Cacao (Theobroma cacao) in agrosilvicultural systems.
Alvim R.
Author Affiliation: CEPLAC, Centro de Pesquisas do Cacau (CEPEC), Área de Fisiologia, APT CEPLAC, 45600 Itabuna, Bahia, Brazil.
Agrotrópica 1 : 89-103
Abstract : Cocoa is normally cultivated in intimate association with other species, such as food crops and taller trees, which, respectively, provide temporary and permanent shade to protect the crop during its juvenile and productive phases. When cocoa is combined with species which provide additional economic outputs and/or introduce ecological benefits into the system, the practice is designated agrosilvicultural. Several multiple land management systems have been used with cocoa as the primary crop. These include: (1) temporary taungya-like systems (using Musa paradisiaca and Colocasia antiquorum as the second layer); (2) simple temporary systems (with M. paradisiaca in the second layer, and species such as Cajanus cajan, Carica papaya, M. textilis, Sesbania punctata, Tephrosia candida, T. vogelli [T. vogelii], Leucaena leucocephala, Gliricidia sepium or Flemingia macrophylla/F. congesta in the third layer); (3) multiple temporary systems (with various food crop species in the second layer providing lateral shade, and species such as Piper nigrum and bananas, or permanent shade trees in the third layer); (4) temporary hedgerow systems; (5) perennial mixtures, e.g. cocoa and coconut (Cocos nucifera) or oil palms (Elaeis guineensis), rubber (Hevea brasiliensis), cloves (Syzygium aromaticum), peach palms (Bactris gasipaes) or Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa); (6) perennial hedgerow mixtures; (7) perennial boundary cropping (using Mangifera indica, Calophyllum antillanum, S. aromaticum, Eugenia malaccensis, Swietenia macrophylla or Cinnamomum zeylanicum); and (8) sequential multiple cropping (involving pineapples (Ananas comosus), species such as L. leucocephala, G. sepium and Erythrina fusca used as support trees for peppers, and F. macrophylla). Except for a few cases, however, such systems have been empirically developed, and some of the major advantages of agroforestry still remain poorly exploited in cocoa cultivation. The search for associated species capable of providing both adequate shade and valuable products to increase the farmer's income, for example, has been one of the most attractive ways of achieving advances in the economics of production technology. Despite this fact, it is still recognized that there exists an unlimited opportunity for innovative research in this field. This paper aims to select information and proposals which may be of relevance to the development of more efficient agrosilvicultural cropping systems for cocoa.