REVIEW PAPER
Ecological, economic and social perspectives on cocoa
production worldwide
Margaret Franzen Æ Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
Received: 26 January 2007 / Accepted: 31 March 2007 / Published online: 6 June 2007
Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007
Abstract Cocoa is a crop grown largely by smallholder farmers in the lowland tropics,
including parts of Latin America, West Africa, and Indonesia. Research suggests that it has
the potential to provide biodiversity benefits when grown under certain shade conditions,
especially when compared with alternative land uses. The primary literature on cocoa
production reveals a range of objectives for improvement of cocoa production on small
farms. These objectives are sometimes in direct opposition to each other, for example,
increasing productivity through shade removal and chemical inputs, and the desire to
increase biodiversity benefits. These opposing goals demonstrate some real trade-offs
faced by cocoa producers. We summarize the current literature, drawing attention to some
of these trade-offs and highlighting important ecological, economic, and social consider-
ations. In considering strategies for ameliorating these negative tradeoffs, we make two
primary policy recommendations. First, we suggest that outreach focusing on farm
diversification may be the most effective way of optimizing ecological, economic, and
social outcomes. Farm diversification may provide an effective means of achieving
improved farmer security and dissuade farmers from abandoning or planting cocoa
according to price fluctuations, thus reducing the use of new forest areas in cocoa pro-
duction. Secondly, we suggest greater focus on determining effective economic incentives
for maintaining shade in cocoa production. For example, price premiums associated high
quality shade-grown cocoa may increase economic benefits while simultaneously pro-
viding incentives to farmers to maintain shade in production. Lastly, we identify some
important areas of research for further informing policy in this arena.
Keywords Biodiversity conservation Á Cacao Á Cocoa production Á Fair trade Á
Shade-grown cocoa Á Small farmers
M. Franzen (&) Á M. Borgerhoff Mulder
Anthropology Department, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
e-mail: mafranzen@ucdavis.edu
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Biodivers Conserv (2007) 16:3835–3849
DOI 10.1007/s10531-007-9183-5