CIFOR–ICRAF publishes over 750 publications every year on agroforestry, forests and climate change, landscape restoration, rights, forest policy and much more – in multiple languages.

CIFOR–ICRAF addresses local challenges and opportunities while providing solutions to global problems for forests, landscapes, people and the planet.

We deliver actionable evidence and solutions to transform how land is used and how food is produced: conserving and restoring ecosystems, responding to the global climate, malnutrition, biodiversity and desertification crises. In short, improving people’s lives.

Above-ground transformations in Agroforestry Systems in watersheds: case of cocoa agroforests of Central Cameroon

Export citation

Local knowledge passed down from ancestors to descendants indicates that a considerable proportion of the forest margins of central Cameroon was previously covered by forest savannah. These forest savannahs have since been occupied by pioneer settlers who have developed traditional agroforestry systems. These agroforests are simultaneous land management systems, in which tree components occupy the same area as crops and, sometimes, animals. Similar to home or forest gardens, the agroforests possibly constituted the first transformation of original vegetation into a consciously managed agroforestry system. To date, their value is based on their flexibility, both economically (i.e. flexible demand on labour) and ecologically (i.e. diversity of species and different harvest periods for products) and in terms of the adaptation of products to local and national markets as well as household needs (Minchon, Mary and Bompard,1989).

Related publications