DAFS

Assess different agroforestry practices in Ghana and Ivory Coast in terms of their environmental and socio-economic sustainability, as well as their feasibility for local producers.

More than half of the world’s cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) grows in monocultures in Ghana and Ivory Coast, which are often unsustainable due to various ecological, economic and social issues such as ageing tree stocks, degraded soils, prevalence of pests and diseases, vulnerability to climate change, low productivity, low farm gate prices and an old farming population. While some hope for a solution to this complex crisis rests on agroforestry systems (AFS), different approaches to AFS vary in both their feasibility for local producers, as well as their envi-ronmental and socio-economic sustainability. The main objective of this project is to assess different agroforestry (AF) practices in Ghana and Ivory Coast in this respect. Using an existing pairwise (plot-scale) comparison of dy-namic agroforestry (DAF) and farmers’ practices, we will gather quantitative data on the biophysical functioning and economic performance of the production systems and qualitative data on farmers’ motivation to engage in DAF or not. By using an innovation platform approach and the analysis of the biophysical and economic potentials and challenges of DAF together with farmers’ knowledge and perception of DAF, we aim at identifying best AF designs (cocoa – shade tree combinations) and management practices that maximize environmental integrity, as well as socio-economic sustainability. We will develop both a guide for model AFS that can be applied in different biophysical and socio-economic contexts, as well as a strategy to incorporate the recommendations into national extension programs.