Cocoa production remains an important player in Ghana’s economy. Over the years, there has been a shift from the traditional cocoa agroforestry system to full-sun cocoa production. Due to extreme exposure to high temperatures, sunlight and drought, the photosynthetic mechanism of cocoa is altered, reducing yield.Cocoa agroforestry provides economic, social, and ecological benefits and plays subsistence functions such food and fuelwood. The study was carried out to assess cocoa agroforestry systems based on shade and its effect on yield in the Offinso Municipality of Ghana. The study aimed to identify the types of cocoa agroforestry systems based on shade, determine the factors affecting cocoa agroforestry systems and assess the impact of shade regime on cocoa yield in the municipality. Purposively cocoa farmers were randomly and were adminis-tered with questionnaires. The study revealed that farmers in the Offinso Municipality practice all types of cocoa agroforestry systems (full sun, low shade, medium shade, and heavy shade). The cultivation of cocoa under medium shade (15–18 trees ha-1) proved to be beneficial and essential for the long-term production ofcocoa. The medium-shade cocoa recorded a higher average yield of 1576 kg ha-1. Six common shade trees identified include Terminalia superba (ofram), Ricinodendron heudelotii (wawa) and Chlorophora excelsa (odum). Some challenges faced as a result of practicing the cocoa agroforestry system were pest infestationand diseases such as that of the black pod. Cocoa agroforestry still holds the key to sustainable future outputs in cocoa production as it drives the realization of SDG goal 13 (climate action). There is therefore the need to educate farmers on managing their farms with trees for optimum ecological and economic benefits.

This study investigates the perceptions of cocoa farmers in Offinso and Adansi Districts, Ghana, regarding the impact of climate change on their yields, income, and food security. The findings aim to inform policy development and potential mitigation and adaptation strategies. A total of 282 cocoa farmers participated alongside Key Informants. The results indicate a strong consensus among farmers that climate change has negatively affected their yields (0.518 ± 0.501), increased pest and disease prevalence (0.518 ± 0.501), and contributed to cocoa tree mortality (0.482 ± 0.501). This perception is reinforced by the ranking of challenges, where poor yields and increased pest/disease emerged as the most prominent challenges (Relative Importance Index of 0.87 and 0.79, respectively). Interestingly, farmers' perceptions diverged regarding food security. They expressed neutrality towards statements suggesting a negative climate change impact on their food security status (Perception Index = 2.89). These findings highlight the critical challenge of reduced cocoa yield due to climate change for farmers. It is therefore recommended that the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), through its extension division, implement immediate actions to educate farmers within the two districts on climate change mitigation strategies. This intervention aligns with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), and 13 (Climate Action). Received: 26 April 2024 | Revised: 18 June 2024 | Accepted: 6 August 2024 Conflicts of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work. Data Availability Statement Data are available on request from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Author Contribution Statement John Tennyson Afele: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing - Original Draft, Writing - Review & Editing, Visualization. Olivia Agbenyega: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Resources, Writing - Review & Editing, Supervision, Funding acquisition. Victor Rex Barnes: Conceptualization, Resources, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Steve Amisah: Conceptualization, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Finn Plauborg: Writing - Review & Editing. Søren Marcus Pedersen: Writing - Review & Editing. Torsten Rødel Berg: Conceptualization. Joseph Anokye: Methodology, Data Curation. Stephen Yaw Opoku: Methodology, Data Curation. Richard Asante: Methodology, Data Curation. Eunice Nimo: Conceptualization, Data Curation, Writing - Review & Editing, Visualization. Evans Dawoe: Conceptualization, Supervision.

High cost of poultry feed and limited fishmeal are currently the major challenges in poultry production. To reduce cost while maximizing production, there is the need to use cheap but high nutritional feed sources like Moringa oleifera. The aim of the study was to assess the effects of Moringa oleifera on the growth performance of broiler chicken by measuring their live weight, rate of mortality, feed conversion ratio and benefit cost (b/c) ratio. Field experiment was carried out at the Animal Science Department farm, located in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana. A total of 30-day old chicks were raised for eight weeks under the required conditions, with all vaccines administered appropriately. The experiment was laid in a Complete Randomized Design with five treatments namely T1= 100% conventional feed only (as control), T2= 50% MoLM (Moringa oleifera Leaf Meal) + 50% conventional, T3= 75% MoLM + 25% conventional, T4= 25% MoLM + 75% conventional, T5= 80% MoLM and each treatment replicated six times. The result showed no significant differences between the various treatment for the feed conversion ratio and live weight at different growth periods. The benefit/cost ratio of T1 was more than one while the other treatments were less than one. T4 (25% MoLM) had a b/c ratio close to one. In conclusion, Moringa oleifera leaf meal at different levels can be used to supplement the fishmeal component in the poultry diet of broiler chicken to produce similar results as that of the conventional feed. The study recommends that farmers can adopt Moringa oleifera based poultry feed for their bird production when they cannot afford the conventional feed (fish meal-based feed) to cut down cost economically while increasing productivity.

General. The specific context of the problem statement is not present and there are a series of assumptions and ambiguities present in the paper. There is an absence of specific policies and their intended outcomes. Abstract SUGGESTIONS FOR IM...

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.