We evaluated the farmer’s local knowledge and perceptions of sustainable cocoa agroforestry and sustainable soil carbon management in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire using a social survey research methodology. We employed in-depth interviewing and focus group discussions to solicit information from identified key stakeholders in the cocoa supply chain focusing on the perception of sustainable cocoa agroforestry and soil carbon management. Our results revealed that about 83% and 50.5% of smallholder cocoa farmers from Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana respectively practiced agroforestry on their farms. The respondents, however, had limited knowledge about the term agroforestry and were also not very much aware of soil carbon management. Also, about 53% and 22% of the respondents from Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana perceived agroforestry practice as better than practicing cocoa monoculture. The results further revealed that most of the cocoa farmers in these study areas had limited knowledge of the approaches or strategies to achieve sustainable cocoa agroforestry and soil carbon management on their farms. At the same time, the industry’s stakeholders had different perceptions about the approaches or strategies to achieve these. Our results also revealed that educational level was the only socio-economic factor that influenced the farmer’s awareness of agroforestry and soil organic carbon. This study thus suggests the need for appropriate training and education for smallholder cocoa farmers, and harmonization of the understanding among different stakeholder groups along the cocoa supply chain of common strategies to adopt to achieve sustainable cocoa production that addresses low productivity, biodiversity loss and carbon emission within the smallholder cocoa production system in West Africa.

我们使用社会调查研究方法评估了加纳和科特迪瓦农民对可持续可可农林业和可持续土壤碳管理的当地知识和看法。我们采用深入访谈和焦点小组讨论的方式，向可可供应链中已确定的关键利益相关者征求信息，重点关注可持续可可农林业和土壤碳管理的看法。我们的结果显示，科特迪瓦和加纳分别有约 83% 和 50.5% 的可可小农在其农场实行农林业。然而，受访者对农林业一词的了解有限，而且对土壤碳管理也不太了解。此外，约 53% 和 22% 的科特迪瓦和加纳受访者认为农林业实践优于可可单一栽培。结果进一步表明，这些研究地区的大多数可可种植者对其农场实现可持续可可农林业和土壤碳管理的方法或战略知之甚少。与此同时，行业利益相关者对实现这些目标的方法或策略有不同的看法。我们的结果还显示，教育水平是影响农民对农林业和土壤有机碳认识的唯一社会经济因素。因此，本研究表明，需要对小农可可农进行适当的培训和教育，并协调可可供应链上不同利益相关者群体对采取共同战略的理解，以实现可持续可可生产，解决低生产率、生物多样性丧失和碳排放问题西非小农可可生产系统内。