Economic value of non-market ecosystem services derived from trees on cocoa farms E.A. Obeng, B.D. Obiri, K.A. Oduro ⁎ , S. Pentsil, L.C. Anglaaere, E.G. Foli, D.A. Ofori CSIR - Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (CSIR-FORIG), Ghana ABSTRACT ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 3 May 2020 Received in revised form 25 November 2020 Accepted 25 November 2020 Tree-based conservation agriculture is becoming critical for reducing vulnerability of agricultural production systems from climate risks while enhancing forest-agriculture landscapes. On-farm tree integration is being promoted to restore degraded forest in cocoa landscapes. This study assessed farmers' knowledge and attitude towards non-market ecosys- tem services provided by trees on cocoa farms. Contingent valuation method was used to estimate economic value of these services to farmers. Data from 340 cocoa farmers from 10 cocoa-farming communities in the Western and West- ern North Regions of Ghana were analyzed. The results show farmers are familiar with non-market ecosystem services provided by on-farm trees. About 83% of respondents had either retained naturally occurring trees or intentionally planted trees on their farms. Cocoa farmers were willing to pay for tree integration on farms to enhance a bundle of essential regulating and supporting non-market ecosystem services such as providing habitat for pollinating insects and nutrient cycling. The estimated economic values for a bundled non-market ecosystem services provided by inte- grated trees on cocoa farms was GH₵837.59 (USD 164.00) per farmer per hectare per year. This amount is approxi- mately 8.2% of the mean annual household income of respondent and equivalent to approximately 128 kg (2 bags) of marketable cocoa beans. Family size, age, value motivations and favourable attitude towards forest in general sta- tistically predicted willingness to pay. Cocoa farmers hold substantial economic value for non-market ecosystem ser- vices provided by trees on cocoa farms and are likely to support on-farm tree integration initiatives that provide these essential non-market ecosystem services for enhanced cocoa productivity. Keywords: Economic values Tree integration On-farm trees Cocoa farms Non-market ecosystem services Ghana 1. Introduction Cocoa is naturally an understory plant predominantly cultivated by converting natural forest in a traditional multi-product and multi- strata agroforestry system (Obeng and Aguilar, 2015). Sustainable cocoa cultivation thrives well under filtered shade of trees making inte- grated trees essential in providing micro-climate and soil amelioration (Duguma et al., 2001; Asare, 2005; Kenneth and Baba, 2011). Addition- ally, integrated cocoa-tree agro-ecosystems are indispensable contribu- tors of food (fruits, staples vegetables and game meat) and other products (medicines, firewood, snails, mushrooms, timber) for farm household consumption and sale for income for welfare and farm main- tenance besides the sale of cocoa beans. As cocoa cultivation continues to expand as a profitable farming system, either when cultivated in the traditional shaded system or when hybrid varieties which favour less or no integrated trees under a full-sun monoculture system (Isaac et al., 2007), the threat of deforestation and forest degradation would continue to persist in the wake of climate change risk. An effective land use and land cover change strategies are therefore needed to re- store the forest vegetative cover of cocoa landscapes in Ghana. Currently, there are efforts to develop programs that aim to protect and manage forest ecosystems for the steady flow and quality of forest ecosys- tem services. For instance, tree-based conservation agriculture is increas- ingly becoming critical for reducing vulnerability of agricultural production systems from climate risks while enhancing forest landscapes in most tropical regions. In Ghana, the ongoing enhancing natural forest and agroforest landscapes project under the Ghana forest investment pro- gram (FIP) aims to reduce degradation in both forest reserves and off- reserve areas in order to contribute to reducing emissions and enhancing carbon stocks. The FIP further seeks to enhance and increase social benefits and community empowerment by focusing on groups that depend on natu- ral resources. Under FIP, farmers in Ghana's High Forest Zone have been en- gaged to plant or integrate trees in crop production systems including cocoa agro-ecosystems in Bono, Ahafo, Western North and Western Regions. On- farm tree integration especially on cocoa farms has been identified as hav- ing great potential to increase forest resources from agricultural landscapes (Obiri et al., 2007). Integrated trees in cocoa agro-ecosystems are capable of providing both tangible marketable products and non-market ecosystem services including providing habitat for pollinating insects, nutrient cycling and maintenance Current Research in Environmental Sustainability 2 (2020) 100019 ⁎ Corresponding author at: CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, PO. Box UP63, Kumasi, Ghana. E-mail address: koduro@csir-forig.org.gh. (K.A. Oduro). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crsust.2020.100019 2666-0490/© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/ 4.0/). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Current Research in Environmental Sustainability journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/crsust