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Crucial soil nutrient properties were investigated in interplanted cocoa and kola plots of farmers and at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, both in the major cocoa and kola belt of Nigeria. The results show that soil productivity is highly enhanced by a specific planting arrangement in which Utter components of cocoa and kola intermix for a synergistic relationship; this leads to a higher level of organic matter content. The study implies that peasant farmers could be advised on the specific pattern of interplanting their cocoa farms with kola, and that they would no longer require chemical fertilisers and mulches to improve soil fertility under cocoa and kola.

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Mature tropical rain forest is in a state of dynamic equilibrium with its soil, micro-and macro-climate. Data collected in the cocoa producing areas of SW Nigeria show that when this forest is removed and replaced by field or tree crops, the balance between vegetation and soil breaks down, and this leads to instability and a considerable deterioration in soil quality. An index of soil deterioration ~as derived and showed the following percentage declines for field and tree crops respectively: bulk density, 28% and 31%; total porosity, 12% and 18%; pH, 16% and 13%; organic matter, 29% and 26%; nitrate nitrogen, 35% and 27%; available phosphorus, 19% and 19%; calcium, 24% and 41%; sodium, 50%, 50%; potassium, 27%, 43%; magnesium, 36%, 47%; cation exchange capacity, 36%, 34%; base saturation, 5.4%, 8.7%. This study is one of the first attempts to assess soil deterioration on peasant farmers' cocoa plots.