encouraging sustainable, responsible cocoa growing

Blog Entry: Richard Asare, Cocoa Agroforester, Forest & Landscape Denmark/International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

I have always been fascinated by the way smallholder cocoa farmers in West Africa have been able to farm cocoa, a tree that originated in the Amazon forest in South America. Through their ingenuity West African farmers have been able to establish and maintain a forested cocoa ecosystem which now accounts for 70 percent of the global cocoa supply.

Many smallholder cocoa farms in countries like Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon are what scientists and researchers have termed “cocoa agroforests” due to their high levels of plant diversity, including high value timber trees, fruit trees, food crops, herbs and other shrubs. These cocoa agroforests reflect the concept of tree diversification; farmers’ efforts to increase species diversity on farm and across the managed landscape in order to enhance economic gains, improve agronomic productivity and contribute to biodiversity conservation.

As an agricultural advisor from Forest and Landscape Denmark working for the Sustainable Tree Crops Program of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in collaboration with the World Cocoa Foundation I realized that for cocoa agroforestry to achieve its intended goals, we need to support farmers’ efforts by providing relevant technical knowledge on the dynamics of the system and also the neighbour trees (i.e., trees in cocoa agroforests other than the cocoa tree itself) in the cocoa growing systems.

Photo: Richard Asare discussing tree species during an STCP farmer field school in Cameroon.

For the past three years, my work has been helping to identify forest trees that are both beneficial to farmers, and to the fragile tropical environment where cocoa grows. The idea is to generate enough local and scientific knowledge about these tree species to help farmers improve their cocoa agroforestry practices.

At the moment I am working closely with farmers in Ghana to develop a comprehensive framework that packages tree diversification in a way that improves, encourages and promotes local knowledge according to environmental conditions, farmer tree species preferences, market demands, and improved planting material availability. The framework has three main components: 1) a decision-making tool for neighbour tree selection in cocoa establishments; 2) designing of an appropriate planting arrangement for neighbour trees and cocoa to promote healthy interdependency and; 3) ensuring accessibility to improved planting materials of these forest trees.

Photo: Mr. Ackoh from Bonteso in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region of Ghana, farming companion trees which are compatible with cocoa.

The challenge so far is that many policies governing naturally occurring high value timber species in cocoa farms discourage farmers from keeping these trees on their farms, or inhibit farmers from reaping adequate benefits. Across West Africa, timber trees are technically owned by governments. However, together with farmers we are developing a way to register planted and nurtured timber trees on farm in order to redefine tree ownership to suit the needs of farmers.