Abstract
In Africa, cocoa yields are low, partly due to soil fertility constraints and poor management. While peoples’ knowledge, aspirations, and abilities are key factors explaining their behaviour, little is known about the rationales that underpin soil fertility management practices (SFMPs) of cocoa farmers. To address this gap, we conducted an exploratory survey in two contrasting regions in Cameroon where cocoa is an important crop: the humid forest and the forest-savannah transition zone. Some 30% of farmers in the transition zone as opposed to 13% in the humid forest expressed concerns about soil fertility. The most relevant soil fertility indicators for farmers were high cocoa yield, dark soil colour, ease of tillage, and floral composition. To enhance and maintain soil fertility, farmers used residues from weeding (100%), planting of trees (42%), mineral fertilisers (33%), compost (16%), and manure (13%). More farmers in the transition zone than the humid forest implemented SFMPs. Our findings suggest that soil fertility perceptions, access to inputs, local practices, and experience influence farmers’ use of SFMPs. The limited use of mineral fertilisers was explained by poor access whereas the use of organic fertilisers and tree planting were mostly constrained by lack of labour and knowledge. Farmers prioritised practices to increase yield and viewed SFMPs to be the least important management practices, although they believe high cocoa yield is an important indicator of soil fertility. To foster sustainable cocoa intensification, it is necessary to enhance farmers’ knowledge on SFMPs, increase access to inputs, and ensure returns on investment while considering farmers’ priorities and practices.
Highlights
We investigated 14 cocoa farming practices recommended by the Cameroonian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER): the use of improved cocoa varieties, pruning, suckering, shade management, insecticide use, fungicide use, manure and compost application, mineral fertiliser application, sanitary harvesting, harvesting of ripe pods, appropriate fermentation, appropriate drying, appropriate storing, and agroforestry using specific trees to improve soil fertility (MINADER 2018)
We investigate the importance and priority that cocoa farmers attach to soil fertility management practices (SFMPs) compared to other cocoa farming practices
Farmers in both study areas did not differ in terms of socioeconomic characteristics, apart from the number of yearly contacts with extension agents, which was significantly higher in the transition zone than in the humid forest (p = 0.029) (Table 1)
Summary
Wageningen University and Research, Plant Production Systems, Wageningen, Netherlands. Wageningen University and Research, Knowledge Technology and Innovation, Wageningen, Netherlands. CIRAD, UMR INNOVATION, Yaoundé, Cameroun 6 Department of Plants and Crops, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium 7 Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), Yaounde, Cameroon 8 Institut Agro, Rennes, France. Low levels of adoption of good cocoa farming practices, pest and disease attacks, ageing plantations, and poor and decreasing soil fertility contribute to poor average yields (Wessel and Quist-Wessel 2015). Whereas reported yields at farm level vary from 300–400 kg ha−1 (Beg et al 2017; Wessel and Quist-Wessel 2015) to 700–900 kg ha−1 (Jagoret et al 2017; Jagoret et al 2018), cocoa yields can reach >3000 kg ha−1(van Vliet and Giller 2017; Yin 2004) in on-station trials. Poor soil fertility is considered to be an important cause of the prevailing cocoa yield
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