Drivers of cocoa agroforestry adoption by smallholder farmers around the Taï National Park in southwestern Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract

Forest encroachments in protected areas leading to severe biodiversity loss are common in Côte d’Ivoire for the last few decades mainly due to agricultural expansion. Several initiatives to promote sustainable agriculture practices are ongoing in the vicinity of these protected forests to reverse the anthropogenic pressure and its consequences. This study was undertaken to assess selected agricultural practices and the willingness of the cocoa farmers to adopt agroforestry around the Taï National Park in Southwest Côte d’Ivoire. A structured questionnaire was administrated to 323 cocoa farmers to understand their current practices and perceptions of cocoa agroforestry. Our results showed that 95% of farmers grow unimproved cocoa varieties with an average yield of 376 ± 36 kg/ha per year. In terms of agricultural practices, more than 91% of farmers applied pesticides, 86% use agroforestry practices as part of their farming systems, while 82% use pruning techniques and 27% applied fertilizers. We also found that most farmers (54%) are willing to adopt improved agroforestry practices or plant more trees in their cocoa plantations. The willingness of these farmers to practice cocoa agroforestry is influenced by gender, the length of residency and the number of cultivated cash crops. Our findings can be used as entry points to make good use of strong community knowledge and take advantage of existing knowledge to strengthen the take-up of good agricultural practices and generate on-the-ground sustainable impacts.