SNV Ghana leads national dialogue on Cocoa Agroforestry Systems

The demand for cocoa remains high, with increasing consumption of cocoa products by emerging economies which is expected to increase in the coming decades.

However, the cost of producing the beans continues to increase, yields are declining and the negative impacts of climate change continue to threaten the already poor smallholder cocoa farmers.

The cocoa sector has also seen very limited innovations and new investments while cocoa trees and farmers continue to age.

“One of the impacts of this dwindling productivity is the removal of shade trees from farms and the expansion of cocoa cultivation into areas of rainforest,” said Harm Duiker, Country Director of SNV Netherlands Development Organisation. “As a result, globally, cocoa is counted among the major driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss”.

As a forest shade grown tree, cocoa is a crop that thrives in areas of high biodiversity and tropical forests landscapes.

Farmers and scientists alike recognize that shade trees are vital to reducing both ecological and economic risks, including maintenance of soil fertility and moisture, weed suppression and pest and disease control.

They also acknowledge shade trees play an important role in climate adaption in cocoa system.

However, there is increasing demand for scientific evidence of ecological and economic benefits of trees in cocoa systems.

Recent studies have contested the benefits claimed to be associated with cocoa agroforestry, including mitigating adverse climate effects, pathogen or disease regulation, and more importantly improvements in soil fertility.

The Cocoa Dialogue

The national dialogue on cocoa agroforestry systems therefore had the objective of consolidating evidence-based ecological and economic benefits of cocoa agroforestry systems, identifying gaps in knowledge and to ensure consistency in promoting cocoa agroforestry science, policy and practice in Ghana.

It was organised by SNV Ghana in collaboration with the Ghana Cocoa Board, the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources, KNUST and International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

The event attracted experts who observed that gaps in science and practice, and inconsistencies in the promotion of cocoa agroforestry as well as land and tree tenure bottlenecks constitute major challenges to the rapid adoption of cocoa agroforestry systems among smallholder cocoa farmers in Ghana.

They called for increased research to fill the gaps in evidence-base science and the practice of cocoa agroforestry systems in Ghana.

Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Ahia Clottey, the Deputy Director Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED), reiterated COCOBOD’s commitment to promoting cocoa agroforestry under its recently launched cocoa rehabilitation project.

He said the current programme targets only 156,400ha out of the 700,000 total rehabilitation need of the entire cocoa landscape of Ghana.

He therefore called for stakeholders’ investment into cocoa rehabilitation in order to increase productivity of current land under cultivation in Ghana.

Expert presentations and discussions were made on the current state of knowledge on soil improvement, soil nutrient and water competition, disease and pest control, trees species recommendation in shaded cocoa systems.

According to Prof. Boateng Kyeremeh from the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources, KNUST, the realities of climate change vis-a-vis sustainability show the importance of holding the national dialogue to help farmers built resilience.

He believes Ghana’s cocoa industry should be able to meet the challenges imposed by climate change with scientific support and political will.

Building Resilient Smallholder Systems

The national dialogue forms part of activities under the Shaded Cocoa Agroforestry System (SCAFS) project, being implemented by SNV with funding support from the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

SNV supports cocoa agroforestry as a model towards more diversified and resilient smallholder systems that can help to increase and secure production in the long term with ecological benefits. 

“This is important to smallholder cocoa farmers that are affected sometimes by highly volatile global prices and by climate change,” said Harm Duiker.

He indicated that cocoa agroforestry practices come at a cost to smallholder farmers and a deeper understanding of the processes in cocoa agroforestry systems will help to promote its benefits to smallholder farmers.

The national dialogue on cocoa agroforestry systems was attended by academia and research institutions, private license cocoa buying companies, farmer’ representatives, non-governmental organizations and representatives from the public.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Cocoa farmers and access to agro inputs for productivity

Hubert Duah, a 63 year old retired teacher, ventured cocoa production three years ago.

He is excited at the prospects of his farm to improve his family’s livelihood. He has however come to understand that access to agro-inputs could impede the quest to establish sustainable farms that drive the youth to the sector.

“All what we need is the inputs because we don’t have the money to purchase all those things; so when government comes to our aid through the inputs we can make it and then we can also encourage the youth to take part in the farming,” he said.

Hubert is among farmers targeted under the Cocoa Eco-Project, initiated by SNV Ghana in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union (KKFU).

The project has been piloted in ten selected cocoa growing districts in the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Central and Western regions within the past two years.

SNV Ghana, Project Manager on Cocoa Eco, Charles Brefo-Nimo, says there has been an impact on productivity and improvement of the ecosystem services, which has been achieved through the provision of technical and financial support for cocoa sustainable intensification.

“Intensification strategy has been one of the main focus; what we’re saying is that farmers can use the same size of their land to increase productivity,” he stated.

SNV since the inception of the cocoa project has supported the mapping of farms and distribution of 265,000 cocoa hybrid seedlings to 265 farmers.

SNV Ghana is investing Gh621,321 in 2015 for its activities, including a contract with two local capacity builders to train 600 lead farmers in good agricultural practices, integrated pest management, child labour and cocoa certification.

Meanwhile, the organization has presented agro-inputs worth over Gh27,000 to host farmers of 20 young and mature demonstration farms. The inputs include fertilizers, fungicides, insecticides, personal protective equipment, intelligent and motorized spraying machines.

“The presentation is to ensure that the host farmers have timely access to the requisite tools and inputs to enhance the sustainability of the demo farms,” said Mr. Brefo-Nimo. “It is expected that the demo farms will become the model of excellence to train farmers within the catchment area”.

Executive Secretary of Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union, Appau Abrampah-Mensah, says the package will enhance the activities of the Farmer Field School (FFS) approach where farmers learn good practices from their peers.

Under the Cocoa Eco Project, SNV Ghana is supporting Kuapa Kokoo to strengthen the Business Development Centres in the 10 cocoa districts to make it a functional service centers for farmers to access wide range of farmer services.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Ghana’s Cocoa-Eco Project to receive support from IITA

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has expressed interest in supporting interventions to address the impact of climate variability and climate change on Ghana’s cocoa production.

The Institute would partner with SNV Ghana to support cocoa farmers in how they can “best find a balance between intensification, adaptation and mitigation and identify short-and long-term risks and benefits” under the Cocoa-Eco Project, that SNV and the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union are implementing.

This 30-month pilot project, covering ten cocoa growing districts, is aimed at limiting the encroachment of cocoa plantations into forest lands and conservation of biodiversity by creating environmental awareness among cocoa farmers, especially on issues of land degradation and deforestation.

The Cocoa-Eco Project connects with the IITA’s goal to reduce producer and consumer risks, enhance crop quality and productivity, and generate wealth from agriculture, by driving knowledge development and facilitating innovation.

The IITA is convinced that intensified and diversified cocoa farming systems can help to raise farmers’ incomes, protect against biodiversity loss, enhance conservation efforts, and reduce rates of deforestation.

The Associate Advisor at SNV Ghana, Ernest Adzim, says the IITA will provide backstopping, build capacity at the management level and serve as the knowledge-base for the Cocoa-Eco Project.

“There is an area of technology where the farmers and extension officers can access extension services through the mobile and other electronic media, so we are expecting IITA and its partner Grameen Foundation when they come on board to develop this area to provide a platform where information can be made easily accessible at the farmer level,” he stated.

The IITA proposes to introduce a state of the art real-time cell phone-based data collection for high-performance monitoring and evaluation, scientific research and collective learning purposes.

SNV has already trained over 100 lead farmers drawn from 50 communities and 30 Internal Control Officers under the Kuapa Kokoo Limited, who have been in direct contact with the farmers on the fields.

Another activity will involve the training of credit officers manning district business development centres as well as business committee members and managers of Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union.

SNV is also exploring partnerships with other local institutions to upscale the project.

Such future partners include Solidaridad, a forerunner of cocoa certification globally, which is supporting farmers to cultivate cocoa in combination with other trees for sustainable production.

The organization has distributed over 26,000 shade trees to farmers in 52 cocoa growing communities in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions. The farmers have also established cocoa nurseries to produce varieties of recommended shade tree seedlings.

The Managing Director of Solidaridad West Africa, Isaac Gyamfi said, “it is no longer sustainable to grow cocoa without trees.”

Increasing cocoa production demands expansion of area under cultivation, with the resultant effect of converting forests to farming systems which leads to a decline in carbon stocks.

 

Mr. Adzim says a baseline study would be carried out under the Cocoa-Eco Project to link the cocoa farmers to national programs on climate change, especially with the REDD+ which looks at reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Ghanaian cocoa farmers exposed to climate-smart production

Cocoa farmers in selected production districts in Ghana are accessing support in natural resource management for efficient and sustainable cocoa production.

The ‘Cocoa Eco Project’ is a pilot intervention aimed at limiting the encroachment of cocoa plantations onto forest lands and conservation of biodiversity.

SNV Ghana is partnering the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union to create environmental awareness among cocoa farmers, especially on issues of land degradation and deforestation.

“We are expecting that at the end of the project cycle, we would be able to partner other organizations to scale-up to cover other districts in promoting increased productivity by way of adapting modern production methods in the cocoa sector”, says Ernest Adzim, Associate Advisor at SNV Ghana.

The 30-month project, covering ten cocoa growing districts, is to increase income levels and improve livelihood of targeted farmers.

Cocoa farming is one of the dominant land use activities in Ghana with an estimated cultivation area of over 1.6 million hectares, according to the World Bank. 

Cocoa production has been identified as one of the sectors that will seriously be hit by climate change.

Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa in the world, but productivity is among the lowest in the world – average yield is 330kg per hectare, compared to Ivory Coast’s 580kg.

Increasing production demands expansion of area under cultivation, with the resultant effect of converting forests to farming systems which leads to decline in carbon stocks.

Isaac Boah, an Internal Control Officer with Kuapa Kokoo Limited, acknowledges the importance of planting cocoa with trees, “in order to prevent direct sunlight from going down to the soil”.

The Cocoa Eco Project will expose the farmers to interventions in climate mitigation and adaptation to ensure sustainable cocoa production.

“The effect of climate change is real”, stated Mr. Adzim. “You talk to the farmers from the north to the middle-belt to the south, they see this effect in terms of disease incidence, in terms of rainfall pattern, in terms of pest and planting times”.

Agronomic activities to be introduced under the intervention, according to him, include “soil fertility improvement by way of introducing shade into cocoa plantations and also generating income by planting trees”.  The trees will serve two purposes – provide source of energy by way of fuel wood as well as introducing nitrogen and other nutrients that cocoa may need in the soil.

An estimated 800,000 farm household depends on the cocoa sector for the primary livelihood.

 

Climate scientists at the Colombia-based International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) have predicted that the expected increasing temperatures will lead to massive declines in cocoa production in Ghana and other cocoa-growing areas in West Africa by 2030.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh