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Abstract
Cote d’Ivoire produces 40 % of the world supply of cocoa but much of the plantation area is aging and declining in productivity, while opportunities for land expansion into new forest land are quickly disappearing. Rejuvenation strategies for cocoa presently coalesce either around improved varieties and greater use of agro-chemical inputs in full sun systems or eco-certification that requires trees to be integrated with cocoa. Here, we explore the possibility of uniting these approaches through building on current farmer practice of incorporating trees in their cocoa fields to improve cocoa productivity and diversify their livelihoods. We interviewed 355 farmers about trees integrated in their cocoa fields across four locations in the South-West of Cote d’Ivoire in 2012, stratified by whether or not farmers were eco-certified. Despite the massive deforestation, a rich diversity of trees was found in cocoa fields and an overwhelming majority of farmers (95 %) wanted more trees and/or more tree species, regardless of their certification status or ethnic origin. There was a consensus that most trees were compatible with cocoa, but farmers also traded off negative impacts of some species against their productive contribution to their livelihood. Farmers valued tree diversity on their cocoa plots and provided detailed information on how 32 tree species interacted with cocoa in terms of soil moisture retention, soil fertility improvement and pest and disease interactions but also had key gaps in knowledge about alternative hosts of mirids and mistletoe. The majority of farmers were not aware of the certification requirements for tree species and shade cover but a much higher proportion of certified farmers (76 %) had received information about shade trees than non-certified farmers (15 %), although advice only related to eight tree species. Scope for building on local knowledge and practice to sustainably increase cocoa productivity through promoting tree diversity while enhancing other ecosystem service provision was identified and the next steps required to realize this set out.
Highlights
Cote d’Ivoire produces 40 % of the world’s cocoa, an important global commodity, with an annual value of over 10 billion USD of unprocessed beans (World Cocoa Foundation 2012)
Despite the cocoa frontier expanding at the expense of forest cover, and full sun cocoa being the predominant form of cultivation promoted over the last half century in Cote d’Ivoire, cocoa farms still contain a reservoir of forest tree species, including some of high conservation value
Farmers valued a variety of tree species in their cocoa fields because they believed that they protected cocoa from water stress in the dry season and improved soil fertility
Summary
Cote d’Ivoire produces 40 % of the world’s cocoa, an important global commodity, with an annual value of over 10 billion USD of unprocessed beans (World Cocoa Foundation 2012). Cocoa production in Cote d’Ivoire has increased by extending the cultivated area and taking advantage of soil fertility built up under forest cover (Ruf and Zadi 1998). In West Africa and Cote d’Ivoire, declining yields, resulting from ageing cocoa fields with low fertility, pest and disease problems, coupled with scarcity of forest are posing severe challenges to both the farmers and the industry (Ruf 2011; Tscharntke et al 2011). Concerns over the future supply of cocoa to meet a predicted annual increase in world demand of 2–3 % has prompted the industry and governments in West Africa to support research and development activities aimed at rejuvenating ageing fields to increase their productivity (Asare 2005)
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