Safe Pesticide Use and Farm Records Level 3

Who it is for. People who have finished Safe Pesticide Use and Farm Records Level 2, or can show the same skills, and who want to lead a spraying team, advise farmer groups, supply farm records to buyers, or start a spray-service or farm-input advisory business. Ghana's TVET framework places National Proficiency II below National Certificate I. This module is written at an advanced level, comparable to National Certificate I; that comparison is the author's judgement, not a CTVET ruling.

Bridge from Level 2: what you already know

Level 2 gave you the skills for one farm. Level 3 joins them into a plan, a team, a legal file and a business.

How the module works

Each unit has learning outcomes, performance criteria, the range and the evidence your assessor needs. You are judged Competent or Not Yet Competent. About 60% of the time is practical. Every unit ends with a Check yourself (three quick questions), a homework task, and often an exercise with worked answers.

Competency standard

Range. One mixed farm of vegetables or cocoa, and one farmer group of 10 to 25 people. Evidence. A written plan; decision forms; a training session plan and register; a before-and-after table; oral questions.

What a pest-management plan is

A pest-management plan is one written document for a whole farm that says what pests and diseases you expect, how you will watch for them, what you will do first, when you will spray if you must, and how you will record it. It turns the Level 2 ideas into a routine. IPM means regular scouting to learn pest numbers, action thresholds (the pest level or damage at which control pays), natural enemies, and lower-risk control before chemicals. The FAO Farmer Field School guide for fall armyworm on maize is a free model of season-long field learning in Africa.

A plan has nine parts. Think of them as nine pages in an exercise book:

1. Farm map. Sketch every field, the house, the store, the water points, the neighbours and the paths. Give each field a code (F1, F2).
2. Crop calendar. For each field: crop, planting date, growth stages, expected harvest date.
3. Pest and disease list. What hurts each crop on this farm? Ask farmers, the district agriculture officer and COCOBOD or CRIG extension for cocoa. Do not guess.
4. Scouting schedule. Who looks, how often, which fields, which day.
5. Thresholds. The level at which you act. Take them from extension advice for your crop; this book gives none. Where no threshold exists, write "ask the extension officer" and record who you asked and when.
6. Control ladder. For each pest, list in order: prevention (clean seed, rotation, sanitation), physical (hand picking, traps), biological (natural enemies, neem preparations taught by a trainer), and last, a registered product.
7. Spray decision form. One page that must be completed before any spray (see below).
8. Records. The spray diary, scouting sheets, stock list and training register.
9. Review. After each season: what worked, what cost money, what to change.

Neem. Trials at the University of Ghana showed that a water extract of neem seed gave the fewest diamondback moth and webworm on cabbage of the treatments compared. CABI PlantwisePlus with the University of Ghana trained vegetable farmers in Anloga to collect mature fruits, de-pulp, dry the seeds, pound them into a paste, mix with water, strain and spray. No soaking time, dilution or safety rule for neem was found in any source, so this book gives none. If you want to teach neem, get a trainer or extension officer to teach the quantities and keep it as a trained skill.

Step by step: build a plan for one farm

Scouting properly

Scouting means looking at the same places at regular times and counting. Use the same walk each week, stop at a fixed number of points per field, look at a fixed number of plants at each point, and write what you see. A common pattern is a "W" or zig-zag path across the field so that edges and middle are both seen (general practice; no source read, so not verified). Record: date, field, growth stage, pest or disease, count or damage score, weather, and who looked. A single bad plant is not a threshold; a trend over several weeks is.

Common mistakes. Looking only at the edge; scouting a different way each week; writing "OK" instead of a number; not scouting after rain; guessing the pest name. Photograph unknown pests and ask for identification.

The spray decision form

Before any product leaves the store, one person (you) must be able to answer these on paper:

A product that is in another farmer's shed, in an unlabelled bottle, bought from a roadside seller or without an expiry date and batch number is not a legal choice. EPA names the signs of a counterfeit: unregistered, poor labelling or a foreign language, missing manufacturer or distributor address, missing expiry date and batch number. About 1,070 pesticides were registered and 32 fake ones banned as of December 2023. The current register by name was not found; confirm any product with the EPA Western Region office or the district agriculture or COCOBOD office.

Rotating products. A common extension principle is not to use the same kind of chemical again and again on the same pest, because the pest can become resistant, so ask the dealer or extension officer for the active-ingredient group of each product and record it in the diary (general practice; no source read, so not verified here). The book gives no product or group names.

Training groups

Many farmers learn best from other farmers, in the field, over a season. The Farmer Field School approach in the FAO fall armyworm guide uses season-long field studies in groups. You can use the same idea in smaller form.

Who your learners are. In an assessment of 503 cocoa farmers, 48% of the women had no formal education compared with 15% of the men; 65% of men could identify approved and unapproved pesticides but only 5% of women could; women said they used the cheaper, more hazardous products because of affordability and peer advice; and 22% of women farmers relied entirely on spraying gangs compared with 17% of men. The authors recommended trainings that fit women's literacy levels. In Kintampo, 69.3% of households that used pesticide said women helped to spray, and half of those women had babies on their backs (summary only). So your training must work for people who cannot read, for women, and for people who carry children.

Design a session (90 minutes, example).

Adult-learning rules. Use what people already know. Demonstrate, then let them do it. Use pictograms and colour bands, not long text. Use a reader in each group for people who cannot read. Keep sessions at times when mothers and farmers can attend. Meet near the farm. Offer a seat. Give sign-language or large-print support if anyone needs it.

Never during training: open a real pesticide container; let children handle sprayers; show a dose or dilution. Use water and the empty rinsed training containers.

Measure whether training worked

Do not count only how many people came. Count what they do. Before training, observe 20 or 40 farmers in the same way (or ask a short list of yes or no practice questions) and write counts. Repeat after one season. In the INKOTA sample, boots were worn by 97.5% of cocoa farmers, a long-sleeve shirt by 83%, a hat by 73%, a mask by 31%, gloves by 10.77% and goggles by 5%; reasons for not wearing PPE were cost (51.89%), discomfort (30.50%) and scarcity (17.54%). Use those numbers as a published baseline to compare your own group against. And 23% of farmers washed PPE with other clothes, which is wrong.

Check yourself

1. Name four of the nine parts of a farm pest-management plan.
2. What must you check on a product label before it goes into a spray decision form, and where does the dose come from?
3. Why measure what trained farmers do instead of counting only attendance?

Competency standard

Range. A small spraying business with 5 to 10 workers, working on neighbouring farms. Evidence. A legal register; a licence-readiness file; an incident record; a community notice and complaints log; oral questions.

The laws in plain words

Pesticides Control and Management Act, 1996 (Act 528). We read the full text. The main points:

• s.1: No person shall import, export, manufacture, distribute, advertise, sell or use a pesticide in Ghana unless it is registered by the EPA.
• s.4: The EPA classes each product as general use, restricted use, suspended or banned.
• s.9, s.10 and s.12: Provisional clearance lasts up to a year; registration is valid for up to 3 years and renewable for 3 years at a time.
• s.15 and s.16: The EPA keeps a register and publishes the list in the Gazette each year.
• s.17: No one may import, export, manufacture, distribute, advertise or sell without a licence (dealers).
• s.21: No one may use or require an employee to use a pesticide against the Act. Where regulations require an authorised person to apply, only that person may apply. An employer must provide and require the use of protective clothing. No one may knowingly harvest or sell food treated with a pesticide except in line with the prescribed interval between application and harvest.
• s.24: The EPA may restrict or prohibit use in designated areas for set periods.
• s.25: Do not mix anything into a registered pesticide so as to change its formulation or use. Do not sell deteriorated product.
• s.27: Label and container rules; do not alter a label.
• s.28: Sellers must keep records for 10 years.
• s.31: Inspectors, including a District Assembly sub-committee member, may inspect spraying equipment, stores and disposal areas, investigate injury complaints and water pollution, and take samples.
• s.34 and s.35: Using or selling an unregistered product, dealing without a licence, or breaking s.21 is an offence. The original fine was set in old cedis (not more than 5 million) or up to 2 years in prison or both; the old-cedi amount is historic and no current GH¢ fine was verified. "I did not know it was unregistered" is no defence for the seller.

Environmental Protection Act, 2025 (Act 1124). Enacted on 6 January 2025, it replaces the EPA Act 1994 (Act 490) and turns the EPA into the Environmental Protection Authority. A law-firm summary says the Act consolidates the earlier hazardous-waste law (Act 917) and Act 528. It also says it is unlawful to manufacture, formulate, repackage, import, export, distribute, advertise, sell or use an unregistered pesticide (s.47(3)), that entities which manufacture, formulate, import, export, store, advertise or commercially apply pesticides must be licensed by the Authority, and that the Authority may order a recall or withdrawal where a registration is suspended, cancelled or banned or the shelf life has expired (s.62(1)). We could not read the Act 1124 text itself, and we did not verify whether Act 528 remains in force beside it, what the fines are in cedis, or what the Act says in the pesticide part. Teach the rules above as the rules that apply either way, and tell your learners to call the EPA.

EPA contacts shown on the EPA home page on 9 October 2026: 050 6694760 and 050 6699466, and info@epa.gov.gh. Confirm before you print them.

Licensing: when does a spraying business need a licence?

Under the law-firm summary of Act 1124, a person or business that commercially applies pesticides must be licensed by the Authority. A farmer who sprays his or her own farm is not "commercially applying" on any source we found, and no farmer or applicator certification scheme was found in the sources we checked. But a person or gang that sprays other people's farms for payment is exactly what "commercially apply" describes. Whether a small spraying gang needs the licence, and which type, was not confirmed. Do not start charging until the EPA Western Region office has told you in writing.

A community wiki (not an official page, summary only) describes the EPA process for a "commercial pest controller" licence:

1. Collect the application form from the EPA.
2. Submit it with the documents.
3. Pay the fee at an Ecobank branch against an invoice.
4. An EPA inspector visits to check storage, transport and disposal.
5. If fixes are needed, you submit a corrective action report (CAPA).

The documents it lists are: a certificate of competence in pesticide handling if applicable; Ghana Card; company registration; your employees' certificates; and an Environmental Impact Assessment or Environmental Management Plan certificate if applicable. The form asks for the number and type of equipment, the PPE, and your storage and container-disposal plan. The fee was not found. Treat this as a preparation list, not as the official rule.

Labour and safety duties of the employer

Act 528 s.21. The employer must provide and require protective clothing.

Labour Act 2003 (Act 651). Section 118: the employer must make sure every worker works under satisfactory, safe and healthy conditions, with safe plant and systems of work, information, training and supervision, protection from toxic gases, fumes and dust, and safety appliances and PPE supplied at no cost to the worker; failure without reasonable excuse is an offence. Section 119: if a worker reasonably believes there is imminent and serious danger, the worker reports to the supervisor and removes himself or herself, and the employer may not dismiss, withhold pay or order the worker back while the danger lasts. Section 120: the employer must report occupational accidents and diseases as soon as practicable and not later than seven days. A written contract is needed for work of 6 months or more (s.12), a written statement of terms within 2 months (s.13), 15 working days of paid leave (s.20) and 12 weeks of maternity leave (s.57); casual workers are paid the full minimum for each day (s.74).

Compensation. Under the Workmen's Compensation law, injured workers, including casual and temporary workers, are compensated whoever was at fault. Reports say the Insurance Act 2021 (Act 1061) makes employer's liability insurance compulsory. Whether the 1987 law was repealed was not verified. Ask the National Insurance Commission (NIC) which cover your spray service must hold.

Law status. Ghana launched its first National OSH Profile on 20 October 2025 as a base for a policy and law. A news report said Cabinet approved a workplace-safety bill. In August 2026 the Minister said the Ministry was still preparing the bill, so it is not yet law. The Labour Act applies now.

Adviser's rule for your team (an adviser's rule, not a cited law): do not let pregnant or breast-feeding women, or children, mix, spray, wash equipment or handle containers; give them tasks away from sprays. Children's exposure also comes from buying pesticide, cleaning sprayers and handling used containers, not only from spraying. Never use child labour.

Poisoning, first aid and the accident record

The chapter you learned in Level 1 still holds. Early signs of organophosphate poisoning include giddiness, headache, nausea, vomiting, heavy sweating, tight chest and small pupils; severe signs are convulsions, unconsciousness and trouble breathing, usually within 12 hours. First-aid awareness (not medical training): stop spraying; move to fresh air; remove contaminated clothes; wash skin with soap and water; flush eyes with clean running water for 15 to 20 minutes; do not induce vomiting unless the label says; get to a hospital at once and take the product container or the label. Rescuers protect themselves first. Hospital treatment is for clinicians only.

Call 112 (the national emergency number) and go to the nearest clinic. The Ghana Poison Control Centre exists under the Ghana Health Service, and a 2021 WHO directory lists its lines at Ridge Hospital, Accra: 0302 244 733, 0302 244 773 (24 hours) and toll-free 0800 100 46; call once to confirm they still work, then write them in your plan.

Community engagement

A spray service works in other people's neighbourhoods. A neighbour whose well, bees, fishpond, vegetables or children are near a field will hear about every spray. Trust is part of your licence to work.

Steps before each job.

1. Map the neighbours. From the farm map, list who is within sight of the field: houses, schools, churches, wells, streams, fishponds, beehives, grazing animals, and other farms.
2. Tell people. Visit or send a short message at least a day before: where, when, why, which field, who to call. Do not give product names or doses to the public.
3. Mark the field. Put a clear warning sign at each path into the field with the date, in pictures and words. Keep people and animals out until the label's re-entry interval has passed. The interval is copied from the label.
4. Protect water. Act 528 s.31 lets inspectors investigate water pollution and s.24 lets the EPA restrict use in designated areas. Buffer-zone distances for Ghana were not found; keep sprayers, mixing and rinsing well away from streams, wells, ponds and boreholes, never wash equipment in a stream and never spray when it can run off to water.
5. Ask about bees and fish. Ask beekeepers and fish-farmers to protect or move their hives and ponds that day. This is good practice; no Ghana source was read.
6. Keep a complaints log. Date, who, what, what you did, the result, signed. Reply within two days (good practice).
7. Hold a short community meeting once a season: what you do, what protects people, who to call, and listen.

Handling a complaint (4 steps). Listen without defending. Thank the person. Check the facts the same day (diary, weather, label). Reply in person or by call with what you found and what you will change. If someone is ill, call the clinic first and the supervisor second. The District Assembly sub-committee and EPA inspectors have powers to investigate injury complaints, so cooperate and show the diary.

Inspection readiness. An inspector may ask to see your equipment, stores and disposal areas (Act 528 s.31). Keep at hand: the licence file, the diaries, the stock list, the PPE register, training records, and receipts showing the registration number of every product.

Check yourself

1. Name two things Act 528 section 21 requires of an employer.
2. Within how many days must an employer report a work accident, and under which law?
3. Why must a spray-service owner phone the EPA before charging for spraying?

Competency standard

Range. A gang of up to 7 people with 4 to 8 knapsack sprayers on farms of 1 to 50 acres. Evidence. Equipment register; calibration sheet for at least three sprayers; a schedule; a completed job card; an audit report.

Your equipment fleet

Knapsack sprayers come in two main types: lever-operated and motorised, both described in FAO test specifications (summary only). Asking prices on Jiji Ghana listings (not verified, date of listings unknown): manual 16-litre knapsacks about GH¢159 to 260; a 20-litre manual about GH¢420; battery 18-litre about GH¢699 to 799; motorised knapsacks about GH¢2,500 to 3,499 (summary only). Get three quotes from shops in Takoradi or Tarkwa before you buy; do not trust a listing price.

How to choose.

1. Start with the crop and the job. Short crops and small plots suit a lever knapsack. Tall crops such as cocoa trees may need a motorised unit; ask COCOBOD or CRIG extension which equipment their programmes use.
2. Buy from a seller who can supply spare parts: nozzles, seals, hoses, straps, filters. A cheap sprayer with no spares is a bad buy.
3. Look for a sprayer that has a clear tank with volume marks, a strainer in the filler, a lock on the lever, padded straps and a leak-free lid.
4. Own one spare sprayer for every four in use, so a breakdown does not stop the day.
5. Mark each sprayer with a number and a use (for example, herbicide-only or other). Do not swap a sprayer used for one type of product with another. This is good practice; no source was read, so it is not verified. Ask the dealer.

Equipment register (one page per sprayer).

Maintenance schedule

Use this schedule (general good practice; the maker's manual comes first).

Never unblock a nozzle with your mouth. Never wash a sprayer or container in a stream. Never let a sprayer leak on a worker's back; a leaking sprayer is taken out of service at once.

Calibration of every sprayer (water only)

Calibration tells you how much water a sprayer puts on an acre. The label then tells you how much product goes in a tank of that size. You never need the product to calibrate, and the book never gives the product amount. The steps below are from calibration worksheets read as summaries.

Worked example (example numbers). 100 m in 72 seconds gives a speed of 360 ÷ 72 = 5 km/h. Flow 1.0 litre a minute; swath 1.5 m. Litres per hectare = 1.0 × 600 ÷ (5 × 1.5) = 80. Litres per acre = 80 × 0.4047 = 32.4 (32.376). A 16-litre tank covers 16 ÷ 32.376 = 0.49 acre. A 12-acre job needs 12 × 32.376 = 388.5 litres of water, about 24.3 tank loads. Numbers checked by script.

Work rate. Theoretical work rate (hectares per hour) = speed × swath ÷ 10. With 5 km/h and 1.5 m that is 0.75 hectare an hour, or 1.85 acres an hour. Allow time lost to refilling, turning, walking to the water point and resting. A planning figure (an example, not a rule) is 60% of the theoretical rate: 1.85 × 0.6 = 1.11 acres an hour, so about 6.7 acres in 6 effective hours. After refilling and breaks, plan the working day at a lower figure that you measure for your own gang (the example in this unit uses 5 acres per sprayer per day).

When to recalibrate. Whenever you change the nozzle, change the operator, spray on very different ground, or after a repair; and once each season. A tolerance such as "flow within 10% of the other sprayers" is an example that you may set yourself, not a standard; when a sprayer drifts outside your tolerance, replace the nozzle first.

Common mistakes. Calibrating on a smooth floor and spraying on a steep, bushy slope; timing a fast, easy walk; reading the jug at an angle; using a worn nozzle on one sprayer and a new one on another; writing the number on a scrap that gets lost.

Gang roles and size

COCOBOD's CODAPEC mass-spraying programme used a 7-member gang, supervisor included, for capsid control (summary only). You can copy the idea for a private service. An example gang of 7:

Only trained people mix. Casual helpers do not open containers.

Scheduling jobs and gangs

Capacity (example). A gang of 4 sprayers each covering 5 acres a day makes 20 acres a day. A 36-acre job needs 36 ÷ 20 = 1.8, so 2 gang-days. Water for 36 acres at 32.376 litres per acre is 1,165.5 litres, which is 72.8 tank loads of 16 litres (round up to 73), and about 9.1 loads per sprayer per day over 2 days with 4 sprayers. If water is far, add a water carrier, or the gang will stand idle. Numbers checked by script.

Weather windows. Principles only (no source read, so not verified; give no wind-speed numbers unless the label does): spray in light, steady wind blowing away from houses, crops and water; not in strong wind; not just before rain; avoid the hottest part of the day; avoid still, hot, humid conditions where fine droplets hang. If in doubt, stop and reschedule. A customer who hears "we will come tomorrow" is more forgiving than one whose neighbour's crop is damaged.

Fit the intervals. Before you accept a date, ask the customer for the picking plan. The label's pre-harvest interval and re-entry interval must fit it (Act 528 s.21 makes harvest before the prescribed interval an offence). If they do not fit, advise a different product from the registered list or a different date.

Booking order. (1) Jobs with a fixed biological deadline (a pest at the threshold now). (2) Jobs near water, houses or beehives that need extra care or a calm day. (3) Large jobs that fill whole days. (4) Everything else, first come first served. Keep a job board: date, field, acres, customer, gang, water point, status.

The job cycle: from enquiry to sign-off

Job card (the fields). Job number; customer; field code; crop and stage; acres; label numbers copied (dose, water, intervals, PPE); sprayers used (IDs); tank loads; workers and roles; weather; start and finish times; waste and rinse handling; incidents; customer signature; supervisor signature.

Quality assurance

Quality here means: the right product at the label rate on the right crop, evenly applied, without harm to people or water, and recorded.

Checks during a job.

• Spot-check one sprayer per hour: is the nozzle the same? Is the worker walking at the practised speed? Is the swath overlapped correctly (so that strips do not leave gaps or double-wet)?
• Check the tank load count against acres: if a worker uses far more or fewer tanks than the plan, something is wrong. Stop and recalibrate.
• Check PPE on every person, every time.
• Check no one is spraying against the wind or towards people.

Checks after a job. Customer walk-through and signature; photographs with permission; the supervisor reviews the diary for blanks; a short feedback question to the customer.

The safety audit

An audit looks at the system, not just today's job (compare the idea in Workplace Safety Level 3). Do one every month in season. Score each line Yes (1) or No (0).

Scoring. 20 lines. A score of 17 out of 20 is 85%. A common rule (the author's, not a standard) is that 90% or more is a pass, and any "No" on PPE, a labelled container, a child on site or a missing diary is an automatic fail until fixed. Write each "No" as an action with a name and a date and check it next month.

Corrective action in five steps

Stop the problem. Make it safe. Find the cause by asking why five times. Fix the cause, not only the symptom. Check after a month that it stayed fixed.

Check yourself

1. Write the formula for litres per hectare from speed, flow and swath.
2. Who in your gang may open a pesticide container and fill the tank?
3. Name two events that mean you must recalibrate a sprayer.

Competency standard

Range. A small vegetable or cocoa farm group selling to a buyer. Evidence. Harvest-date check; lot-code scheme; a trace test; an evidence pack; oral questions.

The words you need

• Maximum residue limit (MRL): the highest residue expected when a product is used as labelled. It is set with advice from the FAO/WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) through Codex (summary only).
• Pre-harvest interval (PHI): the minimum time between the last spray and harvest, printed on the label under the directions. The PHI exists so that residues fall within the MRL. It is different for every product and crop, so this book gives none.
• Re-entry interval (REI): the time after spraying before people may do hand work in the field. Also on the label.
• Traceability: being able to say, for any bag, crate or sack, which field it came from, when it was picked and what was sprayed on it, and to say where it went.

Under Act 528 s.21(6) it is an offence to knowingly harvest or sell food treated with a pesticide except in line with the prescribed interval. No Ghana rule gives a waiting time for a product whose label cannot be read, so do not spray with a product whose label you cannot read.

Control the harvest date

Lot codes and traceability

A simple lot code joins four things: field code, harvest date, picking group and destination. For example F2-261019-A is Field F2, picked on 19 October 2026, by group A. Write the code on a tag on each crate or bag, in the diary, and on the delivery note.

One step back, one step forward. For each lot you must be able to say (a) which diary page and which sprays belong to it (one step back), and (b) which buyer and which delivery note it went on (one step forward). Test yourself: pick a lot at random and find both answers in less than 10 minutes (a target, not a rule).

Records to keep with each lot: diary page, product receipts with the registration number and batch, calibration card, PPE register line, training register, harvest-date check, delivery note.

Hold-and-release. If a spray was wrong, a rule was broken or a buyer asks, hold the lot (red tag), decide in writing who may release it, and release only when the supervisor has checked the dates and signed. Act 1124 gives the Authority power to order a recall or withdrawal of a product whose registration is suspended, cancelled or banned or whose shelf life has expired (s.62(1)), so be ready to find which of your fields received a product.

What buyers and the state check

Residue testing in Ghana. The Ghana Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) said in November 2025 that it cannot analyse pesticide residues, only heavy metals; the last two surveys, with the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), were in 2019 and 2023 and found residue levels within acceptable values; there are no regular surveys because of resources. An older study of fruits and vegetables sampled in Accra markets in 2010 to 2012 found almost all above the MRLs (summary only). A named private laboratory and its price were not found. If a buyer needs a test, ask the buyer which laboratory and standard they accept, and who pays.

Cocoa. Only products recommended by COCOBOD and the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) should be used on cocoa; farmers used unapproved products because they were cheaper. In May 2018, CRIG and COCOBOD recommended 46 pesticides for cocoa (33 insecticides, 13 fungicides) (summary only; old). Do not copy that old list into your records; ask COCOBOD for the current one. Studies of residues in Ghana cocoa beans disagree: one 2017 study found residues below the EU limit, while a 2015 study found some Central and Western Region samples above EU and Japanese limits (summary only). EU rejection data for Ghana cocoa in 2023 and 2024 were not found. The EU residue rules are in Regulation (EC) 396/2005 (summary only).

Vegetables and exports. The earlier EU ban on Ghana's chilli, aubergine, bitter gourd, luffa and bottle gourd came from interceptions of harmful organisms (pests), not from residues, and ended around the end of 2017; Ghana then put its own indefinite ban on leafy vegetable exports in 2019 (summary only). Chilli exports have not recovered (summary only). The lesson is that a buyer's rejection may come from pests, residues, paperwork or all three, and you need records for each.

Private standards. Large buyers may ask for a farm standard, such as a good agricultural practice scheme. Which one, and what it costs, was not researched for this book. Ask each buyer in writing what they need.

The evidence pack for a buyer

Prepare a folder, ready within 10 minutes of a request:

Never write a declaration you cannot prove. "Residue-free" is a claim you cannot make without a test result that a buyer accepts.

Handling a non-conformity

A non-conformity is anything that broke a rule or a promise: a spray recorded late, produce picked before the interval, a product without a registration number, a missing label. Do not hide it.

1. Stop and hold the affected produce.
2. Tell the supervisor the same day. Write what happened and the date.
3. Find the cause with the 5 Whys.
4. Fix: delay harvest, discard or return produce that cannot be sold, replace the faulty process.
5. Tell the buyer if their produce may be affected, in writing.
6. Check after a month that the fix stuck. Record the whole case in the diary.

Containers, rinsate and waste

What farmers did in a Western North and Central sample of 503: empty containers were left on the farm (75%), burned (59%), buried (45%), thrown into a pit latrine (28%) or reused after washing (18%). Do none of these. Rinse during mixing: after emptying into the tank, fill the container about one quarter with clean water, shake about 30 seconds, pour the rinse into the sprayer, repeat three times, then puncture so it cannot be reused. FAO guidance for empty insecticide drums says rinsate may go into the spray tank, never reuse for food or water, and do not burn or bury in the field. No Ghana scheme for collecting empty containers was found: lock rinsed, punctured containers away and ask the dealer, MoFA or the EPA for a disposal route. Write the route you are told in your licence file.

Check yourself

1. What is the pre-harvest interval for, and where do you find its number?
2. Write one lot code for Field F4, picked on 5 November 2026 by group C.
3. Name three items in an evidence pack for a buyer.

Competency standard

Range. A one- to seven-person spray-service or advisory business around Akwidaa, Takoradi and nearby districts. Evidence. A registration checklist; a start-up budget; a one-page business plan; a licence-readiness file.

Two business models, and one line you must not cross

Choose a legal form

Annual returns cost GH¢175 a year, with late fees of GH¢1,000 (1 to 4 years) or GH¢2,000 (5 years or more). For a first spray service, a sole proprietor or a partnership is simplest. Spraying can hurt people, so think hard about liability: a sole proprietor's personal property can be taken to pay damages. Move to a company when contracts grow, and buy insurance either way.

Registration and licensing, step by step

1. Choose a name and register it at the Office of the Registrar of Companies.
2. Tax identity. Your Ghana Card PIN is your individual TIN; a company gets a GRA TIN after ORC registration.
3. Assembly permit. Apply for the business operating permit through the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly portal if you are in STMA, or at your own district Assembly in Ahanta West (Akwidaa) or elsewhere. Fees follow each Assembly's fee-fixing resolution; the Ahanta West fee was not verified. The STMA permit deadline is 31 March each year.
4. EPA commercial application licence. See Unit 2. The licence for entities that commercially apply pesticides comes from the Authority under Act 1124. The process listed on a community wiki is: form, documents, fee paid at Ecobank, inspection of storage, transport and disposal, then a corrective action report if needed. The fee was not found. Phone the EPA Western Region office before you promise customers a start date.
5. Environmental Impact Assessment or Environmental Management Plan certificate, if it applies to you. The wiki lists it as "if applicable". Ask the EPA whether a small spraying business needs one.
6. GNFS fire certificate for your store. Ask the Ghana National Fire Service; the AFCAS online system is described in Workplace Safety Level 3, and extinguisher servicing is for licensed contractors only.
7. Food and Drugs Authority. Spraying does not need an FDA permit on any source we found. If you ever process or pack farm produce, the FDA applies; ask.
8. Register staff with SSNIT when you hire.
9. Open a business bank account or business mobile-money wallet, separate from your own.

Order of work. Name and TIN first; then permit; then the EPA file; then insurance; then equipment. Do not buy a stock of sprayers before you know that the licence is possible.

Tax for a spray service

Modified Taxation Scheme (MTS). A resident with business income only, not VAT-registered, and not excluded (professionals, owners of several businesses or outlets, partners are excluded) may use the MTS: fixed instalments up to GH¢20,000 turnover, and 3% of turnover for GH¢20,001 to GH¢750,000. The ceiling was raised from GH¢500,000 by the Income Tax (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 1178. Pay by *880# or the MTS app. A VAT-registered business cannot use the MTS.

VAT. From 1 January 2026 the Value Added Tax Act 2025 (Act 1151) applies: VAT 15% plus NHIL 2.5% plus GETFund 2.5% is 20% in all. The registration threshold for goods rose to GH¢750,000, but for services there is no turnover threshold: a taxable supplier of services registers within 30 days of starting. Whether agricultural spraying and advisory services are taxable or exempt under Act 1151 was not verified. Ask the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Takoradi office in writing before you set your prices, because VAT changes the invoice and removes your MTS option.

Withholding tax. A paying company or institution may withhold 7.5% of services fees above GH¢2,000 a year and give you a certificate you use as credit against your tax.

Companies pay 25% on profit as the standard rate, with other rates by sector.

Premises, store and location

Start from home with a locked outside store and a phone. A store for chemicals is not a room in the family house. Choose a site that is: locked; above flood level; away from the family's sleeping rooms, food, water sources and animals; cool and dry; out of reach of children; with a shelf and no leaking containers; with a wash station and a place to keep PPE clean. Upper East Region recorded 15 deaths in 2010 linked to pesticide poisoning, mainly from poor storage. Keep the product in the original container with the original label, and keep a stock list.

For a spray service, the store is mostly for equipment, PPE and rinsed empties, because customers hold their own product. If you ever store a customer's product, record it and keep it locked.

Location for good returns. Near cocoa and vegetable farms with many smallholders; close to a licensed agro-input dealer; on a road that you can reach in all seasons; within an hour of your main customers so travel time stays low; and near a clinic. A hub in Akwidaa is closer to its customers; a base in Takoradi is closer to dealers, banks and suppliers. Start where your first ten customers are.

Equipment and start-up budget

Spray service (example numbers). Prices marked "example" are inventions for practice. Sprayer ranges come from Jiji listings (not verified). No PPE price was found; use three quotes. The EPA fee is unknown, so a placeholder is shown.

Scaled-down start (example). 2 manual sprayers; 4 PPE sets; smaller store fittings 800; first-aid 300; spares 300; training 250; working cash 3,000; plus the same registration items. Total: 130 + 300 + 1,500 + 500 + 1,400 + 800 + 150 + 300 + 300 + 250 + 3,000 = 8,630. Add the motorised units later when sales justify them.

Advisory service only (example). Business name 130; permit 300; phone and data for six months 600; printing 400; calibration demonstration kit 150; one demonstration PPE set 350; a share of a laptop 800; working cash 2,000. Total 4,730. All checked by script.

Financing

Own savings; a susu or village savings and loan group; microfinance; bank loans; a loan guaranteed by GIRSAL, which gives guarantees for agricultural loans through about 40 partner lenders (summary only); the Ghana Enterprises Agency programmes (SME GO, Business-in-a-Box, SME High Growth, Kaizen), with advisory centres in Takoradi, Shama, Effia-Kwesimintsim, Mpohor and Ahanta West. The 2026 Budget set aside GH¢160 million for Adwumawura and GH¢170 million for a National Apprenticeship Programme. The Assemblies' disability fund can help persons with disabilities; the 2026 rate was not re-verified, so ask the Assembly. Borrow only for equipment that will earn: a second sprayer that your gang will use every working day is a better loan than one that sits in the store.

Hire and protect

• Contracts. Written contract for work of 6 months or more (s.12); written statement of terms within 2 months (s.13); 15 working days of paid leave (s.20); 12 weeks of maternity leave (s.57); casual workers are paid the full minimum for each day worked (s.74). Minimum wage is GH¢21.77 a day in 2026.
• SSNIT. Employee 5.5% and employer 13% of basic salary, 18.5% in all; the employer pays 13.5% to SSNIT within 14 days after month-end and 5% to a Tier 2 trustee.
• PAYE is due by the 15th of the next month. Casual workers are taxed at 5%.
• PPE and training. You must provide and require protective clothing (Act 528 s.21) and the employer provides PPE at no cost to the worker (Labour Act s.118).
• Apprentices. Teach safety first, supervise closely, and give a written agreement. Do not let an apprentice mix or spray before they have been trained and assessed.
• Insurance. Use only insurers licensed by the National Insurance Commission; check at nic.gov.gh. Reports say employer's liability insurance is compulsory under the Insurance Act 2021. Which covers a spray service must hold, and the price, were not verified. Ask the NIC about third-party liability, because a drift claim from a neighbour's farm can be larger than your business.

Market yourself

Be known for safety, records and honesty.

• Demonstrate a water-only calibration at a farmer group meeting and let them see the number.
• Give every customer a copy of the diary page for their field.
• Show your licence file and your PPE and training records at the first visit.
• Use a WhatsApp Business profile and a free Google Business Profile. Put your service area, your prices per acre for application work only, your photos (with permission) and your phone number.
• Ask for referrals from satisfied customers; give a small, honest reward such as a discount on the next job.
• Signage: a clean sign on your store and on your vehicle or sprayer cases.
• Visit cooperative and farmer group leaders (Unit 7).
• Never advertise "the strongest" or "residue-free" or a product by name. Never offer to "spray double for guaranteed results".

Accessibility

The Persons with Disability Act 2006 (Act 715) bans job discrimination. No source was found on adapted sprayers or roles for persons with disabilities in pesticide work, so the following are the author's suggestions, not rules.

An unsupervised sprayer who cannot read the label is unsafe, so give every gang a reader. Women cocoa farmers and people with little schooling are well served by pictograms, colour bands, oral teaching and tick-box diaries.

One-page plan and pitch

Fit on one page: customers (who, how many, where); services and prices (per acre, application only); what you will not do (sell pesticides without a licence, advise beyond the label); location and store; licences and what is still unknown; start-up cost and finance; monthly costs, break-even acres; team and training; safety and insurance; how you will advertise; 12-month forecast headline (Unit 7).

Check yourself

1. May a spray service sell pesticide if it holds only a business name? Give the law that decides.
2. Which tax scheme might a small, non-VAT spray service use, and what percent of turnover does it pay in the GH¢20,001 to GH¢750,000 range?
3. Name two tasks in this trade a person with a physical disability might do well.

Competency standard

Range. A small spray service with a gang of 7 and one supervisor on payroll. Evidence. A cash book; a costing sheet; a payroll sheet; a month-end pack.

All numbers marked "example" are inventions for practice and were checked by script.

The core rule

Assets = Liabilities + Equity. Debits increase assets and expenses; credits increase liabilities, capital and income; the trial balance checks totals but cannot catch every error. Keep owner money and business money apart: pay yourself a fixed drawing.

The books you need

• Cash book: every receipt and payment in date order, with a running balance.
• Mobile-money statement: download it each month and match it to the cash book.
• Job book (customer ledger): one line per job: customer, date, acres, price, amount paid, balance.
• Receipts and invoices: number them in order; keep copies; sign and date every receipt.
• Petty cash: a small float with a voucher for every spend; top up to the same amount.
• Stock cards for consumables: gloves, masks, filters, nozzles, soap; in, out, balance.
• Equipment register: cost, date, life, depreciation (Unit 3).
• Payroll sheet: each employee, gross, SSNIT, PAYE, net; and the casual day book.
• Product pass-through ledger. If a customer pays you money to give to the dealer, or you pay for a product on their behalf, it is not your income. It is the customer's money, a liability until you hand it on. Keep it in a separate ledger with the dealer receipt showing the registration number. (A safer plan is that the customer pays the dealer directly; see Unit 5.)

Sample cash book page (example)

Receipts total 6,000 + 2,200 + 3,000 + 660 = 11,860. Payments total 180 + 640 + 150 + 15 + 50 + 100 = 1,135. Closing balance 11,860 − 1,135 = GH¢10,725. The group deposit of 3,000 is money received in advance: until the work is done it is a liability, not profit.

Cost per acre: the full worked example

All GH¢ figures are example numbers. Price of application work only; no product cost is included, because the customer buys the product.

Variable cost per acre (changes with acres sprayed):

Fixed cost per month (does not change with acres):

Cost per acre at 180 acres a month = 24 + 2,935 ÷ 180 = 24 + 16.31 = GH¢40.31.

Price. Suppose you quote GH¢55 per acre for the application (example). Mark-up = profit ÷ cost = (55 − 40.31) ÷ 40.31 = 36.4%. Margin = profit ÷ selling price = 14.69 ÷ 55 = 26.7%. Contribution per acre = 55 − 24 = GH¢31. Break-even = fixed cost ÷ contribution = 2,935 ÷ 31 = 94.7, so 95 acres a month. At 120 acres the cost per acre is 24 + 24.46 = 48.46, so the same price still pays; at 80 acres it does not.

Two ways to get it wrong. Pricing at the variable cost only (you never cover the fixed cost) and pricing on the busy-month volume while the slow months drag you under. Always use the average monthly volume across the whole year.

Minimum charge. Small plots cost the same to travel to. Set a minimum charge per job (for example, the price of 5 acres) and tell the customer first.

Depreciation of equipment

Straight-line depreciation = (cost − salvage value) ÷ useful life. Example: sprayers cost GH¢7,000, you expect to sell them for GH¢700 after 3 years. (7,000 − 700) ÷ 3 = GH¢2,100 a year = GH¢175 a month. The mixing station at GH¢1,500, no salvage, 5 years: 300 a year, GH¢25 a month. A single motorised sprayer at GH¢3,000, salvage 300, 3 years: (3,000 − 300) ÷ 3 = 900 a year = GH¢75 a month. Depreciation is a cost you set aside; it is not a cash payment, so you must save the money to replace the sprayer.

Wages, SSNIT and PAYE (2026)

Casual workers (example). 4 sprayers at GH¢80 a day for 9 days: 4 × 80 × 9 = GH¢2,880. The minimum wage in 2026 is GH¢21.77 a day, so GH¢80 is above it. Casual workers are taxed at 5%: 2,880 × 5% = GH¢144 withheld from their pay and paid to GRA. They receive 2,880 − 144 = GH¢2,736. You pay GRA the 144 by the 15th of the next month.

Supervisor on payroll (example, gross GH¢1,800 a month).

Bands are the 2026 monthly PAYE bands: first GH¢588 at 0%, next 80 at 5%, next 100 at 10%, next 2,900 at 17.5%, and so on, with SSNIT deducted first. SSNIT: the full 18.5% (99 + 234 = GH¢333) is paid by the employer, partly to SSNIT (13.5%) within 14 days after month-end and partly to a Tier 2 trustee (5%). PAYE is due by the 15th. Numbers checked by script.

Taxes on a month's work

On the MTS (not VAT-registered) the month with turnover of GH¢9,900 (180 acres at GH¢55) owes 3% = GH¢297. If VAT applied (not verified for spraying), an invoice for 36 acres at 55 = GH¢1,980 would carry VAT 15% (297), NHIL 2.5% (49.50) and GETFund 2.5% (49.50), total GH¢2,376, and VAT returns and payments are due by the last working day of the next month. A VAT-registered business cannot use the MTS.

Withholding tax. A company paying you GH¢1,980 for services may withhold 7.5%: GH¢148.50. You receive GH¢1,831.50 and a certificate. Keep the certificate: it is a credit against your tax.

Income statement for a month (example, 180 acres)

If you draw GH¢1,500, GH¢848 stays in the business.

Balance sheet at the end of a month (example)

Check: 5,150 + 2,970 + (8,500 − 600) = 16,020; 1,351 + 14,669 = 16,020. The sheet balances.

Month-end routine

1. Total the cash book and agree the closing balance with the cash in hand.
2. Reconcile the MoMo and bank statements to the cash book; list differences (fees, late entries).
3. Update the job book and list debtors, oldest first. Phone anyone over 30 days.
4. Update stock cards and count PPE consumables.
5. Do a trial-style check: debits equal credits.
6. Write the income statement: sales minus costs equals profit.
7. Write the balance sheet.
8. Calculate PAYE, SSNIT and tax and note the due dates: SSNIT by the 14th; PAYE and WHT by the 15th; VAT by the last working day; provisional tax quarterly; annual return within 4 months of year-end; ORC annual return; STMA permit by 31 March.
9. Forecast next month's cash.
10. File everything. Keep records in Ghana for at least six years from the end of the year of assessment or VAT period.

Free tools. Excel or Google Sheets, the Zoho Books free plan and Wave Starter (summary only). From 1 January 2027 the 2025 IFRS for SMEs applies to companies that use it.

Cash-flow forecast. List each month: opening cash, expected receipts, expected payments, closing cash. Profit is not cash: a customer who pays late, a deposit received early and a sprayer you must replace all change the cash.

Mobile-money reconciliation: a worked example

Cash book MoMo balance on 30 Jun: GH¢3,215. Statement balance: GH¢3,190. Differences: a customer's GH¢15 fee you forgot to record; a GH¢10 fee on a withdrawal not recorded. 3,215 − 15 − 10 = 3,190. The books now match the statement. If they still do not match, check for a payment entered twice or one that has not yet reached you.

Check yourself

1. How do you work out straight-line depreciation?
2. Is a deposit received before the work is done profit? Why or why not?
3. Why does a spray service price on the average volume for the whole year and not on the busy month?

Competency standard

Range. A spray-service or advisory business plan. Evidence. A one-page plan; forecast; stress test; panel score sheet.

Quality and customer care

Write down how you do the work, so that any trained person can do it the same way. A small procedures folder should hold: the job cycle (Unit 3), the PPE order, calibration steps, the mixing-station rules, the emergency plan, the complaint steps, the record forms. Give each page a version number and a date. Train every new worker on the folder and keep a signed record.

Give every client a written record after each job: what was sprayed (label's registration number), the earliest safe harvest date, the re-entry time, and who to call. Ask one question at the end: "Would you call us again, and why?" Answer complaints in writing within two days (good practice). Review every complaint every month and fix the process that caused it.

Pricing and growing

Pricing from cost. Include your time, transport, consumables, depreciation, tax and overhead, and a margin. Price per acre for application only, with a minimum charge. Offer packages: a monthly farm check-in; a season plan with three scouting visits and a diary; a group training day.

Test a discount before you offer it. A group of farmers asks for GH¢52.25 an acre, a 5% discount on GH¢55. Contribution per acre falls from 55 − 24 = 31 to 52.25 − 24 = 28.25, a fall of 2.75, or 8.9% of the contribution. To make the same total contribution you need 31 ÷ 28.25 = 1.097, about 9.7% more acres. If the group brings that volume and removes your travel time, the discount can pay. If not, do not give it.

When to add a second gang. Add a second gang only when (a) you turn away work on most weeks, (b) you have a trained supervisor ready, (c) cash can carry two months of costs, and (d) your audit scores are passing. A second gang adds roughly another fixed cost block; with the example numbers, doubling the fixed block to 5,870 raises the break-even for both gangs to 5,870 ÷ 31 = 189.4, so 190 acres a month between them.

Scale without losing quality. Train a supervisor. Standardise the forms. Audit every gang monthly. Do not take on work you cannot calibrate, supervise and record.

Partnering with farmer groups and cooperatives

Groups buy together, spray together and can give you steady work. In the INKOTA study, 22% of women cocoa farmers relied entirely on spraying gangs, against 17% of men, so there is demand. Cocoa farmers' leaders also called on COCOBOD in September 2025 to end mass spraying and give more fertiliser (summary only), so private services should not assume the state will always supply spraying.

A group service agreement should say:

Invoice per member. Keep a table: member name, field, acres, price, deposit paid, balance. A group invoice of GH¢3,300 for 60 acres at 55 shared among 10 members is easy to check by acreage. Collect deposits to carry your costs. Receive money from the group's account, not from the leader's pocket, where you can.

Shared equipment. A group may buy a motorised sprayer jointly and rent it out. Draw up rules: booking, cleaning, who may use it, who pays repairs, and a fund for replacement based on the depreciation you calculate (Unit 6).

Cooperative legal route. A cooperative is not registered at the ORC; it takes an organisational TIN from GRA, and the route with the Department of Co-operatives was not verified. Ask the Department before you advise a group.

Training role. Offer to run Unit 1's water-only sessions for the group as part of the agreement. It builds trust and reduces mistakes.

Tenders and large contracts

COCOBOD's CODAPEC programme used a 7-member gang with a supervisor, and raised the monthly operational allowance for mechanics and spraying teams from GH¢500 to GH¢700 in the 2025/26 season (summary only). The tender route for private service providers to COCOBOD, Assemblies or large estates was not verified; ask the district COCOBOD office and the Assembly's procurement officer. Large buyers may ask for tax clearance, proof of insurance, licence and qualifications (not verified). Keep your licence file ready.

How to price a bid (example numbers). A large estate asks for 600 acres in two months. You bid GH¢52 an acre (example).

If the payer pays 60 days after the job, you must fund 20,270 (14,400 + 5,870) from your own cash and loans for months. Do you have that? If not, ask for a mobilisation advance, or bid for fewer acres. Cash is what kills a big contract, not profit. Numbers checked by script.

Before you bid. Read the whole tender. Ask questions in writing. Check the intervals, the customer's picking plan, the licence needs and the penalty for delay. Do not promise a result you cannot control (such as "no pest").

Records for a loan

Lenders ask for: your registration, TIN, permit, 6 to 12 months of cash book and MoMo statements, your plan, and customer or group agreements. Tidy books are your best collateral. If you apply for a guaranteed loan, ask the lender whether it is a GIRSAL partner.

Succession and ethics

Write your procedures down so the business runs without you, and name who takes over if you are ill. Never spray a product whose label you cannot read, use a product without a registration number, use more than the label says, mix products unless the label says you may, spray near water or people to save time, let a child handle a sprayer, or sign a diary you did not witness. Never alter a label. Tell a customer plainly when you cannot do something. Pay casual workers on time and in full. Never sell fake PPE or fake advice.

Capstone: 12-month cash-flow forecast with a stress test

The example business. Opening cash GH¢6,000. Price GH¢55 an acre. Variable cost GH¢24 an acre. Fixed cash cost GH¢2,704 a month (the GH¢2,935 fixed cost less the 200 depreciation and the 31 permit amortisation, which are not paid monthly). Permit and name renewal GH¢370 paid in March. Owner's drawing GH¢1,500 a month (version 1). MTS tax 3% of billing. Customers pay 70% in the month of the job and 30% the next month. Acres by month (an example season): Jan 70, Feb 70, Mar 100, Apr 160, May 210, Jun 230, Jul 190, Aug 130, Sep 110, Oct 160, Nov 210, Dec 120; total 1,760 acres.

Version 1 (draw 1,500 every month). Closing cash is GH¢2,696 in January, 546 in February, −1,588 in March, −2,086 in April, −951 in May, then 1,265 in June and positive from then on, ending the year at GH¢4,858. The business is overdrawn for three months: that is a cash problem even though the year is profitable.

Version 2 (draw 600 from January to May, then 1,500). This keeps the cash positive all year.

Year totals: billed GH¢96,800; at the end of December customers still owed GH¢1,980 (30% of December's billing). Check each row: opening + cash in − cash out = closing. Total billed 96,800 is far below the GH¢750,000 MTS ceiling.

Stress test: 30% fewer acres in every month. With version 2 draws, the cash goes negative from March and ends the year at −GH¢5,545: the owner cannot draw GH¢1,500 on that volume. If the owner holds the drawing at GH¢600 all year, the lowest point is −GH¢1,216 in April and the year ends at GH¢755. Even then, April needs a bridge of about GH¢1,300, from a deposit scheme (collect 30% in advance), a small susu loan, or a delay in paying a supplier. Plan it before it happens. All figures checked by script.

What the stress test teaches. (1) The break-even is about 95 acres a month; the lean months are below it. (2) Drawings must follow the cash, not the wish. (3) Deposits and faster collection are cheaper than loans. (4) Keep two months of costs in cash.

The one-page plan, ready for the panel

Use the headings from Unit 5 and attach: the 12-month forecast, the stress test, the licence file checklist (marking what is unknown), the audit sheet and one sample diary page. Use your own real numbers; the example numbers belong to the training case.

Panel scoring (20 marks each): customer and problem; services, safety and the legal route (including what the EPA must confirm); money (start-up, price, break-even, forecast, stress test); records and ethics (diary, label rule, traceability); clarity and answers to questions. Competent: at least 60 of 100 with no zero in safety, law and ethics (author's rule).

Check yourself

1. What is the difference between profit and cash, in one sentence?
2. Name three things that go in a group service agreement.
3. Why might a big contract fail even when the profit is good?

1. Name three parts of a farm pest-management plan.
2. Which three things on a product label prove that it is a legal choice?
3. How many days after an accident must an employer report it at the latest, and under which law?
4. Does a small spraying gang need a licence from the EPA? What should you do before you charge a customer?
5. What is the formula for water volume in litres per hectare from speed, flow and swath?
6. Who is the only person on your gang who may open a pesticide container?
7. What is the PHI for, and where is its number?
8. What does a lot code tell you?
9. Who may you not let mix, spray or handle containers on your team?
10. What is the price of registering a sole-proprietor business name in 2026?
11. What is the difference between mark-up and margin?
12. How long must business records be kept?

What this module does not cover: an applicator licence or certificate; a first-aid or toxicology course; any product name, dose, dilution, waiting time or re-entry time (these are on the label only); Ghana's current register of registered pesticides by name; the Act 1124 text; the EPA licence fee; a neem preparation recipe; Ghana buffer-zone distances, wind-speed limits and a container-collection scheme (none was found).

Every source used in this manual is listed, with links, in the Teacher Copy.