Akalé Gohi and his wife, a couple of cocoa farmers located in the Agnéby-Tiassa region, had no solution to save their 2.5-hectare plantation, which was deteriorating day by day due to the consequences of climate change. Then, they discovered agroforestry through the PROMIRE project. This technique, which they applied without hesitation, eventually brought smiles back to their faces.

"The sun was drying out my cocoa trees, causing them to lose their leaves and eventually die. I had no solution to remedy this, and I was at risk of losing my cocoa plantation," confesses Akalé Gohi Pascal.

In Aboudé-Kouassikro, in the Agnéby-Tiassa region where he lives with his wife and their 5 children, the Akalé couple saw the future of their family darken without being able to change the course of events. Then, two years ago, a sensitization campaign led by the National Agency for Rural Development Support (ANADER) as part of the project "Promoting cocoa production without deforestation to reduce emissions in Côte d'Ivoire" (PROMIRE), executed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development, and Ecological Transition (MINEDDTE), intervened. The couple embarked on agroforestry practices on their 2.5-hectare cocoa plot.

"We were made aware of the effects and consequences of climate change by ANADER. We learned that to combat this phenomenon, we must plant trees in our cocoa plantations. Aware of the environmental challenges facing our region, without hesitation, I enrolled as a beneficiary of the project. With the support of my wife, I decided to adopt agroforestry, an approach that combines cocoa cultivation with the planting of trees and other crops. We received fruit and forest tree seedlings, which we planted," he declares.

Thanks to agroforestry and the good agricultural practices taught to them, the couple better maintains their plantation and observes with satisfaction a significant improvement in their yield, with a harvest of more than one ton of cocoa now compared to around 0.5 previously.

The increase in their plantation's yield has had a direct impact on the Akalé family's livelihoods. With increased production, they can now generate additional income of over 800,000 FCFA per harvest for their family, thereby improving their food security and economic well-being.

Akalé encourages other farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices to preserve the environment while improving their own economic situation. "With what the plantation currently brings us, we can properly educate our children, provide them with healthcare, and meet the family's needs. This was not possible before. Today, I have no hesitation in sensitizing my fellow cocoa producers myself to join the PROMIRE project and improve their living conditions through agroforestry," he says with a smile.

Akalé Gohi Pascal and his wife are a source of inspiration for their community. Their success demonstrates the tangible benefits of agroforestry, which, in addition to improving productivity, promote soil conservation, climate regulation, and biodiversity.

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