Cocoa and by-crop yields in three organic production systems entering mature stage

Summary

Agroforestry systems for cocoa production are commonly promoted for biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as for food security and risk mitigation. Generally, these systems include timber, legume or fruit trees. Sucessional or dynamic agroforestry systems represent a special type of design and management approach, using high densities and diversity of trees and crops occupying different strata and with varying life cycles.
Here we present yields of three organic cocoa production systems entering the mature stage from a long-term trial in Bolivia: A complex successional dynamic agroforestry system (SAFS), a simpler but diversified agroforestry system (AF ORG) and a cocoa monoculture (MONO ORG). Average cocoa yields in the mature phase (9-11 years) were highest in MONO ORG (1520 kg/ha), followed by the AF ORG (910 kg/ha), and lowest in SAFS (790 kg/ha) (yields considering the 8 best yielding clones out of 12.
Total system yields in both types of agroforestry systems (dry matter) were 3.5 to 4 times higher than in monocultures over the 11 years. This was mainly due to banana production in AF ORG and from a multitude of by-crops in SAFS.
While in young SAFS(until 8 years) crops like cassava, and pineapple were contributing to total yields, peach palm was the most relevant by-crop in the mature phase with around 4 t/ha fresh yields. Additional interesting crops were ginger and curcuma, that growing under the cocoa in SAFS yielded around 1 kg of fresh tubers per m2.
The results demonstrate how different crops can be associated with cocoa while still reaching elevated cocoa yields. The potential of agroforestry systems to sustainably intensify production on one surface is high and could still be optimised with the use of improved and locally selected varieties of cocoa and by-crops. Different designs of agroforestry systems can contribute to diversification of diets and incomes of producing families and regions.