Trade-offs between crop intensification and ecosystem services: the role of agroforestry in cocoa cultivation

Research published in this special issue on cocoa agroforestry illustrates the multifunctional role of shade trees for sustaining cocoa production and improving farmers¿ livelihoods, and addresses tradeoffs between higher cocoa yield and the provision of ecosystem services to local households and global society. Indeed, the use of diverse shade in cocoa cultivation is threatened by a new drive towards crop intensification. The removal of shade trees diminishes smallholders¿ ability to adapt to global change driven by demographic pressure, food insecurity, cocoa price volatility and climate change. Some forms of crop intensification may reduce ecological resilience of cocoa production systems, making adaptation strategies, combining shade trees with innovative management practices, essential for sustaining cocoa yield. Managing trade-offs between yield and environmental services at the cocoa plot and landscape scales requires a multi-disciplinary approach to identify key management options that goes beyond the artificially polarized debates around intensified versus traditional agroforestry practices, or more generally, land-sparing versus land-sharing strategies. The global challenge facing the cocoa sector today is how to increase cocoa production to meet growing demand, without expanding the area under cocoa. This means finding sustainable ways to maintain cocoa production within today¿s producing regions, particularly West Africa, through a series of technical innovations geared towards smallholders. Inappropriate intensification may result in heavy deforestation on new pioneer fronts, such as the Congo basin, and existing cocoa being replaced either by other agricultural commodities, or by less resilient and less environmentally friendly production practices. (Résumé d'auteur

Lineamientos para el Plan Estratégico de Cacao, Nicaragua

Los objetivos nacionales del sector cacaotero nicaragüense pueden sintetizarse en tres grandes temas: - Macroeconómicos: Se busca aumentar el ingreso de divisas por la exportación de cacao en grano y de productos elaborados y semi-elaborados - Microeconómicos: Se busca aumentar el ingreso de los productores (subsistencia y empresariales), el auto-abastecimiento (madera, frutas, leña, etc. –especialmente para hogares de pequeños productores de subsistencia) y la disponibilidad de materia prima para consumo nacional (industrias nacionales de chocolates y refresquerías populares) - Ambiente: Se busca mejorar los sistemas de producción cacaoteros para proteger suelos, agua y biodiversidad (especialmente en zonas remotas y en los alrededores de zonas protegidas de interés nacional e internacional), proveer de otros servicios ambientales a la sociedad (fijación de carbono, regulación de los ciclos biogeoquímicos, etc.) y generar ingresos económicos adicionales al hogar productor por la provisión de estos servicios ambientales. Los objetivos nacionales se pueden lograr: - Aumentando la productividad de los cacaotales existentes y expandiendo el área bajo cultivo de cacao empleando tecnología cacaotera de punta (fuerte énfasis en el mejoramiento genético, importación, validación y reproducción de nuevos clones e híbridos con alto potencial para Nicaragua, uso masivo de injertos y plantas de porte bajo, mejor manejo agronómico del cacao, diversificación agroforestal, control de moniliasis) - Aumentando el precio mediante la producción de cacao de alta calidad (por su composición genética y por el manejo post-cosecha) y buscando estrategias de certificación y diferenciación que aseguren sobre-precios grandes y estables en el corto y mediano plazo (un tercio del cacao nicaragüense se exporta como grano certificado orgánico y de comercio justo – CACAONICA, Waslala) - Aumentando el margen de utilidades mediante el diseño de una estrategia de reducción de costos (especialmente en fincas de escala empresarial) y venta de servicios ambientales. A corto plazo, en el 2006, se debe: 1) Presentar estas ideas del Plan Nacional al Gabinete Presidencial para la Producción y Competitividad y al resto de los integrantes del Cluster Cacao de Nicaragua y 2) Diseñar la estrategia técnica, organizativa y de cooperación con las cuales se implementaría el Plan. Para el diseño será necesario completar el diagnóstico cacaotero iniciado durante esta misión y realizar un análisis de los riesgos productivos (efectividad y rentabilidad del control de moniliasis, rendimiento de clones e injertos en los ambientes agroecológicos de Nicaragua, rentabilidad y riesgo financiero, etc.), comerciales (CAFTA y otros procesos de liberalización e integración comercial) y climático (tendencia hacia períodos mas secos y erráticos, eventos catastróficos mas frecuentes y dañinos, etc.) del Plan. El diagnóstico cacaotero que es necesario completar en el 2006 incluye: - Estimación de área cultivada, la tasa de ampliación en las zonas de expansión del cacao en la región Atlántica y la caracterización de los hogares y de las plantaciones de cacao - Realizar un inventario de las organizaciones de asistencia técnica y cooperación que trabajan apoyando el cultivo del cacao en Nicaragua, listar los programas y proyectos cacaoteros en marcha, los proyectos en gestión, estimar los recursos financieros y de otra índole dedicados actualmente y en el futuro cercano (cinco años) a apoyar actividades con cacao en Nicaragua - Evaluación de la actitud de los productores ante la disponibilidad real de tierra y recursos financieros para mejorar y expandir el cultivo del cacao, el uso de tecnología (materiales vegetales, sombra, lucha contra la monilia, prácticas de recolecta, injertación), sobre los precios actuales y expectativas futuras - Evaluación de la actitud de los compradores y de los pequeños transformadores industriales sobre el terreno con relación a la oferta (cantidad y calidad) y la demanda de cacao en el mercado nacional e internacional - Validar las siguientes suposiciones del sector cacaotero nicaragüense Es el cacao nicaragüense de alta calidad? Existe en Nicaragua disponibilidad de tierras adecuadas para expandir el cultivo? Es agronómica y financieramente factible el control de la moniliasis? Es estable y seguro el mercado y los precios esperados para el cacao en el mercado nacional e internacional? - Extender el análisis FODA al contexto actual y perspectivas de mercado del cacao de Nicaragua - Evaluar el conocimiento e investigación disponible sobre la cacaocultura nacional y definir las necesidades de investigación, incluyendo - Evaluación de la productividad, tolerancia a moniliasis y calidad de grano de materiales genéticos promisorios en varias condiciones Agroecologicas - Evaluación agronómica y financiera de las alternativas utilizadas actualmente contra la moniliasis - Identificación y evaluación de las especies arbóreas, densidades y arreglos de plantación apropiados para productores de subsistencia y empresariales en varias condiciones Agroecologicas -Zonificación agroecológica del cacao en Nicaragua y evaluación de las bondades y limitaciones de las regiones atlántico (lluviosa, >2000 mm año-1) y pacífico (estacionalmente seca, 1400-1600 mm año-1) para la expansión del cultivo - Posibilidades para integrar el conocimiento generado en los centros regionales de investigación con cacao en América Central (FHIA - Honduras, CATIE - Costa Rica). (Résumé d'auteur

Smallholders coffee and cocoa agroforestry systems; examples of climate-smart agriculture

Agroforestry is an agricultural practice that integrates trees on cropping systems, farms and landscapes to diversify and sustain production. Agroforestry is one key management option for climate-smart agriculture as it combines sustainable production, adaptation and mitigation of climate change, as well as food and income security through tree-crop diversification. Trees in cocoa and coffee systems have been documented to improve crop production, provide timber, fruits and other products and ecosystem services, thereby enhancing food, nutrition and income security of smallholders that produce over 80% of world cocoa and coffee. There is increasing evidence that trees, through microclimatic amelioration, enhance the resilience of cocoa and coffee systems to climate change which is threatening the livelihood of rural communities globally. Nevertheless, intensification of the production of both coffee and cacao is currently promoted mainly via improved germplasm and use of agrochemicals in monoculture, and hence removal of shade trees which decreases smallholders' ability to cope with price volatility of coffee and cacao, pests and diseases outbreaks and climate change. Agroforestry systems are well suited for risk-averse smallholders. To promote successfully an intensification of cocoa and coffee systems including agroforestry practices, two scientific approaches are currently combined: 1) participatory research taking into account local knowledge of rural communities on tree species compatibility with the main crop and suitability to match ecological niches, livelihood requirements of farmers while providing a range of ecosystem services; and 2) development of tools and models that evaluate the trade-offs or synergies in terms of resource capture and competition / facilitation between trees and the main crop in order to optimize tree species arrangement and shade management according to local conditions e.g. soil fertility, microclimate, elevation or solar radiation. (Texte intégral

Farmer's perceptions on climate change and prospects for climate smart agriculture along the tree cover transition curve. [P115]

The combination of social and ecological factors determines people's vulnerability to climate change (CC) and options for climate smart agriculture. This study uses the tree cover transition curve framework (TTC that links reforestation stages of landscapes to a preceding deforestation process), to understand how adaptive capacity and perception on CC vary as agricultural systems develop and tree resources decrease. We selected 3 sites in Nicaragua (Siuna, Waslala and La Dalia) to represent tree cover decline phases (from early degradation: Siuna, towards sites with low tree cover: La Dalia) and Hojancha-Costa Rica to represent recovery phase. We characterized 140 households per site with a household survey (www.ccafs.cgiar.org). Different sets of 45 indicators (e.g. livelihood capitals, food security, land use, farm size, and CC induced changes in farm management) were used in 4 cluster analyses to explore how farm types (land use allocation, CC perceptions, adaptive capacity and available tree resources) vary along the TTC. At early degradation and recovery phase, extensive cattle ranching and basic grains dominate, there are few progressive CC-induced changes in farm management (but high impacts of extreme events in Siuna), good adaptive capacity and good food security. Intermediate phase is similar to early degradation in land use and CC perception, but with the lowest adaptive capacity. In agricultural landscapes where basic grains smallholders agriculture predominate, most farmers have changed farm practices due to progressive CC, have low to medium adaptive capacity and high food insecurity. Early and intermediate degradation landscapes offer opportunities for mitigation, fostering sustainable intensification; improving coping capacity of farmers there might offer triple wins. In landscapes with high pressure on land (La Dalia) options for mitigation are limited; efforts for improving adaptive capacity and alleviation of food insecurity are perhaps the only intervention strategies possible in the short term. (Texte intégral

Tree and litter composition influences soil macrofauna in multi-strata agroforestry systems of Talamanca, Costa Rica

Humanity is facing a rapid decline in global biodiversity, caused mainly by tropical forest deforestation for industrial and smallholder agriculture. However, smallholder agriculture landscapes host areas of home gardens and other agroforestry systems (AFS) that have proven highly relevant for soil and biodiversity conservation. The positive interactions between aboveground and below-ground biodiversity is probably a key element to understand and promote the efficiency of these agro-ecosystems. To determine whether a relation exists between tree and soil macrofauna diversity and composition, we compared cacao AFS with contrasted tree diversity along a topography and forest cover gradient in Talamanca, Costa Rica. To determine which components of the tree cover composition (species), structure (density, richness, Shannon, Pielou) and agroforest floor (litter more ground cover) best explain the composition (orders and families) and structure (density, richness, Shannon, Pielou) of the macrofauna community we performed two separate redundancy analyses (composition and structure) and constructed the “best models” based on the tree composition, tree structure and agroforest floor as explanatory matrices. Macrofauna composition was best explained by a mix of tree species and litter composition variables (R2=26.5%) and macrofauna and vegetation share a low but significant co-variation with topography (R2=12%). Conversely, macrofauna structure is best explained by a selection of seven tree species (R2=10.9%). Tree evenness (Pielou index) only explained 7% of macrofauna community structure while other diversity indices were not correlated with macrofauna composition or structure. The soil macrofauna is therefore more influenced by tree and litter composition than by the overall diversity or evenness of the tree community. This information is important to design the optimal combinations of species for the intensification of production and ecosystem services provision in cacao-based AFS