Are the Cocoa Agroforests of Southern Cameroon a High Carbon Pathway to Development? By James Gockowski Sustainable Tree Crops Program World Congress of Agroforestry 2009, Nairobi, Kenya August 25, 2009

Introduction to the problem Annual Closed Deforestation canopy forest Cocoa (%)(million ha) (million ha) Cote D’Ivoire 3.5% Nigeria 2.5% Ghana 1.7% Cameroon 0.89% Source: World Bank, World Resources Institute, FAOSTAT Rural Poverty (%) Cote D’Ivoire no data Nigeria 37% Ghana 50% Cameroon 50% Cultivation-Forest Mosaic Dominated by Cocoa Cropping System Original Climax Ecosystems and Cultivation-Forest Mosaic in WCA

Main Research Questions To what extent do extant cocoa agroforests offer a viable pathway out of chronic poverty? What role for research?

Importance of CAFs in the provision of environmental services Depends on their extent in the landscape: Cocoa lands accounted for 684 km, 439 and 624 sq. km (equivalent to 23, 9 and 4 percent of total land area) in the Lékié, Mfou and Mvila divisions Santoir (1995) has shown that in some specific localities of the intensified Lékié CAF area cover>30% of total area. cocoa mixed food crop mixed food last season fallow Land use legend 300 m

Findings: Non-Timber Product Inventory Type of use values: 93 species with food value, 186 species with medicinal value and 103 species used for other purposes (food wrapping, poles for construction, caterpillar trees, etc.) Plant type : 165 tree species 13 woody shrubs, 30 vines and 46 herbaceous plants Most represented botanical families: Euphorbiaceae--16 species Sterculiaceae--12 species and Apocynaceae, Caesalpiniaceae and Moraceae--11 species each 254 plant species from 78 different families w/ some consumptive value.

Most Frequent Food Species 74%Ricinodendron heudelotii (Baill.) Heckel 74%Elaeis guineensis Jacq. 76%Myrianthus arboreus P. Beauv. 78%Terminalia superba Engl. & Diels 83%Ficus exasperata Vahl 87%Pycnanthus angolensis (Welw.) Warb. 93%Costus afer Ker Gawl. 93%Mangifera indica L. 96%Persea americana Mill. 100%Dacryodes edulis (G. Don) H.J. Lam Food Uses Presence (% of CAFs) D. edulis, African plum Oil palm Elaeis guineensis

Biodiversity and Fruit Tree Density

Fruit Tree Density and Market Access

Commercialization Market participation for non-timber products varied across sites. 100% in the Lékié 77% in the Mefou and 53% in the Mvila sites Timber revenues reported by 67% of households in Lékié sites versus 33% in the Mefou and 0% in the Mvila. Women were most frequently responsible for the sale of non-cocoa products with the exceptions of palm wine and timber Non-cocoa revenues were most often controlled by women (57% of households)

Findings: Gross Margin per ha

Per capita revenue distribution Per capita CAF revenues were in excess of the poverty line for 46%, 25% and 15% of individuals living on cocoa farms in the Lékié, Mefou and Mvila sites, respectively. The distribution is positively skewed with the highest quintile of the per capita revenue distribution accounting for 70% of total income (versus 2.3% for the lowest quintile). Overall, CAF revenues increased and poverty decreased as agricultural intensification and market access increased along the Mvila-Mefou- Lékié gradient.

A Comparison of Households from the Upper and Lower Quintiles of the Revenue Distribution

Conclusions Poverty reduction of systems depends on cocoa intensification and the commercialization of non- cocoa products. Most important commercial associations were cocoa, oil palm, plum (Dacryodes), mango, and avocado Maintains a substantial portion of forest services Some decline in biodiversity occurred over the gradient of agricultural intensification.

Recommendations for poverty alleviation via CAF development Intensify the cocoa component of these systems by increasing farmer access to fungicides through provision of credit facilities. Improve the efficiency and extent of non-cocoa commodity marketing by targeting women in: The organization of collective marketing to achieve economies of scale and The inclusion of CAF fruit prices in market information systems; Incentives to expand the area cultivated by the poor. (More study of tree investment behavior may be needed to guide these efforts). Research has completely neglected these systems (what are optimal densities