ABSTRACT

Improving productivity of cocoa farms while ensuring forests sustainability through cocoa agroforestry is increasingly gaining the attention of policy makers. Using data from cocoa farmers in rural areas of Southern Ghana, the present study analyzes farmer perceptions on economic and ecological benefits of cocoa agroforestry shade levels with non-parametric tests, and economic performance of cocoa agroforestry shade levels with a cost-benefit modeling approach. The results from the study show that apart from market forces, farmers’ ecological perceptions play a crucial role in the establishment of agroforestry shade levels. There is also evidence to suggest that the medium shade cocoa agroforestry has a higher economic performance. Policies that promote awareness creation and increase knowledge on cocoa agroforestry shade levels are essential ingredients for forest sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa.

摘要

通过可可混农林业提高可可农场的生产力，同时确保森林的可持续性，越来越受到政策制定者的关注。本研究利用来自加纳南部农村地区可可农的数据，分析了农民对可可农林业遮荫水平的经济和生态效益的非参数测试的看法，并使用成本效益建模方法分析了可可农林业遮荫水平的经济表现。研究结果表明，除了市场力量外，农民的生态认知在农林复合遮荫水平的建立中也起着至关重要的作用。还有证据表明，中色可可混农林业具有更高的经济效益。