulant Banzaï on a cocoa plant soil with fertilizer using during thethree last years (DAE)
and another without any fertilizer during the last three years(DSE). Our results showed
thattheplotwith biostimulantBanzaï produced more significantly cherriesand pods than the
control plots without biostimulant. Indeed, the progression rate of cherries is between 32 to
104% in the plotsDSE while it is between 47 to 154% in theplotsDAE. Also, the pods
productionwasbetween 8 and 61% in plots DSE, but it was in high progression between 74 and
226% in plots with DAE. This study suggests that the use of the biostimulant Banzaï has
positiveactions on the yield of cocoa productivity. In the second part of our project, we will
consider an epidemiological approach through questionnaire and neuropsychological tests to
assesscognitive-behavioral status impairmentas side effects in population living in cocoa areas
with application of biostimulant Banzaï compared to those of cocoa areas with traditional use of
pesticides and other agro-chemicals. |
