The UKRI GCRF Trade, Development and the Environment Hub studies how different systems of trade have affected biodiversity from a biophysical, social, political and economic point of view, and seeks to trace the impact of the trade throughout supply chains - from supplier to consumer countries via trading companies. As well as feeding into public policy advice, this research will help companies understand their products’ true environmental impact all the way back to the raw materials. The Hub will work closely with international and regional trade bodies, charities and corporate partners to design targeted recommendations for the public policy and corporate spheres, ensuring impact of the research and creating sustainable change. Within this global project, WUR implements a component on understanding where are trade-offs, risks and opportunities for biodiversity and livelihoods from the development of cocoa and oil palm in the Congo Basin.

Contact persons: Marieke Sassen and Ken Giller

In the CocoaSoils project (www.cocoasoils.org) Wageningen works with public and private partners around the world to improve our understanding of cocoa nutrition. The project, which formally started in 2018 and runs at least until 2022, aims to improve the efficiency and sustainability of cocoa production by focusing on the Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM). The ISFM approach in CocoaSoils proposes a stepwise intensification of cocoa production, combining improved varieties, canopy management and pest/disease control with targeted fertilizer applications complemented by (re-)use of locally available (organic) nutrient sources and appropriate intercrops/shade trees. To be able to provide good ISFM recommendations for farmers, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the roles of the different nutrients in the cocoa tree, the physiological responses of the cocoa tree to these different nutrients, and the nutrient requirements of the cocoa trees (how much, what type, how and when to apply it). This knowledge is not yet available, and therefore the partners of the CocoaSoils project will set up Core Trials. These are long-term trials of at least two hectares, where fertilisers are applied in different quantities and combinations, and responses in yield will be carefully measured. In addition to the Core Trials, smaller trials (Satellite Trials) will be set up in farmers’ fields to test a limited number of fertiliser combinations and see the effects on yield under field conditions. Based on the results from these two types of trials, ISFM recommendations will be developed and will be delivered to the farmers in order to achieve better yields and improve the sustainability of cocoa production. Within the CocoaSoils project, the Plant Production Systems Group, the Crop Systems Analysis Group, and the Earth Observation and Environmental Informatics group collaborate on the topics of data collection, management and analysis and on the supervision of four PhD students (The four PhD students (Lucette Adet, Paulina Asante, Deo-Gracias Hougni and Urcil Kenfack Essougong) who work on different aspects of cocoa cultivation.

Project output (general):

• Presentation: Towards Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) Practices in Cameroon (2019)
• Presentation: Biomass and nutrient stocks in cocoa (2019)
• Poster: Crop growth models for tropical perennials, current advances and remaining challenges (2020)
• MSc thesis: ISFM in Ghana: understanding cocoa farmers’ decisions and practices (2020)
• MSc thesis: Adoption of best cocoa farming and soil fertility management practices in Cameroun (2019)
• MSc thesis: Balancing fine cocoa production and ecosystem services in agroforestry systems (2019)
• MSc thesis: Biomass, nutrient content and allometric relations of intensively grown cocoa (2018)

Posters CocoaSoils Forum 2020:

• Nutrient distribution in cocoa trees
• Understanding soil fertility management practices of cocoa farmers in Cameroon
• Understanding farmers’ motivations and decisions on ISFM practices
• The interface between expert and farmer knowledge and practices of pruning in cocoa
• Twin-Agroforest: The case of cocoa
• CocoaSoils Data Collection Tools & Ontology
• Climate Change Effects on Cocoa Production: Effects of Current Climatic & Soil Conditions on Cocoa Yield
• Ecophysiology and nutrition of cocoa
• What does a Nigerian cocoa farm look like: a preliminary characterization of farming practices in Ondo

Posters CocoaSoils Forum 2019:

• Analysing climate change effects on cocoa production and its consequences for forest conservation
• Decision Support Tools for sustainable cocoa intensification
• Ecophysiology and nutrition of cocoa
• Experimental design & fertiliser rates
• Exploring cocoa farmers perceptions and management of soil fertility in Cameroon
• Exploring the potential of ISFM for yield improvement and nutrient recycling in cocoa
• How rich are your cocoa pod husks: the residual nutrient value of a decaying material
• Nutrient offtake & biomass distribution in cocoa

Contact persons: Ken Giller and Ekatherina Vasquez Zambrano

Wageningen University, IITA Ghana, CNRA Ivory Coast and Mondelez UK conduct research in the NWO-WOTRO funded project (W08.250.305): Cocoa crop improvement, farms and markets: a science-based approach to sustainably improving farmer food security in Ghana and Ivory Coast. The project started in 2017 and is projected to end in 2021. Within the overarching project, four PhD students conduct their research on different themes. One PhD project by Ambra Tosto is on the effect of pruning in relation to fertilization and shading, at CNRA research station in Divo and Barry Callebaut station in Tiassalé, Ivory Coast. A second PhD, Faustina Obeng Adomaa, investigates fit of service delivery by companies to smallholders' realities in Ghana. A third research theme, by Eva Goudsmit, is about nutrient distribution over cocoa tree organs depending on seasonality, fertilization, pruning and shade. Finally, Jiska van Vliet does research on scenarios of price and productivity increase to assess the possibilities for smallholders to achieve a living income. 

Project output:

• Paper: Mineral nutrition of cocoa: A review (2017)
• Paper: A living income for smallholder commodity farmers and protected forests (2019)
• Poster: Connecting shade, disease and productivity in Western Ghana (2020)
• Poster: The interface between expert and farmer knowledge on cocoa pruning (2019)
• Presentation: Developing a Functional-Structural Plant Model (FSPM) of Cocoa (2020)
• Blog: Tenure security for smallholder migrant cocoa farmers: An unanswered question (2019)
• Blog: How to support the poorest farmers in commodity value chains (2020)
• Podcast: Wageningen University on poverty alleviation in cocoa, coffee and tea supply chains (2020)
• Webinar: A living income for cocoa farmers (2020)
• MSc thesis: Modelling GHG emissions of cocoa in Ivory Coast using field data and COOLFARM model (2019)
• MSc thesis: Shade trees, disease and cocoa production in Western Ghana (2019)
• MSc thesis: Biomass and nutrient distribution in cocoa in Côte d'Ivoire (2018)
• BSc thesis: The effect of fertilisation on leaf nutrient content distribution of the cocoa tree (2019)

Contact person: Maja Slingerland and the PhD rearchers mentioned above