Case4- Ghana West Africa 2013

During December 2013 and February 2014 Ecoman Biotech performed its first outreach into the global market by establishing a subsidiary company in Accra, Ghana, leading an Area Wide Control Program (AWCP) for fruit fly control in over 1,000 acres of mango plantations, associated with Three mango grower associations.

Damage Caused by Oriental Fruit Fly

Those areas for mangoes are a known food source for the Oriental Fruit Fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) causing more than 50% overall damage rate to the fruits, resulting in heavy losses.

Meeting with Local Associations

The first step of the AWCP required a demonstration of the product's high efficacy: A 100 Ha trial plot of mango crops was chosen, consisting of a unity of the plots owned by the participating associations, who were then organized for the training.

End-User Training

It is critical to involve the local farmers and growers in the stages of the fruit fly control scheme to make it efficient for long term. And thinking about the local issues and raising important topics, better involvement and understanding are important for better application and increased awareness.

On-site training with farmers

With the backing of local county officials and the local university, we began training and education meetings for the local stakeholders, laying down our fruit fly monitoring and control scheme - following this routine in all Three areas.

Monitoring Inspection

Monitoring prior to control is key for an efficient fruit fly control plan, allowing us to learn the local fruit fly dynamics, thus help identifying the best time to do the spraying work.

Local Ecoman Biotech Spray team in Ghana

Spraying the Great® Fruit Fly Bait

Monitoring and Post-Control Surveys

After Application, the Control Efficacy of our GREAT® fruit fly bait is examined by us, followed by experts from the University of Ghana.

For the three mango association, the mango protection result can be shown from the rejection rate during procession:

l                      Alphose Farms (450 ac. ): mango rejection rate by HPW Processing reduced from over 50% to 5%;

l                      Kobbian Farms Nkronza (750 ac. ): mango rejection rate by Blue Skies Produce Company reduced from over 20% to less than 10%

l                      Cotton Web Link Somanya (350 ac.): mango rejection rate reduced from 40-60% to about 15%

Result:

The trial resulted significant reduction in fruit damage rate caused by the fruit fly from 30% - 40% to less than 1%, when compared with the same season of the previous year proving the high efficiency, cost-effectiveness and practicality of Great ,leading to increased wide-scale operation and use of our products, with increased demand for Ecoman Biotech's area wide control products and methods in other areas.