Tree diversity in agroforestry systems of native fine-aroma cacao, Amazonas, Peru

Abstract

Cocoa cultivation is of considerable economic and social importance to the Amazonas region and is commonly associated with forest species in the region. However, the diversification level and composition of cacao agroforestry systems in Peru are poorly understood. The objective of this study is, therefore, to describe the diversity of tree species in cocoa AFS by plantation age. Accordingly, the number of species of 15 plots covering a total of 1.5 hectares was recorded. Moderately low levels of tree species diversity were reported (H´ ranged 0.89–1.45). In total 17 species were reported throughout the study area. The most abundant botanical family was represented by a single Musa sp. species. The dissimilarity indices show a moderate similarity between the age ranges evaluated (over 62%). Additionally, the IVI indicates that the most important species are used for food and timber apart from providing shade, additionally major of this species are introduced intentionally for the farmers. Based on the observations, it may be concluded that the farmer’s interest in obtaining further benefits from the plot, mostly economic benefits affect the diversification of cocoa agroforestry systems.

Agronomic and Economic Evaluation of Tree Species in Agroforestry Systems with Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) in Amazonas

“…This perspective highlights the importance of long-term planning and strategic design of agroforestry systems. This sustained and growing income pattern offers an optimistic outlook for the long-term economic viability of AFS, highlighting the importance of planned and sustainable strategies in agroforestry management [15]. These results have significant practical implications for farmers and managers and contribute to the body of knowledge in the sustainable management of agroforestry systems, offering a comprehensive and accurate approach to decision-making [8,9].…”

“…The deliberate transformation of the landscape may be indicated by the tendency observed among many producers to associate fruit, timber, and medicinal trees [10]. These agroecosystems, with their high level of anthropization, serve as food, timber, medicine, and shade cocoa [15].…”

“…Agroforestry practices require rigorous training of producers and cooperative work for crop profitability [14]. Recently, it has been observed that producers are diversifying their plots by combining various indigenous timber or fruit species and are consequently gaining complementary economic and consumption advantages from cocoa cultivation [13,15]. However, this diversification is carried out empirically, incorporating native species such as Cordia alliodora [14].…”

Plant species composition and diversity in traditional agroforestry landscapes on Siberut Island, West Sumatra, Indonesia

“…Furthermore, varied conditions discovered a low diversity index on agroforestry land in Lampung, H'=0.98 (Heryandi et al 2022). The diversity index on agroforestry land varies in many other topical agroforestry places, such as Central Nepal, H'=1.21 (Pandey et al 2021) and Cameron, which were intermediate categories, H'=2.86 (Todou et al 2022), South-Cental Ethiopia, H'=2.1 (Molla et al 2023) and in Peru were low categories, H'=1.45 (Goñas et al 2022) but high in North Morocco, H'=3.04 (Chakkour et al 2023).…”

Interactions between climate, shade canopy characteristics and cocoa production in Colombia

“…The cocoa tree, native to the Amazon region (Motamayor et al, 2002), is one of the most important agricultural crops in tropical regions (Hosseini et al, 2017;Gonas et al, 2022). This production system is the livelihood of approximately five million rural households (Scudder et al, 2022), 80% of which present vulnerable conditions (Vaast and Somarriba, 2014).…”