The unrealized potential of agroforestry for an emissions-intensive agricultural commodity
This addresses the sustainability challenge for cocoa producers and policymakers by offering a scalable solution to reduce emissions in an emissions-intensive agricultural commodity.
The study tackled the problem of reconciling cocoa production with climate-change mitigation in West Africa by mapping shade-tree cover and carbon stocks, finding that increasing cover to 30% could sequester an additional 307 million tonnes of CO2e, offsetting about 167% of cocoa-related emissions without reducing production.
Reconciling agricultural production with climate-change mitigation is a formidable sustainability problem. Retaining trees in agricultural systems is one proposed solution, but the magnitude of the current and future-potential benefit that trees contribute to climate-change mitigation remains uncertain. Here, we help to resolve these issues across a West African region that produces ~60% of the world's cocoa, a crop contributing one of the highest carbon footprints of all foods. Using machine learning, we mapped shade-tree cover and carbon stocks across the region and found that existing average cover is low (~13%) and poorly aligned with climate threats. Yet, increasing shade-tree cover to a minimum of 30% could sequester an additional 307 million tonnes of CO2e, enough to offset ~167% of contemporary cocoa-related emissions in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire--without reducing production. Our approach is transferable to other shade-grown crops and aligns with emerging carbon market and sustainability reporting frameworks.