Scientist says cocoa farmers are the focus of new research

Richard Asare, Regional Cocoa Agroforester, IITA Ghana, disclosed during his seminar presentation on 3 February, at IITA, Ibadan, that cocoa scientists are now brainstorming on the cash crop that is essential to the livelihoods of 40-50 million people worldwide. He also expressed optimism that the effort will result in a better working condition for farmers, enhanced productivity in the cocoa landscape as well as improvement in farmers’ livelihoods.

The presentation, titled “Cocoa: a strategic crop for food security and forest conservation in IITA’s portfolio,” detailed how Asare and his team are focusing on cocoa as a crop for food security and forest conservation. To achieve these, the team tried monoculture, agroforestry, and intensified cocoa agroforestry, (quantifying cocoa shade in cocoa system to see how it affects yield), and found that increased shade increases cocoa yield.

“We are working to improve the livelihoods of farmers, and develop scenarios for cocoa agroforestry based farming systems, to increase productivity and forest conservation. This will have a positive impact on the lives of farmers because
they will have increased productivity per unit area in terms of cocoa and other food crops like cassava,” Asare said. He also mentioned that his work will increase the quantity of valuable timber trees used in cocoa systems for shade, which will go a long way to help tree diversity in the cocoa landscape.

Cocoa is grown on millions of small (1-2 ha) and medium-sized (4-5 ha) family-run farms worldwide. It is a highly labor-intensive crop and an important cash crop providing income to more than 4.5 million families worldwide, including over 5 million smallholder cocoa farmers who grow this valuable crop.