Smallholder cocoa agrorest, traditional knowledge and pest and diseases management in Southern Camer

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Smallholder cocoa agrorest, traditional knowledge
and pest and diseases management in Southern
Cameroon.
IUFRO International Conference, 15-17 October
2008, Accra Ghana Theme Traditional Forest-rel
ated Knowledge and Sustainable Forest Management
in Africa

• Denis J. Sonwa1, Stephan F. Weise2, Ousmane
  Coulibaly3

1. Center for International Forestry Research
(CIFOR), Po Box 2008 (Messa) Yaoundé-Cameroon,
Email dsonwa_at_cgiar.org or desonwa_at_yahoo.com
2. International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture (IITA)- Ghana 3. International Instit
ute of Tropical Agriculture, Plant health
Management Division, P.O. Box 08-0932, Cotonou,
Benin
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Presentation outline
?(1) Importance of the cocoa agroforestry system
, ?(2) Pest constraints management ?(3)M
icro-Ecology of cocoa agroforest and pest
management ?(4) Indigenous pest management dev
eloped by farmers ?(5) Perspectives
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(1) Importance of the cocoa agroforestry system
The cocoa tree originated from Amazon forest with
different managements options in West and Central
Africa

• Low/no-shade, quasi-monospecific (Western Ivory
  Coast)
  
• ? Disappearance of forests functions
• ? Management of cocoa
• ? 15-20 years of sustained production

Shaded, multistrata, multispecies (Southern
Cameroon) ? Limited modification of forests fun
ctions ? Co-management of cocoa retained/intro
duced trees ? More than 40 years of sustained
production
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The study area Southern Cameroon
(1) Importance of the cocoa agroforestry system
Source Gockowski (1996), Thenkbail (1999)
914 km
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(2) Pest constraints management
Table Mean severity rating of identified cocoa
production constraints in Southern Cameroon
Sonwa et al. (2005)
Main fungicide uses by farmers Nordox, Kocide,
Cacaobre, and Ridomil (Mainly copper-based )
Few insecticides uses by farmers Azinphos
methyl, Cypercal, Dusban and Aldrin (a WHO 1b
classification highly dangerous)
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(2) Pest constraints management
The two main constraints faced by those who use
pesticides (i.e. 60 of farmers) are the high
cost and unavailability
Table Shopping preferences of farmers according
to pesticide supply points in each of 3 humid
forest zone of southern Cameroon (in households
per zone)
Sonwa et al. (2008)
The consequence is non/less application of
pesticides which generally leads to significant
cocoa yield losses
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(3) Micro-Ecology of cocoa agroforest and pest
management
Forest cover influences light intensity,
temperature, air movement, and the relative
humidity within plantations
Fast spread of the black pod disease often
associated with high levels of crown closure
Fast spread of the capsid often associated with
low levels of crown closure
Some tree species typically associated
with the cocoa plantation, host the Phytophtora
fungus or Miridae spp
Pests and diseases are generally influenced by
the presence of trees within the cocoa production
system
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(4) Indigenous pest management developed by
farmers
Coulibaly et al. 2002
Sustainability of the use of Cannabis plant
extract is however threatened as the plant is
officially forbidden for cropping because of its
classification as drug
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(4) Indigenous pest management developed by
farmers
Coulibaly et al. 2002
Plant-based pesticide species are directly found
within the cocoa plantations, thus making them
accessible
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(4) Indigenous pest management developed by
farmers
Coulibaly et al. 2002
The uses of these plants extract are based on the
previous farmers knowledge on their toxicity
(some are poisons, while others are used for
human heath purpose)
The application of the new mixtures is combining
with the former knowledge of farmer to manage
tree density inside cocoa plantations
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Most fruit non-fruit trees species commonly
planted by cocoa farmers inside their cocoa
plantation(southern Cameroon )
Perspectives
Sonwa (2004)
Introducing/maintaining/managing trees inside
cocoa agroforest generally increase the
socio-economic and ecological importance of cocoa
agroforestry system
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Perspectives
Challenge Managing pest and diseases constraints
in a complex cocoa agroforest
Previous efforts were generally cocoa production
oriented
There is a need of tradeoffs between forest cover
and the constraints imposed by pests and disease
on sustainable cocoa production.
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Perspectives
Ongoing fields activity on cocoa agroforest
management in Cameroon
Participatory discussions between farmers to
improve their cocoa agroforest models
Farmers fields school activities (IPM)
Multidisciplinary approaches taking in
consideration farmer experiences/knowledge are
keys for Sustainable tree forest management in
cocoa landscape in Cameroon
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Conclusion
? The indigenous knowledge developed by farmers
to overcome pest and disease problems are based
on single plant extract or mixture (sometime with
synthetic pesticides). ? The knowledge developed
by farmers are based on their previous
perception of the nature of the products they
uses. ?The methods are also taking in considerat
ion previous knowledge of farmers related to the
management of tree density to reduce pest and
diseases
Sustainable forest management can not omitted to
take in consideration forest trees use by farmers
to manage pest and diseases in cocoa farms.
These trees also play socio-economic and
ecological roles in cocoa landscape
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Many Thanks