The concept of an innovation platform is increasingly used in interventions inspired by agricultural innovation systems thinking, as a way of bringing stakeholders from a sector together to enable transformative change. An essential role on such innovation platforms is thought to be that of the 'innovation champion', but this role has so far not been unravelled. In this paper, by applying insights from management science to analyse three innovation platforms in West Africa from the Convergence of Sciences-Strengthening Innovation Systems programme (CoS-SIS), different types of innovation champions are mapped. The authors conclude that making a distinction among different types of innovation champions can be useful in identifying members for innovation platforms, but that the specifics of agricultural innovation appear not to be adequately captured by roles attributed to existing categories of innovation champions. Further research is needed to ascertain whether other categories exist, and how different innovation champions interact over time on agricultural innovation platforms.

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Farming systems in cocoa over the last three decades have involved the use of new hybrid plant varieties, which produce pods throughout the year, intensified fertilizer use, and misguided pesticide applications by some farmers. Resource availability in terms of abundance of feeding and breeding sites and ecological disruption as a consequence of climate change and bad agronomic practices have increased the importance of insect pests on cocoa. Historically the major management tool for hemipteran pests has been calendar spraying with conventional insecticides. Considerable progress was made at the turn of the last century by replacing organochlorine insecticides for cocoa mirid control. But inappropriate timing and inefficient application is probably reducing the viability of otherwise acceptable products in some areas. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy for mirids and other insect control should involve great investment in pest surveillance, and be based primarily on the use of cultural practices of removal of excess chupons, shade management and Opinion Article

Management of insect pests of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) using insecticides began in 1950 and has since gone through various programmes with concomitant challenges and successes. Presently Imidacloprid (Confidor®), Bifenthrin (Akatemaster®) and Thiamethoxam (Actara®) are recommended by Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) for the management of insect pests. A survey was conducted in the Ashanti, Eastern, Volta and Western Regions of Ghana using questionnaires and farm visits of 147 cocoa farmers' fields to gather information on the characteristics of the farmers and insecticide handling and use by respondents. The survey showed that males dominated cocoa farming (72.7%) and most of them aged between 50 and 60 years. About 44% have had basic education whilst 37.5% of them belonged to farmer based organizations. About 52.8% of the farmers own motorized mistblower but 47.2% of the farmers use knapsack in the absence of a mistblower. About 44.8% do their own spray application whereas 55.2% hire labour. About 60.9% of the population across the regions read the label on the insecticides before application. A few (31.6 %) of the respondents put on the full personal protective costume during insecticide application and 21.9% do not use any protection. There was a positive correlation between farmers' membership of farmer-based organisation and the costume-wearing farmers in the Ashanti, Eastern and Volta Regions and it was significant in the Ashanti region. It is recommended that training and monitoring programmes be organized for farmers on the need to handle pesticides properly for personal and environmental safety and consumer benefit. pong, 2006). Cocoa mirids commonly called capsids have been recognised as serious pests since 1908 (Dungeon, 1910) due to their devastating effect on cocoa production. Mirid control has for more than a century been based on

Fusarium and Lasiodiplodia species invade feeding lesions caused by mirid bugs (Distantiella theobroma [Dist.] and Sahlbergella singularis Hagl.) and inflict serious damage and yield loss to susceptible cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) varieties in West Africa. As it is the fungal invasion rather than the physical feeding injury by mirids that cause dieback and tree death in cacao, a dieback resistance strategy in cacao crop must take into account resistance to these causal agents. Twenty-nine and 15 cacao genotypes were screened in the laboratory and the greenhouse, respectively, for resistance to isolates of Fusarium decemcellulare and Lasiodiplodia theobromae at Imperial College London's Biological Sciences Campus, UK. Resistance was assessed as the size of necrotic lesions, distance of fungal colonisation in the stem and the proportion of seedlings with dieback symptoms. Genotypic differences were found in both laboratory and greenhouse tests among various cacao genotypes, and the clones showed a wide range of disease reactions from highly resistant to very susceptible. The pathogenicity of F. decemcellulare and L. theobromae were similar in this study, which suggests that a breeding programme for controlling one of the pathogens can have benefit against the other. Direct significant correlations (r = 0.7) were obtained between visual dieback assessment scores and the percentage crosssectional area of stem necrosis. Moreover, the response of inoculated stem segments corresponded to the reaction of intact plants despite the variation in the used methodology. Three cacao genotypes (CATIE 1000, T85/799 and MXC 67) were resistant or moderately resistant to F. decemcellulare and L. theobromae. These genotypes could be useful sources of resistance to both pathogens and other wilt causing pathogens in cacao.