Abstract
The variations of twelve soil properties over time were examined under cocoa ( Theobroma cacao L.) and fallow apart from comparing their mean level with those under forest in the Nigerian Cocoa Belt. The study indicates that the removal of tropical rain forest results in significantly lower levels of soil properties under cocoa and fallow than under forest over the period considered. It also shows that cocoa and fallow plant communities operate their own plant-soil equilibria over time. However, while soil fertility lost as a result of the removal of the high forest is being regained as the replacing fallow advances in age, it is not so under cocoa. It appears that a soil-plant equilibrium established early in the life of the cocoa stand breaks down when the stand is more than 25 years of age. Beyond this age, a rapid and consistent decline in the fertility status of soil sets in with the consequences of low level of cocoa production. The various options opened to the peasant cocoa farmers for plausible land management techniques were discussed with a view to increasing cocoa production in Nigeria.
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