Cocoa agroforestry in West and Central Africa: from definition to innovation and implementation pathways

West and Central Africa (WCA) are responsible for 71 % of world cocoa production, with an annual output (2013-2014) of some 3.1 million tons, 6 million hectares of cultivation area, and (assuming an average 2.5 ha per family) involving some 2.6 million smallholder farmers. Cocoa is cultivated mainly in open-sun monocultures or under very light shade; it is estimated that less than 30 % of the area cultivated with cacao in WCA is under tree shade i.e. in agroforestry systems.

Agroforestry is now widely promoted in cocoa cultivation in WCA to sustain high cocoa yields, conserve wild and agrobiodiversity, store atmospheric carbon in woody biomass, reduce air temperature, and produce timber, fruits, and other tree-based products to generate additional income, increase food security and reduce the financial vulnerability of the rural families. To transform agroforestry policies into practice, farmers, governments, and chocolate and certification companies need a definition of cocoa agroforestry that can be used to both benchmark their activities and measure progress toward clearly defined goals.

Different stakeholders use different definitions of cocoa agroforestry causing a lot of confusion. Farmers organizations and cocoa companies either: 1) adhere to definitions set by certification companies (e.g. Rainforest Alliance), sectoral platforms (e.g. ISCO), public–private initiatives (e.g. Cocoa and Forest Initiative) or government bodies (e.g. COCOBOD in Ghana, Conceil du Cacao -CCC- in Cote d’Ivoire), or 2) develop their own definition of agroforestry (e.g. Halba, Lindt & Sprungli, CEMOI, Nitidae, etc.).

A whitepaper is being written to help in the discussions on the pros and cons, reaches and limits of current definitions of cocoa agroforestry in WCA (Whitepaper). An inspection of the definitions adopted by different stakeholders in the cocoa value chain in WCA (see Annex 1 of the whitepaper) shows that the debate/controversy is not on whether a production system is agroforestry, but on what specific management parameters (trees per hectare, number of tree species, percent tree canopy cover, etc.) it should have. A scientific manuscript analyzing the strengths and limitations of these management parameters is available here.

A scientifically solid discussion on whether these management parameters help farmers and land managers to achieve their agroforestry goals is at the center of the workshop proposed below.

We (CATIE, MAK’IT-University of Montpellier, CIRAD-UMR-ABSys, the Sustainable Agricultural Systems and Engineering Lab of Westlake University, the International Union of Agroforestry (IUAF), Mars, and the cocoa agroforestry scientific and application/innovation communities) will hold an international 2-days workshop to contribute to the heated, on-going debate on the definition of cocoa agroforestry in West-Central Africa (WCA) and on the ways to innovations and implementation at scale. The outcomes of this workshop will be directly relevant to cocoa production in Asia and America.

The 2-days workshop is scheduled to take place on 15-16 May 2023, in a mixed format combining an in-person gathering in Agropolis, Montpellier, France with many others linked virtually via Zoom. The first day (we call it “science day”) will be devoted to cocoa agroforestry science; the second day (we call it “innovations/applications day”) will be devoted to discussions on how to mainstream cocoa agroforestry in WCA. The workshop will be held in English and French; simultaneous translation will be available. If you plan to participate in person, please make sure you bring your headphones with you because translation will only be available remotely via Zoom.

In the “science day” cocoa agroforestry scientists will convene to:

1. Review cocoa agroforestry models in use in WCA and America
2. Review current definitions for cocoa agroforestry (see Annex 1 of the whitepaper)
3. Prepare a succinct, science-based report on the reaches and limitations of various cocoa agroforestry definitions to achieve the key goals. This report will be the basis of a manuscript to be submitted to a scientific journal.
4. Work in specialized groups to assess how management parameters (tree density, canopy cover, species richness, botanical composition, spatiotemporal patterns of tree and crop planting, and the vertical stratification of the shade canopy) allow farmers to achieve the following key goals:

Adopting a definition is just a first step to mainstream cocoa agroforestry in WCA. The key challenge is to make it happen. On the “innovations/applications day” representatives of the cocoa industry, European national cocoa platforms known as ISCOs (Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands), NGOs, certification companies, governments, donors, and other key stakeholders in the cocoa value chain will meet to discuss the following guiding questions:

The second day of the workshop will:

1. Include a selection of presentations on different agroforestry models tested in Africa and the Americas,
2. Expose the potentials and limitations of agroforestry in terms of profitability and management of financial risks and farmers’ adoption, and 3) show the advances in remote sensing and other large-scale tree planting monitoring technologies in cocoa production regions. This second day of the workshop features six panels to 1) evaluate the applicability of various agroforestry models to WCA, 2) discuss current approaches adopted by chocolate companies and sustainable cocoa platforms to mainstream agroforestry,
3. Debate on the reaches and limitations of carbon credits, biodiversity conservation and payments for environmental services to stimulate the expansion of cocoa agroforestry, and
4. Explore how cocoa agroforestry can contribute to the development of fine flavour cocoa value chains.

Event’s logistic details