Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement www.cirad.fr
Michel-Dounias I.1, Canet M.2, Diabaté M.3, Haba M.3, Kalms J.M.4, Lamanda N.2
1 SupAgro, IRC, France, 2 CIRAD/PERSYST, France, 3 IRAG, Guinée, 4 CIRAD/ES, France
Corresponding author: isabelle.michel@supagro.inra.fr
N
Guinée forestière (Guinea) a significant
increase in areas under coffee-based
agroforests has occurred in the last
30 years. The coffee-based agroforests share village
cultivated area with rice cropping systems associated
with natural regenerated stands of oil palm. As the equilibrium
between these systems is crucial for the economic and ecological sustainability
of current cultivation, we need a more refined understanding of coffee
agroforest dynamics on field and on farm levels.
S
tudy Site & Methods
•
The villages of Nienh and Boussedou were chosen as socio-economic and agroecological representative villages of the Western part of “Guinée forestière”.•
159 coffee-based agroforests plots were studied to characterize the main dynamics of the vegetation along the coffee-trees development (composition and organization of the vegetation, management of the field, etc).•
Interviews were conducted amongst approximately 35 farmers, chosen with a diversity of age of the farmers (2nd and the 3rd generations of coffee growers in Guinea) and of land availability.Without farm inputs or external investment, these systems provide a long-term stable income due to the progressive renewal of coffee trees.
A historical analysis of both farms and agroforests plots showed a high adaptability at the plot level. This may allow for increased diversification at the farm level by modifications of plant community composition and structure as well as by supporting existing cultural techniques. Our historical analysis approach also revealed a high diversity at the coffee farm level; gradual increases over several generations allows for an integration of production and heritage management.
Faced with increasing land pressure, young farmers develop news practices:
•
Intensify coffee production by reducing shade in their agroforests or by developing new oil palm plantations.•
Develop of new areas into agroforests, by expanding into the surrounding savannah.Land pressure in Guinée Forestière could conduct to the transformation of the coffee-based agroforest rather than on their vanishing.
n I Coffee and cola trees with a intermediate shade level
n III: Coffee trees with an intermediate shade level
n
n II: Coffee and cola treesII: Coffee and cola trees with a reduce shade level with a reduce shade level
n IV: Coffee trees with a
reduce shade level
when cola trees
dominated coffee trees
when coffee trees canopies overlap
05 - 15 15 - 30 30
00 - 05
2nd generation of coffee grower
Land availability +
2nd generation of coffee grower
Land availability
-3rd generation of coffee grower
Land availability +
Gift of land
(coffee not planted)
Gift of Coffee-based Agroforests
3rd generation of coffee grower
Land availability
-Legend
Old plot (>25 years) Recent plot (< 25 years)
Gift by an ascendant to a descendant
Coffee
Coffee cola intermediate shade level – cola reduced shade level Coffee – intermediate shade level
Coffee – reduced shade level Coffee + fruit trees or cocoa trees palm trees
Anticipated heritage
Plantation
2nd generation not dead
2nd generation dead
...
...
C
onclusion
Farmer’s practices in coffee-based agroforests
of “Guinée forestière”: Interacting paths over
several farmer generations
Farmer’s practices in coffee-based agroforests
of “Guinée forestière”: Interacting paths over
several farmer generations
At farm level, according to the land availability and succession conditions, constitution and transmission of a coffee-based agroforests heritage among the generations of coffee growers. At field level, 4 main trajectories of coffee-based agroforest that maintain
coffee yield on the long term thanks to the rejuvenation of coffee-trees.
