La poda y su efecto sobre la incidencia de enfermedades en el cultivo de cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) producido en el Ecuador

This research on pruning and the effect on the incidence of diseases in cocoa cultivation (Theobroma cacao L.) produced in Ecuador. Cocoa cultivation is of great socio-economic importance in Ecuador and Latin America because it is one of the main export products is why the cocoa sector in Ecuador contributes 5% of the national economically active population (PEA) and 15% of rural PEA. The agronomic management of this crop is based on different cultural tasks one of the main pruning, this activity is of paramount importance because it allows to stimulate the development of the plant, maintain a conformation of the tree and a height of 3 to 4 meters allowing a better luminosity, mayor ease of execution of cultural practices. Inmany cases pruning is done erroneously causing serious problems such as the manifestation of diseases, poor formation of the plant, generating economic losses to the producer this is due to the lack of unknownness, lack of information on the part of the farmers.