Towards sustainable agroforestry management: Harnessing the nutritional soil value through cocoa mix waste.

Climate change and environmental degradation have contributed in compromising the soil nutrient integrity of cocoa farmlands, yet sustainable nutrient recycling innovation in cocoa waste management has received less research attention. Utilizing experimentation methodology in an agroforestry system composed of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) and a Nitrogen-fixing Gliricidia sepium (Jacq. Kunth ex Walp.), the study examines how the soil nutritional level of farmland can be enhanced. The study confirms the proposition that the rate of decomposition and nutrients release from an innovative mixed waste sample (60% cocoa waste and 40% gliricidia waste in this case) is significantly higher in comparison with the traditional cocoa waste only sample. The results further established that innovative mixed waste sample had a faster decomposition rate (no biomass left at 216 days after laying) as compared to traditional cocoa waste which fully decomposed at 277 days after laying. A difference of 51 days after laying justifies the waste mixture decomposition as a sustainable nutrient recycling innovation within cocoa agroforestry waste management context. These results have implications for agroforestry waste management, soil nutrient recycling and cocoa industry performance.

Stakeholder Collaboration in Climate-Smart Agricultural Production Innovations: Insights from the Cocoa Industry in Ghana.

Although collaboration is vital in addressing global environmental sustainability challenges, research understanding on stakeholder engagement in climate-smart production innovation adoption and implementation, remains limited. In this paper, we advance knowledge about stakeholder collaboration by examining the roles played by stakeholders in scaling-up ecological sustainability innovations. Using the illustrative context and case of green cocoa industry in Ghana, the analysis identified three distinctive phases of stakeholder engagement in ecological sustainability innovations implemented from 1960 to 2017. We highlight defining periods of ecological challenges encompassing the production recovery sustainability initiative phase solely driven by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD)-a governmental body responsible for production, processing and marketing of cocoa, coffee and sheanut. During the period, major initiatives were driven by non-governmental organisations in collaboration with COCOBOD to implement the climate-smart agriculture scheme in the cocoa sector. The findings have implications for cocoa production research and stakeholder collaboration in environmental innovations adoption.