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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2022

Fish farming as a way for diversifying sources of income in the cocoa sector in Ivory Coast

Résumé

Ivory Coast is the largest producer of cocoa in the world, with production reaching 2 million tonnes in 2016-2017. The South-and Central-West regions are the main cocoa production areas in the country. However, cocoa production faces a significant crisis due to the instability of prices on world markets, land saturation, aging plantations, and climate change. Cocoa farmers have adopted fish farming as an additional production to generate new incomes. The objective of our study was to provide the first description of cocoa production diversification practices in the Ivory Coast through targeted questionnaires. Surveys were conducted from May to September 2021 with cocoa farmers practicing fish farming in two localities of Central-West: Bédiala (n = 21) and Sinfra (n = 12) and one in SouthWest: Méagui (n = 12). We first used an empirical approach to highlight the farming practices, and then a hierarchical clustering analysis will be applied to identify clusters of sites. Our first results showed that all the cocoa farmers interviewed in Bédiala and 70% of the cocoa farmers in Sinfra practice fish-rice farming in which rice and tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) are cultivated in the same ponds. In addition, the cocoa plantations in Bédiala (85%) and Sinfra (82%) are characterized by the association of cocoa and cashew for shading cocoa plants. Among the cocoa farmers interviewed in the SouthWest region, 75% of them practice fish-rice farming, with the monoculture of cocoa. With incomes ranging between 400,000 and 3,000,000 FCFA per year, fish farming has become the primary source of revenues for 30%, 40%, and 5% of cocoa farmers in Bédiala, Sinfra, and Méagui, respectively. In such agriculture-aquaculture integrated systems, 51% of the farmers use the periphery of the ponds in the dry season as cacao nurseries, which allows the young crops to benefit from fertilized pond water collected by their roots. Such practices are likely to enhance crop growth while reducing the watering effort. In addition, fish ponds act as a natural barrier against bush fires. These results highlight the positive interactions that exist between cocoa and fish farming. Nevertheless, the consequences of using phytosanitary products in cacao production near fish ponds remain to be assessed for human consumers and surrounding environments. Based on a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis, we explore the possibilities that may be more promising for cocoa production diversification in Ivory Coast.
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Dates et versions

hal-04198271 , version 1 (07-09-2023)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04198271 , version 1

Citer

Antoine Kouadio, Elodie Pepey, Joël Niamien, Lucas Fertin, Simon Pouil, et al.. Fish farming as a way for diversifying sources of income in the cocoa sector in Ivory Coast. International Symposium on Cocoa Research​, Dec 2022, Montpellier, France. ⟨hal-04198271⟩
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