Capacity building of the COCOBOD's CSSVD unit for digital maps management in support of the Cocoa swollen shoot viral disease control management program

Gyamfi, Simon, Emmanuel Amamoo-Otchere & Foster Mensah

One major environmental problem facing Ghanaas cocoa industry is the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Viral Disease (CSSVD). The only remedy is cutting down the infected cocoa trees to prevent spread to other neighbouring cocoa trees. This viral disease vector spread is the mealy bug. It thrives on host trees some of which provide shade to the cocoa trees. Since it was detected in the 1930s, the control program has created a stock of cartographic information in the form hand drafted maps of farms that were treated. A cartographic unit was established within the Cocoa Division of the then Ministry of Agriculture for this purpose. The field mapping was carried out by a core of field assistants (FAs), who were trained in the use of chain and compass methods of surveying. The work of the FAs in connection with the Swollen Shoot Disease Control was and is still to search for outbreaks, carry out chain and compass survey of the location of the farm sites and to measure the outbreak and treated areas. The chain and compass measurements were then brought to the drawing office for conversion into hand-drawn maps. The base map into which the field data were transferred was the Ghana Survey Topographic Map sheets (the 1/62,500 series and the 1/50,000 series). The cocoa farm maps were organized into Cocoa Block Maps, which were in turn organized into Cocoa Sector Maps. Over 3000 Sector Maps exist in hand-drawn mode, some on non-shrinkable, others on shrinkable tracing material. With the arrival of the digital technology, the need has arisen for conversion of the Sector Maps to digital for downstream geographic information system-driven management of the records. The cartographic staff of the COCOBODDs CSSVD Unit needed to be up-graded with the digital culture. The project for the digital technology conversion has largely succeeded. GISequipment procurement and installation of the database, re-training of the CSSVD staff have been completed. The Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services (CERSGIS) carried out the Capacity-building Project.

Event: 5th FIG Regional Conference for Africa : Promoting Land Administration and Good Governance

Document type:Capacity building of the COCOBOD's CSSVD unit for digital maps management in support of the Cocoa swollen shoot viral disease control management program (1228 kB - pdf)