Monika Schneider

Systematic studies on the economic competitiveness of organic farming systems compared to conventional farming systems are particularly lacking in tropical environments. In tropical regions, the evaluation of organic production systems typically concentrates on main cash crops earmarked for export markets. Consequently, crops grown in rotation or i...

Ageing plantations, poor genetic material, soil degradation, pests and diseases are, among other factors, limiting cacao production. To meet the increasing demand for cacao in the absence of productivity gains, forests are cleared and the use of external inputs is generalised, with severe negative impacts on biodiversity and GHG emissions. The use...

The present work analyses the sustainability of food security in cacao monocultures and agroforestry systems under organic and conventional management. Using a novel approach, we developed indicators to assess crucial dimensions of food security, including land and labour productivity, the nutritional quality of food, and their nexus with energy ef...

Cocoa-based agroforests are promoted to replace monocultures for the provision of ecosystem services. However, shade tree pruning, an important tool to sustain cocoa yields, is not commonly implemented. This study investigates the effect of pruning on both agronomic and economic performance. In Bolivia, four famers’ sites were divided in half, and...

Maintaining soil quality for agricultural production is a critical challenge, especially in the tropics. Due to the focus on environmental performance and the provision of soil ecosystem services, organic farming and agroforestry systems are proposed as alternative options to conventional monoculture farming. Soil processes underlying ecosystem ser...

This study presents an evaluation of the food-energy-water nexus (FEWn), complemented by a thorough life cycle assessment (LCA), of four young cacao production systems: two full-sun monocultures and two agroforestry systems under conventional and organic management. Land footprint (LF) for food production, non-renewable cumulative energy demand (NR...

Results from long-term comparative farming systems research of FiBL and its partners in Kenya, India, and Bolivia – which were presented today – reveal that profitability and productivity of organic agriculture can equal other production systems. Furthermore, the results of this long-term research show that well-managed organic farming systems can...

Los árboles del género Inga son frecuentemente empleados en sistemas agroforestales de cacao y café por los beneficios ecosistémicos que proveen. En los sistemas agroforestales la cobertura del dosel y las características morfológicas de los árboles acompañantes son importantes para el crecimiento del cacao (Teobroma cacao). El objetivo de este est...

Understanding water stress signaling mechanisms and screening for tolerant cocoa cultivars are major challenges when facing prolonged dry and rainy seasons in cocoa-producing areas. While abscisic acid (ABA) and proline are supposed to enhance drought tolerance in cocoa, the role of polyamines remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investiga...

The response of plant species to environmental conditions influences changes in functional traits associated with the process that determines biological fitness and ecosystem processes. However, documenting these responses remain largely elusive in cultivation systems. We analyzed how environmental variables and leaf traits have effects on the tran...

This dataset contains the physiological and biochemical response of cocoa seedlings to a water stress treatment. The dataset has be described in the Article "The effect of short-term vs. long-term soil moisture stress on the physiological response of three cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) cultivars" published in Plant Growth Regulation. Please cite both,...

The increasing global demand for chocolate and related products has intensified their production systems by both replacing traditional agroforestry systems with monocultures and increasing the use of synthetic external inputs and machinery. High dependence on non-renewable energy is a clear symptom of unsustainability in food production systems. Co...

Pests and diseases threaten cacao production worldwide. Agroforestry systems are traditionally seen by farmers as one of the causes of increased pest and disease incidence, in contrast with full-sun monocultures. Cultural management practices—e.g. regular tree pruning, frequent pod harvest, regular removal of infested pods, weed management—have bee...

Agroforestry systems (AFS) can serve to decrease ecosystem carbon (C) losses caused by deforestation and inadequate soil management. Because of their shade tolerance, cacao plants are suitable to be grown in AFS, since they can be combined with other kinds of trees and shrubs. The potential for C sequestration in cacao farming systems depends on va...

Overaged full-sun cacao plantations and the need for sustainable production systems call for combining rehabilitation of plantations with the establishment of agroforestry. We tested the effect of drastic rehabilitation pruning of old cacao tree stock and the introduction of both high- and low-diversity agroforestry on survival, growth and yield of...

Farmers expect yield reduction of cash crops like cocoa when growing in agroforestry systems compared to monocultures, due to competition for resources, e.g. nutrients and water. However, complementarities between species in the use of resources may improve resource use efficiency and result in higher system performance. Cocoa trees have a shallow...

Shade trees in agroforestry systems protect the understory cocoa from climate extremes. Shade tree pruning manages microclimatic conditions in favor of cocoa production while tree diversity is maintained. Adaptation of pruning has to consider seasonal changes in temperature and precipitation to protect the understory cocoa. Structural characteristi...

This dataset contains the canopy openness and light, throughfall, temperature and relative humidity of cocoa monocultures and agroforestry systems within a long-term trial in Alto Beni, Bolivia. The dataset has be described in the Article "Shade trees and tree pruning alter throughfall and microclimate in cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) production syste...

Currently, the only effective treatment for cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) infected with the cocoa swollen shoot virus disease (CSSVD) is to cut and replant infected trees. Hence, the development of preventive control measures and strategies to mitigate the severity of the disease are of utmost importance. While past research has mainly focused on resi...

Cocoa beans are produced all across the humid tropics under different environmental conditions provided by the region but also by the season and the type of production system. Agroforestry systems compared to monocultures buffer climate extremes and therefore provide less stressful environment for the understory cocoa, especially under seasonally v...

Soil moisture has high spatial and temporal variability, depending on topography, soil texture, vegetation and meteorological conditions. It influences many processes in the soil and supplies water to the vegetation. This is often a limiting factor in agricultural production. Over an 18-month period, we measured soil moisture dynamics down to a dep...

Cacao production systems are characterized by the occurrence of associated trees, the total stem density, the number of species, and the ecosystem services they provide. In a long term field trial in Alto Beni, Bolivia, comparing five cacao production systems, we monitored microclimatic differences at 1 m height between a cacao monoculture and two...

Soil moisture is a function of topography, soil texture, vegetation and meteorological conditions and therefore highly spatial and temporal variable. Vegetation reduces evaporation from the soil but takes up water for production and transpiration. Vice versa, vegetation is affected by water availability. In many agricultural systems, especially in...

Cocoa beans are produced all across the humid tropics under different environmental conditions provided by the region but also by the type of production system and the season. Among other ecosystem services, agroforestry systems and organic farming differ from conventional monocultures in their soil quality, i.e. water holding capacity and enhanced...

Resumen: El cacao (Theobroma cacao, Malvaceae) es una especie nativa de Sudamérica, y se considera que su cultivo cumple un rol importante para la conservación de biodiversidad. Se estudió la selección de aves entre cinco sistemas de producción de cacao y barbecho, a través de una prueba de cafetería en Alto Beni, Bolivia. Las aves fueron cuantific...

Migration from the Bolivian Altiplano to the Amazonian lowlands poses a number of challenges related to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Alto Beni, located in the Bolivian Yungas at the interface between two altitudinal zones, is a critical area in this respect. Unsustainable land use practices are leading to soil erosion, sha...

The global demand for cacao has recently increased. To meet this demand, the cultivated area has been expanded in tropical forest areas and production has intensified by replacing traditional agroforestry systems with monocultures. This has led to a loss of biodiversity in cacao-growing areas. More sustainable production systems such as agroforestr...

Cadmium (Cd) uptake by cocoa has recently attracted attention, after the European Union (EU) decided to establish values for tolerable Cd concentrations in cocoa products. Bean Cd concentrations from some cocoa provenances, especially from Latin America, were found to exceed these values. Cadmium uptake by cocoa is expected not only to depend on a...

Carbon stocks, litterfall and litter decay under four different cacao production systems in Bolivia

Carbon loss of tropical forests by land use change can be reduce by locally adapted agroforestry (AF) systems. Cacao AF systems have higher above- and below-ground biomass in comparison to monoculture systems. The opportunity to increase and sequester organic carbon depends on the composition of shade trees and system management. A cacao long-term...

SUMMARY Cocoa ( Theobroma cacao L.) is produced in systems of varying complexity ranging from monoculture with temporary shade to highly diverse agroforests. Producers have to weigh high cocoa yields in the short to medium term in monocultures against higher total system yields in the short term and sustainable production systems in the long term i...

The growing demand for cocoa beans and products worldwide has been met by expanding the area under cocoa production while productivity per hectare has stagnated at a low level of around 450 kg/ha per year in the last decade. Throughout the tropics cocoa has increasingly been cultivated in full-sun monocultures in order to maximize short-term produc...

Regional adapted agroforestry (AF) systems are an adequate compromise against carbon loss by fire clearing deforestation and inadequate soil management. Cacao (Theobroma cacao) as a shade tolerant plant growth in AF systems with various trees, shrubs and herbaceous plant species. With higher aboveground and belowground biomass AF systems provide th...

Overall, results indicate a faster C-sequestration in biomass in conventional systems, which however, may level out with maturity of the systems. Microbial indices showed that negative effects of full sun monoculture can be reduced by either organic management or by switching to agroforestry. Nutrient recycling from cocoa leaves was similar in all...

Cocoa is one of the most important crops of the “Alto Beni” region in Bolivia. This crop is produced in different systems, among them monoculture and agroforestry. In order to determine the effect of the production system on microbiological soil characteristics, we measured microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen and cellulase activity...

Cocoa production systems can vary from a mono-cropping (MC) full sun plantation to a highly diversified successional agroforestry (SAFS). Mono-cropping is still the most common one but recently agroforestry (AF) systems have raised more interest because of their expected long-term resilience. Nevertheless, information about the influence of croppin...

Cocoa cropping systems vary from full-sun monocrops to highly diversified agroforestry systems, which combine the cocoa production with by-crop such as bananas or plantains and trees with different functions. Additionally, these systems can be organically or conventionally managed. Although labour demand is one of the main activities contributing t...

A standard dry bean factor (DBF), ranging from 32 % to 40 % is usually applied for estimating the dry bean yield from the fresh yield. However, the DBF might be subjected to seasonal fluctuations, mainly due to rainfalls, and also might differ between cultivars. In our study we detected fluctuations over time of the real DBF. Nevertheless, the minor...

The Alto Beni region on the eastern foothills of the Andes accounts for 90 % of certified organic cacao production in Bolivia and other tropical products for the city of La Paz. In the region more than 2200 households strongly depend on the cultivation of cacao. Cacao is cultivated on small holder farms mostly in diversified agroforestry systems. T...

Cocoa production in Alto Beni, Bolivia, is a major source of income and is severely affected by climate change impacts and other stress factors. Resilient farming systems are thus important for local families. This study compares indicators for social-ecological resilience in 30 organic and 22 non-organic cocoa farms of Alto Beni. Organic farms had...

In a field trial, situated on a commercial farm in Malaysia, the performance of three cacao clones is evaluated under three production systems mainly characterised by diversification levels (mono culture to high diversity agroforestry). At the beginning of the project the canopy of the twenty-two-year-old trees was pruned back to the leader structu...

El cultivo del cacao en pequeña escala, sustento básico de muchas familias del Alto Beni, es afectado por los impactos del cambio climático. Para el desarrollo sostenible, es necesario que las fincas adquieran resiliencia: la capacidad de un sistema para reducir su sensibilidad hacia factores de estrés y perturbaciones, manteniendo su productividad...

This study compares aboveground and belowground carbon stocks and tree diversity in different cocoa cultivation systems in Bolivia: monoculture, simple agroforestry, and successional agroforestry, as well as fallow as a control. Since diversified, agroforestry-based cultivation systems are often considered important for sustainable development, we...

In Malaysia an intensively managed high input full sun cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) plantation can reach high yields of 1.5 to 2 t dry beans per ha. Following a high production period of 10 years the yields often decrease markedly. Focusing on leading depleted cacao plantations sustainably back to full production a research project was initiated in J...

In Malaysia an intensively managed high input full sun cocoa plantation can reach high yields of 1.5 to 2 t dry beans per ha. Following a high production period of 10 years the yields often decrease markedly. Focusing on leading depleted cacao plantations sustainably back to full production a research project was initiated in June 2011 using a dive...

In Bolivia cacao is cultivated on small holder farms mostly in diversified agroforestry systems. These systems contribute to both the conservation of biodiversity and the food security of 2200 households in the Alto Beni region. An outbreak of the Frosty Pod disease caused by Moniliophthora roreri in 2011 is now threatening these relatively sustain...

Cocoa-based small-scale agriculture is the most important source of income for most farming families in the region of Alto Beni in the sub-humid foothills of the Andes. Cocoa is grown in cultivation systems of varying ecological complexity. The plantations are highly susceptible to climate change impacts. Local cocoa producers mention heat waves, d...

Organic Agriculture is perceived by many stakeholders as a promising approach to increase food security in developing countries. However, only few attempts have been made so far to assess agronomic and economic performance of Organic Agriculture in these regions in a systematic way. The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), together wit...