Experts are making a case for the use of good agroforestry practices in the cocoa farming process in order to maximize yields.

This came at the Dissemination Workshop at the University of Ghana on Thursday, May 11, 2023. The event was centered around the Climate Smart Cocoa Systems for Ghana (CLIMACOCOA) Project.

The workshop was organized by the University’s Office of Research, Innovation and Development (ORID).

Addressing the press on the sidelines of the event, Director for the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, Prof. Kwadwo Owusu, urged farmers to take up the growing of cocoa under shade, as it has the propensity to prevent water loss and promote the plant’s nutrition.

“So what we are promoting and revisiting in terms of agroforestry itself is that the cocoa tree itself has the ability to grow in the shade. And now, given the fact that the temperatures, as we know, are not the same; there are elevated temperatures and rainfall changes. So, granted the rainfall is not reducing, if you have reduced temperatures then water loss through evapotranspiration will be high.

According to him, agroforestry will, in this regard, reduce post-harvest losses. Prof. Owusu was also the Principal Investigator with the aim of developing an appreciation of climate change's impact on the socio-biophysical bases of cocoa systems in Ghana, and to assess the role of agroforestry as a model for climate smart agriculture in Ghana. CLIMCOCOA is to assure a future for cocoa farmers in Ghana and other cocoa-producing countries in West Africa.

The event was chaired by Pro VC, Prof. Felix Asante, who touted the innovation as a positive one.

“It will allow for intensification. It will also allow us to maintain some of the old fields that we are no longer using because of the climatic conditions. So instead of going into a virgin forest, if you adopt this innovation then you can improve productivity within the old fields and areas that we have probably abandoned due to limitations in rainfall and increases in temperature.”

This, he says, will help sustain both the forestry and cocoa sector.

Dr Richard Asare also expanded on the topic of Framing Agroforestry. He highlighted the need to make policies that are consistent with the messaging that is curated for farmers at the local level.

The Climate Smart Cocoa Systems for Ghana (CLIMCOCOA) project is one of the several UG-led projects managed from the Office of Research Innovation and Development (ORID). The project was awarded by DANIDA to a consortium of South and North Universities and two International Research Institutions.

The South University, UG, is the lead, with the Universities of Copenhagen and Roskilde from Denmark as North Partners, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (ITA) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) being the international research institutions.

The project was awarded for the period 2016-2020 with a fixed sum of 10,000,000.00 DKK.

The project objectives were to develop a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of climate change on the socio-biophysical basis of cocoa systems in Ghana, and assess the role of agroforestry as a model for climate and carbon smart agriculture.

The project recruited one Post-doctoral fellow and three PhD students. DANIDA supported the project with the needed resources even as the project had to be extended due to the challenges of COVID-19 and offering a no-cost extension for two years for successful completion and dissemination of results.

Candidates who participated in the project made various presentations as part of the event.

They are; Dr Bismark Asitoakor, Dr Eric Opoku Mensa and Dr Sylvester Afram Boadi.