Mapping the biodiversity status of over 10,000 Ghanaian cocoa farms

Soon to be released, a database will give insight into the biodiversity status of cocoa farms across five cocoa-producing regions of Ghana, the third largest cocoa exporter in the world.

Annually, the world's cocoa economy is valued at US$ 8-10 billion, according to the International Cocoa Organization, and the top exporters of the cocoa bean are Ivory Coast, Indonesia and Ghana.

The future of this economy depends on the availability and the sustainable use of genetic diversity of cocoa to breed improved varieties. Decreasing cacao genetic diversity is a serious problem and all its many causes need to be urgently addressed: the destruction of the Amazonian rainforests, the loss of traditional varieties, and threats to material conserved in genebanks and field collections from natural disasters and extreme weather.

In partnership with Bioversity International, Armajaro Trading Ltd. - one of the largest global buyers of Ghanian cocoa beans - has developed a rapid biodiversity assessment methodology to capture data on plant biodiversity in cocoa farms, which then can be fed into a dynamic database. Users of this information are offered an opportunity to track the changing biodiversity landscape of cocoa farms over time, using current data as the baseline. Results of data analysis can feed into policy and programme design at the government level, but also can be very useful when designing training programmes for cocoa farmers.

With support from the Biodiversity and Agricultural Commodities Program, this project reflects Armajaro's commitment to focus on biodiversity as part of its efforts to implement a series of corporate sustainability programmes and community initiatives.

Based on the data captured through the use of this new methodology, a set of training modules will be rolled out to more than 65,000 Ghanaian cocoa farmers to offer them extra knowledge and skills in the following areas: importance of trees, how to set-up a nursery, proper tree maintenance, the tree ownership laws of Ghana, community resource mapping and landscape diversity. In this process, Bioversity International was responsible for the analytical framework of the database.

The database is not yet publicly available, but partners at Armajaro are open to sharing the datasets with interested researchers or institutions, under certain confidentiality conditions, provided they share research findings openly.

Learn more about the success story and summary of Armajero's research initiative.

Bioversity International coordinates the Global Cacao Genetic Resources
Network (CacaoNet) which recently published — in consultation with the global cacao community’s expertise from both public and private sector organizations — A Global Strategy for Conservation and Use of Cacao Genetic Resources as the foundation for a sustainable cacao economy.

Image: Amongst other outputs, data from Armajaro's cocoa farm surveys, processed with their data analysis system produces maps like this one. Credit: IFC