Status of non-cocoa tree species in cocoa multistrata systems of southern

Abstract

Investigations to assess the status of non-cocoa tree species in the cocoa systems of southern Cameroon were carried out in four contrasting locations, distinguished by ecology, population density and land use intensity. One set of inventory was done in each of the 20 selected cocoa farms with an average surface area of 1.4 ha in every location. The inventory was carried out over 25% of each farmland following a gradient directed transect method. Within each cocoa farm, only indigenous tree species and shrubs with the capacity of being transformed into tree species were considered. Our findings showed that there was in total 165 different non-cocoa tree species in the 80 cocoa fields observed. The number of shared species between locations was relatively high (54% to 74%). Frequency distribution of the number of species classified by the number of farms where they were found showed that most species were fairly rare. Tree species richness varied widely between cocoa farms within locations. These findings suggest the need for the various stakeholders of the sector to take appropriate actions to protect endangered species of ecological and economical importance in order to enhance the sustainability of these systems.

Farmers in Côte d’Ivoire value integrating tree diversity in cocoa for the provision of ecosystem services

“…Fallows were rare, cropland scare and trees rarely associated with other local land uses such as food crops, paddies, rubber or oil palm. There were no significant differences between farmers of different ethnic origin, eco-certification status or the age of their plantations, in terms of the number of species found on cocoa plots but the variation was large within each of these categories as found in other studies in Cameroon (Nomo et al 2008). The mean number of species found per plot was 9.6 with a higher proportion of native naturally regenerating species (6) than of planted species (4) which is higher than the 5.4 species previously recorded in Côte d'Ivoire (Herzog 1994) but lower than farms studied in Central Cameroon where means of 21 tree species ha -1 (Sonwa et al 2007) and 25 tree species ha -1 were recorded (Jagoret et al 2011).…”

“…The results were also higher than those shown by a study in the Ondo State in Nigeria, with 45 species (Oke and Odebiyi 2007) and by an inventory of mature cocoa farms in the Ashanti region of Ghana that recorded 66 species (Anglaaere et al 2011). On the other hand, it was lower than the richness described in studies of traditional agroforestry systems in Cameroon where 206 tree species were inventoried (Sonwa et al 2007) and cocoa agroforests in central Cameroon where 165 tree species were inventoried (Nomo et al 2008). The survey results indicate that, despite the significant deforestation trends and the promotion of full-sun cocoa, the cocoa farms in the South-West of Côte d'Ivoire represent a refuge for a large number of native tree species.…”

Plant species diversity in cocoa and rubber tree landscapes in Côte d’Ivoire

“…Indeed, cocoa-based agroforestry systems have long been the subject of studies to determine which species are compatible with the cocoa tree (Gala Bi et al, 2017;Sanial, 2018). Similar cases have been reported in Southern Cameroon multistrata cocoa farms where most species had a special status (Nomo et al, 2008). In addition, fruits tree species are introduced into cocoa farms by farmers to supplement their income and for their consumption.…”

Typologie des systèmes agroforestiers à base de cacaoyers selon le gradient de production cacaoyère en Côte d’Ivoire

“…Les inventaires réalisés ont permis de recenser 84 espèces reparties en 66 genres et 31 familles. Ce nombre d'espèce est inférieur à 165, nombre d'espèce obtenu par Nomo et al (2008) (Koulibaly et al, 2017). Outre ces espèces locales, certaines espèces exotiques sont introduites dans les plantations pour leur valeur commerciale.…”