Cocoa-based agroforestry system dynamics and trends in the Akongo subregion of central Cameroon |
| |
Authors: | Manga Essouma François Michel Isabelle Mala William A Levang Patrice Ambang Zachée Begoude Boyogueno Aimé D Moisy Charlotte Ngono Françoise Carriere Stéphanie M |
| |
Institution: | 1.Scientific Coordination for Perennial Crops, Institut de Recherche Agricole pour le Développement (IRAD), P.O. Box. 2067, Yaoundé, Cameroon ;2.Department of Plant Biology, University of Yaoundé I, P.O. Box 337, Yaoundé, Cameroon ;3.UMR INNOVATION, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, Univ. Montpellier, Montpellier, France ;4.UMR GRED –IRD-UPVM, Université Paul-Valéry, Site St Charles, Route de Mende, 34199, Montpellier Cedex 05, France ;5.Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), P.O. Box 2008, Messa, Yaoundé, Cameroon ;6.Yaoundé, Cameroon ; |
| |
Abstract: | Cocoa is a major crop and income source for most farmers and rural households in the Centre, South and South-West regions of Cameroon, where cocoa is generally produced in agroforestry systems. In this country, cocoa-based agroforestry systems (CBAFS) are undergoing multiple changes alongside the rapid changes underway in the natural, economic and socio-political conditions. This study—carried out in the Akongo subregion in central Cameroon—was designed to gain insight into the CBAFS trends and dynamics in the light of those multiple changes. This semi-structured socioeconomic survey involved interviews and direct observations at plot, farm, household and village scales. Overall, forty cocoa growers from ten villages were interviewed and then fifteen cocoa plots were characterized on the basis of the survey findings. They revealed that cocoa was the major crop in this study area, with cocoa plantations occupying three quarters of the total farming area. Three types of CBAFS were identified, which differed according to their vegetation structure, management practices and age of the plantations. Dynamics affecting the structural characteristics and the spatial extension of these systems emerged and were intimately linked to the dynamics of the cocoa farmer population in relation to their context. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|