Evaluating the Resilience of the Cocoa Agroecosystem in the Offinso Municipal and Adansi North Districts of Ghana

Richard Asante; Søren Marcus Pedersen; Torsten Rodel Berg; Olivia Agbenyega; Steve Amisah; Victor Rex Barnes; Samuel Ayesu; Stephen Yaw Opoku; John Tennyson Afele; Joseph Anokye

doi:10.3390/app14188170

Evaluating the Resilience of the Cocoa Agroecosystem in the Offinso Municipal and Adansi North Districts of Ghana

Richard Asante^*, Søren Marcus Pedersen, Torsten Rodel Berg, Olivia Agbenyega, Steve Amisah, Victor Rex Barnes, Samuel Ayesu, Stephen Yaw Opoku, John Tennyson Afele, Joseph Anokye

^*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Institut for Agroøkologi - Jordbrugssystemer og Bæredygtighed

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift/Konferencebidrag i tidsskrift /Bidrag til avis › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

Abstract

The application of the resilience concept within socioecological systems has recently received much attention. Assessing the characteristics of cocoa agroecosystems in the dry and moist semi-deciduous ecological zones has become critical for resilience analysis in this era of climate change and the constant shrinking of cocoa suitability areas. Previous studies have used one of the dimensions of resilience to analyse complex adaptive systems, excluding critical factors and variables. This study applied a multi-criteria decision-making process, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) that accommodates the three dimensions of resilience, i.e., buffer capacity, adaptive capacity and self-organisation. The AHP is a multi-criteria decision-making tool that proceeds with the design of a hierarchy system for the goal, criteria, attributes and variables. Selected cocoa farmers were assigned weights related to criteria, attributes and variables in a comparison matrix. The resilience of the cocoa agroecosystems in Offinso Municipal and Adansi North Districts was 2.75 ± 0.06 (mean ± SD) and 3.23 ± 0.10 (mean ± SD), respectively. Buffer capacity contributed the highest proportion (44.3%) in the Offinso Municipal District, followed by adaptive capacity (38.7%) and self-organisation (17%). A similar trend was recorded for the Adansi North District: buffer capacity (42.9%), adaptive capacity (42.9%) and self-organisation (14.3%). Across the two study areas, shade trees, crop diversification, soil quality, cocoa variety, farm size, farm age, alternative livelihood, annual income and co-operative membership contributed prominently to the construction of cocoa agroecosystem resilience. The assessment of agroecosystem resilience is location-specific, and the study provides a simplified methodology for evaluating resilience. The paper aims to understand the importance of the components of the cocoa agroecosystem, and a simplified methodology for evaluating its resilience to perturbations. It presents a conceptual and methodological framework for the analysis and measurement of agroecosystem resilience in a participatory manner.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Artikelnummer	8170
Tidsskrift	Applied Sciences (Switzerland)
Vol/bind	14
Nummer	18
ISSN	2076-3417
DOI	https://doi.org/10.3390/app14188170
Status	Udgivet - sep. 2024

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title = "Evaluating the Resilience of the Cocoa Agroecosystem in the Offinso Municipal and Adansi North Districts of Ghana",

abstract = "The application of the resilience concept within socioecological systems has recently received much attention. Assessing the characteristics of cocoa agroecosystems in the dry and moist semi-deciduous ecological zones has become critical for resilience analysis in this era of climate change and the constant shrinking of cocoa suitability areas. Previous studies have used one of the dimensions of resilience to analyse complex adaptive systems, excluding critical factors and variables. This study applied a multi-criteria decision-making process, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) that accommodates the three dimensions of resilience, i.e., buffer capacity, adaptive capacity and self-organisation. The AHP is a multi-criteria decision-making tool that proceeds with the design of a hierarchy system for the goal, criteria, attributes and variables. Selected cocoa farmers were assigned weights related to criteria, attributes and variables in a comparison matrix. The resilience of the cocoa agroecosystems in Offinso Municipal and Adansi North Districts was 2.75 ± 0.06 (mean ± SD) and 3.23 ± 0.10 (mean ± SD), respectively. Buffer capacity contributed the highest proportion (44.3%) in the Offinso Municipal District, followed by adaptive capacity (38.7%) and self-organisation (17%). A similar trend was recorded for the Adansi North District: buffer capacity (42.9%), adaptive capacity (42.9%) and self-organisation (14.3%). Across the two study areas, shade trees, crop diversification, soil quality, cocoa variety, farm size, farm age, alternative livelihood, annual income and co-operative membership contributed prominently to the construction of cocoa agroecosystem resilience. The assessment of agroecosystem resilience is location-specific, and the study provides a simplified methodology for evaluating resilience. The paper aims to understand the importance of the components of the cocoa agroecosystem, and a simplified methodology for evaluating its resilience to perturbations. It presents a conceptual and methodological framework for the analysis and measurement of agroecosystem resilience in a participatory manner.",

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Evaluating the Resilience of the Cocoa Agroecosystem in the Offinso Municipal and Adansi North Districts of Ghana. / Asante, Richard; Pedersen, Søren Marcus; Berg, Torsten Rodel et al.
I: Applied Sciences (Switzerland), Bind 14, Nr. 18, 8170, 09.2024.

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift/Konferencebidrag i tidsskrift /Bidrag til avis › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

TY - JOUR

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AU - Asante, Richard

AU - Pedersen, Søren Marcus

AU - Berg, Torsten Rodel

AU - Agbenyega, Olivia

AU - Amisah, Steve

AU - Barnes, Victor Rex

AU - Ayesu, Samuel

AU - Opoku, Stephen Yaw

AU - Afele, John Tennyson

AU - Anokye, Joseph

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AB - The application of the resilience concept within socioecological systems has recently received much attention. Assessing the characteristics of cocoa agroecosystems in the dry and moist semi-deciduous ecological zones has become critical for resilience analysis in this era of climate change and the constant shrinking of cocoa suitability areas. Previous studies have used one of the dimensions of resilience to analyse complex adaptive systems, excluding critical factors and variables. This study applied a multi-criteria decision-making process, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) that accommodates the three dimensions of resilience, i.e., buffer capacity, adaptive capacity and self-organisation. The AHP is a multi-criteria decision-making tool that proceeds with the design of a hierarchy system for the goal, criteria, attributes and variables. Selected cocoa farmers were assigned weights related to criteria, attributes and variables in a comparison matrix. The resilience of the cocoa agroecosystems in Offinso Municipal and Adansi North Districts was 2.75 ± 0.06 (mean ± SD) and 3.23 ± 0.10 (mean ± SD), respectively. Buffer capacity contributed the highest proportion (44.3%) in the Offinso Municipal District, followed by adaptive capacity (38.7%) and self-organisation (17%). A similar trend was recorded for the Adansi North District: buffer capacity (42.9%), adaptive capacity (42.9%) and self-organisation (14.3%). Across the two study areas, shade trees, crop diversification, soil quality, cocoa variety, farm size, farm age, alternative livelihood, annual income and co-operative membership contributed prominently to the construction of cocoa agroecosystem resilience. The assessment of agroecosystem resilience is location-specific, and the study provides a simplified methodology for evaluating resilience. The paper aims to understand the importance of the components of the cocoa agroecosystem, and a simplified methodology for evaluating its resilience to perturbations. It presents a conceptual and methodological framework for the analysis and measurement of agroecosystem resilience in a participatory manner.

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KW - resilience

KW - self-organisation

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KW - systems thinking

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Evaluating the Resilience of the Cocoa Agroecosystem in the Offinso Municipal and Adansi North Districts of Ghana

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