NEW TREES FOR OLD AS ABANDONED COCOA FARMS ARE RECLAIMED

COUNTRY: Cote d'Ivoire
THEME: Environmental

Cocoa is a tropical tree crop that originates from the Amazon Basin but can thrive around the world, anywhere within 15-20 degrees of the equator at low altitudes. Traders introduced the tree to Africa in the nineteenth century, but much of it successfully spread throughout the countries of West Africa during the last century, and many of the cocoa farms in Cote d'Ivoire are now 30-40 years old.

While the trees have a long and productive life, yields do eventually begin to fall, at which time new trees must be established if cocoa farming is to continue to flourish.

West Africa is endowed with a plentiful land resource and the habit has been to abandon farms as the trees become old, moving cultivation to new areas. However, with pressure on virgin forest mounting, this is not a sustainable practice. Mars has been looking for ways to encourage farmers to rehabilitate existing farms rather than encroach on the forest.

One of the first challenges in achieving rehabilitation is to demonstrate to farmers that it will be an economically viable solution.

With this background, Mars partnered with a German development agency, Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), on a project in the west of Cote d'Ivoire on the fringes of the Tai Forest. The proposal was to demonstrate to farmers that an abandoned farm could be successfully brought back to production, and that, by making a few changes in basic practices, the farmers could reap tangible economic benefits.

However, significant obstacles existed. Issues like poor soil quality, environmental damage and the advanced age of the cocoa trees all needed to be addressed.

Remedies for these issues include nurturing saplings and growing cocoa trees in shaded areas. Planting leguminous material, which acts as a nitrogen fixer while at the same time providing shade, can help to restore nutrients in the soil. Ensuring that appropriate new cocoa planting stock, either in the form of saplings or as grafting material, is available is also a key to success.

Overall, the Ivorian project was successful not only from the point of view of Mars and GTZ, but more importantly from the standpoint of the farmers. Mars learned the importance of sensitivity to farmers' priorities and the farmers themselves benefited from new planting material and technical know-how.

This successful project has shown smallholders that their existing farms can remain viable into the future, and at the same time has provided an incentive to them to produce cocoa in a more sustainable way.

If this case study on rehabilitating old cocoa farms in Cote d'Ivoire was interesting, please click on the following link: "Stronger Cocoa Trees Reduce Vulnerability for Farmers in West Africa".

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