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Structure and composition of cocoa agroforests in the humid forest zone of Southern Cameroon

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Abstract

The distribution and composition of the tree component inside cocoa agroforests plays an important role in the economic and ecological services offered by these plantations. The presence of these plant components appears to be influenced by several factors controlling the introduction and management of associated plants inside cocoa agroforests. To date, few studies have tried to evaluate the horizontal and vertical distribution of plants inside cocoa plantations in Cameroon. This study determines the structure of cocoa plantations in Southern Cameroon. Field data were collected in 60 cocoa plantations belonging to 12 villages located along a contiguous gradient of market access, population density and resource use intensity in the humid forest zone of southern Cameroon. This study area comprises (i) the sub-region of Yaoundé, (ii) the sub-region of Mbalmayo, and (iii) the sub-region of Ebolowa. Market access, population density and resource use intensity all decreased from the first to the third sub-region. For cocoa and associated plants, we quantified (1) the density (2) the individual number, the species composition and the group uses of plants (edible, timber, medicinal, etc…) distribution across strata, and (3) the basal area in the 60 cocoa plantations located in the three main sub-regions. Results are presented for each sub-region and the whole study area. The paper develops cocoa agroforest typologies and discusses possible implications of cocoa agroforest structure diversity in the achievement of economic and ecological services.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP), Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) and Mars Inc.. This research was part of the CGIAR research program on Forests, Trees, and groforestry (FTA). Louis Zapfack and Bonaventure Sonke of the University of Yaoundé I, and Paul Mezili and Anacletus Koufani of the National Herbarium in Yaoundé helped in tree species identification. Dr. Jim Gockowski (IITA) provide assistance during the clustering analysis. We thank Pr Eric Zenner (School of Forest Resources, Penn State University) and Dr. Goetz Schroth (Conservation International, Washington DC) for their comments on the early draft of this paper. We also thank Demers Nicole (Bioversity) for her comment during the edition of the final version of the paper. Marlene Ngansop (of the University of Yaounde 1) is thanked for drawing the vertical profile and horizontal crowns projection of different cocoa agroforest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIFOR (Center for International Forestry Research), P.O. Box 2008, Messa, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Denis J. Sonwa

  2. Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Humid Forest Ecoregional Center (IITA-HFC), Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Denis J. Sonwa

  3. Biodiversity International, Rome, Italy

    Stephan F. Weise

  4. Department of Plant Biology, University of Yaoundé I, P.O. Box 812, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Bernard A. Nkongmeneck

  5. Institut de recherche Agricole pour le Développement (IRAD), B.P. 2067, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Maturin Tchatat

  6. Unit of Tropical Crops, Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES: Institut fu¨r Nutzpflanzenwissenschaften und Ressourcenschutz), University of Bonn, Auf-dem-Huegel 6, 53121, Bonn, Germany

    Marc J. J. Janssens

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  1. Denis J. Sonwa
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Correspondence to Denis J. Sonwa.

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Sonwa, D.J., Weise, S.F., Nkongmeneck, B.A. et al. Structure and composition of cocoa agroforests in the humid forest zone of Southern Cameroon. Agroforest Syst 91, 451–470 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-016-9942-y

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