Cocoa (plant) Archives - Resilient Landscapes (RL)

Exploring cacao value chain governance. A case study of North Luwu, Sulawesi, Indonesia

This study analyzes the dynamics of cacao Value Chain Governance (VCG) in North Luwu, South Sulawesi, to understand how governance structures influence the integration of sustainability measures. While Indonesia remains a vital global producer, national productivity has fallen below the global average due to pests, disease, and climate change, leading to an increased reliance on imports to meet domestic processing demands. Utilizing a framework that identifies five governance types—market, modular, relational, captive, and hierarchy—the research examines how transactions are codified and how power is distributed among stakeholders. Findings reveal that major buyers like Mars, Inc. employ “captive” governance through strict certification contracts, while others like Cargill and Olam maintain more “modular” or “relational” structures that offer varying degrees of flexibility for farmers and local traders.

The evaluation highlights a significant power asymmetry where lead firms largely dictate pricing and quality standards, leaving smallholder farmers with limited bargaining power. Although farmers demonstrate proficiency in meeting technical quality requirements, their understanding of traceability remains limited, posing a challenge to long-term sustainability goals. To enhance the value chain, the study recommends empowering farmers through strengthened cooperatives, increasing awareness of certification and climate-smart agriculture, and investing in digital tools to drive social inclusion. These strategic interventions aim to foster more equitable relationships and ensure the environmental and economic resilience of Indonesia’s cacao industry.

Sustainable Farming in Asian Tropical Landscapes (SFITAL)

The Sustainable Farming in Tropical Asian Landscapes (SFITAL) Indonesia project in South Sulawesi (North Luwu) and North Sumatra (North Labuhanbatu), supports smallholder cacao and oil palm farmers in adopting more sustainable, climate-resilient practices through agroforestry, capacity building, and multi-stakeholder collaboration. The project strengthens farmer and extension services through training, demonstration plots, and digital learning platforms, while promoting farming as a business and improving market access. SFITAL also facilitates evidence-based policies, regional action plans, and monitoring systems to guide local decision-making. These efforts enhance productivity, diversify incomes, empower women and youth, and contribute to more resilient livelihoods and environmentally sustainable landscapes.

Promoting Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) through Strengthening the Capacity of Smallholder Farmers: Lessons from Kapuas Hulu District, West Kalimantan

Kapuas Hulu District in West Kalimantan has abundant natural resource potential but faces growing sustainability challenges in the context of climate change, particularly for key plantation commodities such as cacao, rubber, coffee, and oil palm, which are generally cultivated in monoculture systems. These systems are highly vulnerable to market price fluctuations, pest and disease outbreaks, and climate variability. The promotion of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) through agroforestry is seen as a way to strengthen the economic and environmental resilience of smallholder farmers in responding to climate change impacts.
To build smallholders’ capacity to apply CSA practices, the Enhancing the Climate-Smart Agriculture Technologies and Practices of Smallholder Commodity Farmers (ECSAP) program implements a range of activities aimed at driving behavioural change using the ADKAR approach (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement). The program has supported the emergence of 24 Independent Extension Agents and Model Farmers who provide farmer-to-farmer extension to promote the adoption of CSA practices for the main plantation commodities in Kapuas Hulu.
This brief also presents a set of recommendations for relevant stakeholders at local and national levels to support smallholder capacity building and to encourage the wider and more sustained implementation of CSA.

Tree diversity and soil fertility interactions drive carbon storage in degraded cocoa landscapes of Côte d’Ivoire

Introduction: Understanding the ecological functioning of degraded cocoa landscapes is critical for restoring productivity and ecosystem services in West Africa. This study investigated how climate, geography, and land-use systems interact to shape tree diversity, soil fertility, and aboveground carbon (AGC) stocks across six cocoa-producing sites in Côte d’Ivoire.

Methods: Field inventories and soil sampling to 50 cm depth were conducted across gradients of climate (1,150–1,650 mm rainfall) and land-use systems (fallow, cocoa agroforestry, and monocropping). Mixed effects ANOVA, regression, and redundancy analyses were applied to test three hypotheses linking environmental gradients, tree diversity, and soil–carbon relationships.

Results: Land-use system had the strongest effect on tree diversity (P< 0.0001), with fallows supporting significantly higher richness (7.2 ± 0.51) and Shannon diversity (1.7 ± 0.05) than agroforestry or monocrop systems. Climate and site nested within climate also significantly influenced species abundance and evenness. Soil fertility indicators were primarily controlled by climate and geographic site, with significant effects on pH, exchangeable bases, and structural stability. Interactions between climate and land-use significantly affected soil pH, organic carbon, calcium, and cation exchange capacity. Stepwise regression identified aluminum, potassium, boron, and magnesium as key soil predictors of AGC (R² = 0.14; P< 0.0001), while species richness was the only diversity metric significantly associated with AGC (R² = 0.12; P< 0.0001).

Discussion: These results highlight the dominant role of species richness over evenness and abundance in sustaining soil fertility and carbon storage, emphasizing biodiversity conservation as a cornerstone of cocoa landscape restoration.

Opportunities for a low-emission transformation of Ghana’s food systems

Key messages

Ghana’s food systems contribute significantly (54.1%) to total national anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – much above the global average (31%).
The three primary sources of food system emissions in Ghana, ranked by decreasing order of importance, are: (i) land-use change emissions from deforestation, accounting for 40.7% of total food system emissions; (ii) farm gate emissions from livestock management (21.8%); and (iii) beyond-farm gate emissions from wastewater treatment and discharge (17.2%).
While land-use change, livestock management, and waste dominate Ghana’s food system emissions, the most effective mitigation strategies emerge from considering both the origin and size of these emissions, as well as where Ghana can most rapidly and realistically implement change. The proposed priority measures therefore integrate emission magnitude with technical, economic, and institutional feasibility, consistent with Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Ghana’s food security and development priorities.
Priority mitigation actions comprise intensifying cocoa production through agroforestry and strengthening preparedness for the EU Deforestation Regulation; improving fire management through controlled early burning and firebreak systems; reducing livestock emissions by boosting productivity and animal health; investing in urban (solid and water) waste management; diversifying into legumes and aquaculture to reduce dependence on meat for protein intake; actively integrating food system mitigation with improved market access and development; and increasing forest-related carbon sinks.

Sustainable Farming in Tropical Asian Landscapes – Final project summary: Indonesia

The Sustainable Farming in Tropical Asian Landscapes (SFITAL) programme, coordinated by ICRAF and funded by IFAD, was created to address persistent structural challenges facing smallholder tree‑crop systems in Southeast Asia. Focusing on Indonesia and the Philippines, the programme strengthened the foundations of climate‑resilient and inclusive agroforestry landscapes by empowering farmers, supporting local institutions and catalysing innovation across cocoa and oil‑palm value chains. Over five years (2020–2025), SFITAL piloted a systems‑based, landscape‑level approach in South Sulawesi and North Sumatra, where smallholders face declining productivity, land degradation, climate pressures and market uncertainty. A core innovation was the development of jurisdictional strategies—such as sustainable palm‑oil action plans (RAD‑KSB) and cocoa roadmaps—that integrate spatial planning, environmental management and farmer support into official regional agendas. The programme trained more than 3,000 farmers, introduced digital tools for participatory monitoring and learning, and demonstrated scalable models for sustainable commodity production. This final brief synthesizes lessons, highlights success stories and outlines pathways for institutionalizing and scaling inclusive landscape transformation across Southeast Asia.

Towards low-emission food systems in Ghana: A country profile

Food systems – spanning the five economic sectors of agriculture, land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF), energy, industrial processes and product use (IPPU), and waste – account for about one-third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, making them a critical yet often under-reported component of the climate challenge. This document is part of a series of national country profiles. Comparing FAOSTAT and national estimates from Ghana’s first Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) and Common Reporting Tables (CRT), this document provides an overall view of land use, forest, and agriculture, food security and diet, and food system emissions in Ghana. It identifies the following no-regret priorities for mitigation action: (i) zero-deforestation cocoa agroforestry that combines yield intensification with forest conservation and smallholder compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation; (ii) savanna fire management through early burning and community firebreaks to curb late-season fires and emission peaks; (iii) livestock productivity and manure management improvements focusing on feed quality, animal health and composting to lower methane and nitrous oxide intensities without harming food security; (iv) urban wastewater and solid waste management via segregation, composting and anaerobic digestion to reduce methane and to recycle nutrients; and (v) nutrition-sensitive diversification through aquaculture, legumes and poultry to close the protein supply gap while cutting emissions intensity.

Cacao stand rehabilitation practices affect long-term cocoa production in agroforestry systems in Cameroon

Previous studies suggest that the density and diversity of associated trees stabilises cocoa agroforestry systems (cAFS) production in the long term. However, the impact of cocoa rejuvenation practices on this stabilisation process remains unclear. This study investigated how farmers’ practices, particularly cocoa stand management, influence long-term cocoa yields, considering the production area’s history and current management. Cocoa plantations aged from 7 to over 60 years were selected in two areas: an old cocoa production area (Bakoa) and a cocoa pioneer front in the forested land (Talba) in Cameroon’s Centre region. Measurements included cocoa and associated tree diameters, shade tree cover and accessible cocoa yield. We also identified architectural types of cocoa trees representing various development stages. Results showed no effect of plantation age on associated tree parameters at either site. In Talba, cocoa tree density and accessible yield decreased with plantation age. This decline was associated with an increase in senescent cocoa trees and few regenerated multi-stem trees over time. This indicates poor rejuvenation of existing plantations in Talba, where forest reserves are available to create new ones. Conversely, in Bakoa, an area with no available forest reserves, rejuvenation of existing plantations, evidenced by the increasing density of multi-stem cocoa trees and new seedlings over time, was associated with stable yields in the long term. Providing farmers with training and incentives to rejuvenate old cocoa stands should be part of an overall strategy to increase production, improve farmers’ incomes, protect forests and comply with the commercial rules of consumer countries.

Characterization and ecological importance of cocoa and oil palm agroforestry systems on the outskirts of a forest concession in southern Cameroon

Traditional production systems, agroforestry systems (SAFs) in southern Cameroon combine various types of trees of socio-economic interest which can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity. The objective of this work is to analyze the contribution of these agroforestry systems based on cocoa and oil palms in the sustainable management of peripheral resources of a forest concession in southern Cameroon. The methodological approach adopted consisted of carrying out socio-demographic surveys with 66 SAF operators using survey forms. A sampling rate of 10% was applied in seven villages in the Commune of Djoum. These interviews were supplemented by floristic inventories carried out on 69 plots of 40 × 60 m for a total area of 15.84 ha. The data collected allowed us to calculate various diversity and ecological indices, woody biomass and carbon stock, to which various statistical tests and Analyzes of variance were applied. The floristic potential is made up of 8,355 individuals divided into 177 species, 153 genera, 47 families, and classified into 3 woody groups, namely introduced, preserved and perennial species. The Shannon index between land use types varies from 2.15 bits in palm agroforests to 3.9 bits in forests while it is 2.81 bits in cocoa agroforests. The forests of the UFA and the peripheral SAFs share 42 forest species out of 63 inventoried species, ie 66.7% of forest species preserved in cocoa agroforests, proof of the effectiveness of the conservation potential of these SAFs in the region. The largest diameter class is [10–20] cm while the largest height class is the stratum of [5–10] m. Tree density and basal areas are highest in forests with 110.51 stems/ha and 42.08 m2/ha. Three types of architectural profiles for cocoa-based SAFs and two types of architectural profiles for oil palm-based SAFs were identified with a typology that shows 4 groups of TUTs based on ecological interactions. Forests are the type of land use that stores the most carbon (115.81 tC/ha) compared to 93.54 tC/ha for palm agroforest and 58.8 tC/ha for cocoa agroforests. Gradients of diversity, density and complexity vary with proximity to the forest concession. These results could be considered as effective and quantifiable tools for the certification of numerous cash crops such as cocoa and oil palm, which will make it possible to promote this endogenous knowledge scientifically and in the development of various programs and publications. technical notes.

Mapping soil organic carbon as soil health indicator of cocoa landscapes in middle Côte d’Ivoire

The spatial distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) in cocoa-growing landscapes is a vital indicator of soil health and essential for environmental management. However, documented work on the mapping of SOC is often unavailable for such landscape. At the same time, spatial information is required for specific soil fertility management and the implementation of knowledge-based policies that aim at increasing cocoa production. This study aimed to establish baseline SOC maps in cocoa-growing landscape for topsoil (0–20 cm) and subsoil (20–50 cm) and investigate underlying factors for its spatial distribution using a digital soil mapping approach. For that purpose, two variants of the Random Forest algorithm were used, considering the normal random cross-validation (random CV) and the Leave-Location-Out cross-validation (LLOCV), which accounts for spatial autocorrelation. Our findings revealed that SOC content was better predicted by considering LLOCV compared to random CV. The spatial variability of SOC content was primarily related to elevation at all depths, with areas with more natural vegetation located at high altitude having higher SOC content than lower regions. However, both methods indicate that SOC content in the studied cocoa-growing landscapes is less than 2 %, which is below the standard required for supporting a sustainable cocoa production. These results put forward the need to increase the awareness among all cocoa stakeholders and policymakers towards actions that promote the building up of soil organic matter as a cost-effective way to boost productivity.

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