Agronomic diagnosis of farmers' cropping practices in coffee orchards in Ivory Coast

Coffee production in Ivory Coast is declining since 1980. Economists have explained this by the lowering price of coffee compared to cocoa, prompting producers to neglect coffee for cocoa and then rubber. To understand the agronomic mechanisms of this decline and coffee farmers cropping practices, a survey was conducted in the main producing regions. One hundred and fifty-six coffee plots were visited and data were collected at two levels: interviews with farmers and observations in coffee plots. The results showed that the average coffee plantation has an area of about one hectare. Two thirds of the orchard consist of unsorted plant material. The orchard is old and the average planting densities are lower than 1960 coffee trees/ha, the recommended density. More than one half of the coffee orchards have shade trees consisting of a mixture of primarily forest and fruit trees. The maintenance of coffee plantations is reduced to two manual weedings per year and phytosanitary treatments are limited to one single insecticide application just before harvest. Less than 10% of farmers provide fertilizers to the coffee trees. Pruning and rejuvenation systems are not properly implemented. Therefore, the orchard is not productive and the average yield is only 325 kg/ha/year. These extensive practices and the aging orchards both reflect the limited interest of farmers for coffee growing.