Agroforestry and Plantations Commission

As a reminder, the president of this commission is Eric Penot (CIRAD) and the secretary is Yohan Faré (Kinomé).

Among the interventions, we can mention that of ETICWOOD, which presented the progress of the project implemented in the East of Cameroon, on AFD and EticWood financing, and in connection with the company Pallisco. The project includes :

• A network of farmers whose cocoa is traced to the plot (register).
• A bean processing center to control fermentation and drying.
• A chocolate factory in Belgium to secure the market.

Then, Kinomé made a synthesis of the knowledge exchange program on cocoa and timber associations organized by FCPF and Kinomé in 2021/22: A guide on cocoa agroforestry in the context of REDD+, an excel agroforestry simulator and a series of 6 videos from the field:

https://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/sustainable-cocoa-initiatives-through-agroforestry

Elikplim K. Abotsi presented the agroforestry simulator designed by Kinomé and CIRAD. This tool, applicable to the rural domain, starts from archetypal cases presented by the participants of the exchange program. These concrete cases have been characterized in terms of plantation scheme, crop diversity, costs, revenues, shade rate and carbon sequestration rate. The tool, which will be freely available, is being finalized, with the idea of developing an online interface.

Eric Penot informed that CIRAD will participate in the agroforestry congress in July and will give feedback to the commission at the next meeting.

Given the lack of stabilized data on the value chain of wood from peasant agroforestry, it is important to carry out a survey to be entrusted to master students on the income of producers according to cutting practices.

Among the next steps, we noted the need to develop an applied research project between CIRAD + Kinomé + ATIBT on a research topic (Master's level) to be re-discussed in the fall. It is necessary to consider several fields with local students and the hosting of these internships by members who wish to / have the means. Possible countries: France, RCI, Ghana, Congo, DRC (with ERAIFT), one or two Asian countries.

The general theme would be to conduct a survey in several agroforestry timber producing countries to understand the income of the farmer according to the type of species and cutting practices. Such a study will be useful in training producers and informing them about possible future income.

The minutes of the meeting are available to ATIBT members.