Agroforestry, Cocoa Production and Sustainable Income

Shade trees are known to have an impact on the lifespan of cocoa farms. The use of indigenous fruit trees as shade trees in cocoa farms has not been given the needed attention. Indigenous fruit trees have a key role in diversification of income in cocoa farms in Ghana. However, not enough biophysical data has been gathered on cocoa-indigenous fruit trees agroforestry to provide proper managerial advice for farmers. This book shows the potential of some indigenous fruit trees as shade trees in cocoa farms and the interactions between the cocoa and the indigenous fruit trees. A survey on farmers' knowledge revealed challenges and the need to address them. Experiments to optimize vegetative propagation of C. albidum showed that stem cuttings with 40 cm2 leaf area on Sawdust medium gave optimum rooting of 77.8%. On-farm data collection enabled stocking of C. albidum fruit tree per hectare to be calculated based on allometric equations. The key recommendations are optimal planting distances and density for different age and class sizes of C. albidum trees in cocoa farms as well as pruning of fruit trees and cocoa trees to increase percentage light interception for higher yield.