Towards sustainable agroforestry management: Harnessing the nutritional soil value through cocoa mix waste

Abstract

Climate change and environmental degradation have contributed in compromising the soil nutrient integrity of cocoa farmlands, yet sustainable nutrient recycling innovation in cocoa waste management has received less research attention. Utilizing experimentation methodology in an agroforestry system composed of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) and a Nitrogen-fixing Gliricidia sepium (Jacq. Kunth ex Walp.), the study examines how the soil nutritional level of farmland can be enhanced. The study confirms the proposition that the rate of decomposition and nutrients release from an innovative mixed waste sample (60% cocoa waste and 40% gliricidia waste in this case) is significantly higher in comparison with the traditional cocoa waste only sample. The results further established that innovative mixed waste sample had a faster decomposition rate (no biomass left at 216 days after laying) as compared to traditional cocoa waste which fully decomposed at 277 days after laying. A difference of 51 days after laying justifies the waste mixture decomposition as a sustainable nutrient recycling innovation within cocoa agroforestry waste management context. These results have implications for agroforestry waste management, soil nutrient recycling and cocoa industry performance.