People

I am one of the PhD candidates of the WOTRO -Cocoa project, where I work on developing a functional structural model of cocoa to simulate pruning and shading responses. Next to modelling I am also running field experiments in Ivory Coast to explore effect of pruning in adults and juvenie cocoa plants

I am involved in the Trade Hub project to investigate the spatial distribution of oil palm and cocoa plantations in the Congo Basin, primarily based on remote sensing based data.

In the CocoaSoils project, I am involved as supervisor of PhD student Paulina Asante [link]. Paulina works on the effects of climate change on cocoa production in Ghana. In the SESAM project, I am involved as supervisor of PhD students Rika Ratna Sari and Andrew Miccolis.

In the Banana Agronomy Project, I am part of the capacity building team responsible for training project partners on how to process and analyse spatial data, and develop good scientific presentations.

I am one of the four CocoaSoils PhD students. Working on Integrated Soil Fertility Management in cocoa, I am based in Ibadan, Nigeria.

In the CocoaSoils project, I work in data management and collection. I also co-coordinate the Core and Satellite Trials activities. I am part of the training team together with my colleagues Stefan Hauser and Leonard Rusinamhodzi. I am working developing protocols for the implementation of the project. Based on these protocols, I elaborate on ODK forms used for data collection.

In the WOTRO-cacao project, I am running field experiments in both Ghana and Ivory Coast to get more insight into the dynamics and distribution of the macronutrients within the cacao trees. The main focus lies on the effect of high nutrient availability, due to fertilizer application, on the tissue nutrient content of both leaves and pods.

In the NWO Wotro cocoa project, I am a PhD Candidate working on service delivery models that fit the complexities of the cocoa sector in Ghana. 

Cooperation with Banana Agronomy project.

In the Banana Agronomy Project, I work on banana nutrition and how it contibutes to plant tolerance for abiotic and biotic stresses.

In the WOTRO project I have initiated the research plan for cocoa leaf nutrient analysis. In the CocoaSoils project I have contributed to the initial research plan. My first contribution to both projects was the writing of a literature review on the mineral nutrition of cocoa.

In the NWO Wotro Cocoa project I have the role of supervisor of Ambra Tosto, who is developing an FSP model of cocoa to simulate cocoa performance as a result of the interaction between shading and pruning.

I generally hang out and get in peoples' way when they are trying to do things

First of all I eat the chocolate and the bananas and I drink the coffee. In addition I do research on nutrient flows in cocoa (for the CocoaSoils project) and on rehabilitation and renovation in oil palm and cocoa.  I am one of the supervisors of Deo-Gratias Hougni, and I supervise MSc students from Wageningen who work on cocoa and oil palm. I am also responsible for the content of this website, so please don't hesitate to approach me for questions or comments

PhD student working on the physiological aspects of the project Cocoasoils

Lead for PPS in all mentioned oil palm projects. Lead of interdisciplinary WOTRO funded project on cocoa and participating researcher in cocoasoils program.

Co-promotor of PhD research by Urcil Kenfack Essougong, Faustina Obeng Adomaa, Selma van der Haar, all with the group Knowledge Technology Innovation. Supervision of Eva Goudsmit. Co-lead of PPS-Sensor work with Rosa de Vos. PALMSIM work is with Mohamed Jabloun.

Lead work on mapping the vulnerability of and opportunities for biodiversity and ecosystem services in (potential) cocoa growing regions in West and Central Africa, now and under climate change (CocoaSoils and Trade Hub projects). Conduct integrated assessment of the social and environmental impacts of cocoa (and oil palm) trade along a gradient of production intensities and commodity-driven deforestation from West to Central Africa.

I also supervise thesis and internship students on cocoa and biodiversity related topics.

In the GYGA-II project, I am investigating the effect of water stress on oil palm yield and yield components in highly productive commercial plantations. I will also improve and calibrate the PALMSIM model and investigate the oil palm yield gap in smallholder plantations.

Coffee: In the CLIMCOFEA project I have been involved in exploring drought tolerance in wild robusta coffee in Uganda (together with IRD France and Nestle). I have also worked on climate projects of arabica production in Brazil in collaboration with University of Sao Paolo.

Cocoa: In the Cocoa Soils project I am primarily involved as supervisor of Lucette Adet [link] and Paulina Asante [link]. Lucette's project aims to determine whether Potassium nutrition can mitigate drought effects. Paulina's project aims to project the effects of climate change on cocoa production in West African cocoa belt: where can cocoa sustainably be produced in the future. I am also involved in a project funded by WOTRO and Mondelez on optimal pruning and shading practices in cocoa.

Chamaedorea: Since my time as post-doc at Stanford University I have worked on the sustainable harvesting of leaves from natural populations of Chamaedorea palms in Mexico.

My research has focused on soil organic carbon stock and greenhouse gas emission from oil palm production systems in Malaysia and Indonesia

In cocoasoils project, I am PhD student working on Analyzing Climate Change Effects on Cocoa
Production and Its Potential Consequences for Forest Conservation.

I involved in several project as PhD candidate in: (1) Agroforestry and Forestry (AgFor) Project in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia under World Agroforestry Centre, ICRAF Southeast Asia coordination; (2) Reclamation of agricultural land after Mt. Kelud eruption: N uptake efficiency in the coffee-cocoa agroforestry system, East Java, Indonesia under Brawijaya University coordination; (3) Scenario Evaluation for Sustainable Agro-forestry Management (SESAM) project

In the SEnSOR project, I design and coordinate research on differences between oil palm smallholder types in terms of yield, plantation management, socio-economic background and prospects for and impact of sustainability certification.

Under the CocoaSoils Program, my research aims at thinking on how to promote sustainable cocoa intensification while improving farmers livelihoods through an understanding of the factors driving cocoa farmers' behaviour, the adoption of Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM), farmers' needs in terms of Decision Support Tools (DSTs), and how to ensure extensions services delivery addresses farmers needs and yield positive results.

Aside from my PhD, I with funding from  the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), I am conducting research to investigate strategies to facilitate youth engagement in the cocoa sector. My research aims at exploring young cocoa farmers motivation and aspirations, the impact youth supports have on their farm performance (yield) and welfare (net returns, and assets accumulation), and to which extent they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the support offered to them...

My research activities in Uganda are part of the Improving scalable banana agronomy for small scale farmers in highland banana cropping systems in East Africa-project (BMGF-funded). As part of the project I am developing an East African Highland banana version of the FIELD model, which is part of the farm-level NUANCES-FARMSIM model. Moreover, we are working on making banana-specific fertiliser blends available to smallholder farmers in Uganda and to include these in ISFM advise for East African Highland Banana.