Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease Control Unit

Work Responsibilities and Programmes

Extension staff at each level work to establish implementable and monitorable work programmes.

Extension Field Assistants (EFAs) work on the basis of a four-week work cycle. They have divided their areas of control into sixteen sub-units, each with approximately equal number of cocoa farmers.

The farmers in each sub-unit are visited on one specific day in the four-week cycle (e.g. on the second Tuesday of every month, which to the farmers would be known as every fourth Tuesday). The schedule of visits is established taking into account local market and taboo days. For most of the weeks one day is left unscheduled so that any missed visit can be made up. In addition to these scheduled and unscheduled visit days, one day in each four-week cycle is for in-service training of EFAs and STAs.

Once the programme of an ETA has been established it is made known to all farmers in his jurisdiction and remains unchanged. The purpose of such a programme is to ensure that each extension worker systematically covers all farmers and locations in his area. Farmers know when the extension worker is to visit them and supervision of the EFA`s work is made easy. There is adequate flexibility to make up for missed visits and PEAs receive frequent guidance and training. EFAs do not sell or distribute farm inputs, though they are involved in monitoring the demand and supply of inputs.

At the Regional and Headquarters levels, technical specialists support extension field activities and in-service training, and have close coordination with CRIG and other cocoa farmer support services. These specialists, along with the Regional Cocoa Officers, are the main trainers of STAs and EFAs in their four-weekly in-service training and work review sessions.