Cocoa production under climate variability and farm management challenges: Some farmers' perspective

In the last decade, the global demand for cocoa beans and its bi-products has risen three times faster than population growth, and a 20% growth prediction by industry forecasts over the next decade. This increase in global demand shows that the cocoa production sector remains pivotal in the policy and research agenda of major cocoa-producing countries in West Africa. In this study, we assessed the causes of low cocoa production in the South West Region of Cameroon. A multi-stage random sampling procedure was used to interview 201 cocoa farmers. The ordinary least square results revealed that farm size, labour, capital, and education as well as modern practices such as farmer spraying pests and diseases, and harvesting of infested pods, mistletoe, and water shoot significantly affected output. The chi-square test statistics indicated that gender, education, farming experience, capital, farmer spraying pests and diseases, harvesting of infested pods, mistletoe, and water shoots, the number of times they prune cocoa tree branches, and frequent harvesting of ripe cocoa pods significantly affected cocoa production under climate variability. The results further revealed that the cocoa yield levels are significantly below the maximum attainable yields, with yield increase primarily attributed to an increase in area harvested. Hence, with increasing vulnerability in the cocoa sector, it is necessary to formulate climate-smart cocoa production policies that consider sustainable farm management practices, institutional factors, as well as socio-economic factors to boost cocoa production.