Farmers growing desire for no shade cocoa system has reiterated the scepticism about the impact of research on farmers’ adoption of cocoa Agroforestry. In this study, we assess farmers’ perception about shade trees and how that influences their adoption of cocoa Agroforestry. Five cocoa growing communities in the Eastern Region of Ghana and 91 cocoa farmers were purposively sampled and interviewed. The result showed that the most desirable shade trees among the farmers were Spathodea campanulata, Terminalia superba, and Terminalia ivorensis while Alstonei boonei was the least desirable. About 87 % of farmers introduced shade trees at different stages of cocoa farm establishment while 13 % of farmers had existing trees at establishment. Farmers with less than 11 years farming experience and those with Senior High education kept the recommended number (15–18) of shade trees ha⁻¹. Most farmers related the importance of shade trees to the good growth of cocoa associated crops (37 %) and as source of fodder (31 %), while higher cocoa yield and low education on the importance of shade trees were major reasons farmers removed shade trees. In conclusion, collaboration between farmers and other stakeholders in the cocoa sector is essential in reversing the growing hunger for no shaded cocoa system. This collaboration must focus on educating farmers on the importance of shade trees, and by providing money and agro-inputs support to farmers as impetus for the adoption of cocoa Agroforestry in Ghana.

农民对无遮荫可可系统的需求日渐增长，这再次重申了对研究对农民采用可可农林业的影响的怀疑态度。在这项研究中，我们评估了农民对遮荫树的看法以及这如何影响他们对可可农林业的采用。有目的地对加纳东部地区的五个可可种植社区和91位可可种植者进行了抽样和采访。结果表明，农民中最可取的遮荫树木火焰树山樱花，榄仁木荷，以及榄仁ivorensis而Alstonei boonei是最不希望的。大约87％的农民在可可农场建立的不同阶段引进了遮荫树，而13％的农民在建立可可树的时候已经有了树木。具有不到11年耕作经验的农民和受过高等教育的农民保持推荐的遮荫树数量（15–18）ha ^-1。大多数农民将遮荫树的重要性与可可相关农作物的良好生长（37％）和饲料来源（31％）相关，而可可产量更高和对遮荫树的重要性的低教育是农民移除遮荫树的主要原因。总之，农民和可可部门其他利益相关者之间的合作对于扭转对无阴影可可系统日益增长的饥饿至关重要。这种合作必须集中于对农民进行树荫重要性的教育，并通过向农民提供金钱和农业投入支持来推动加纳采用可可农林业。