Agroecological and Market Roles of Biologic Diversity in the Cacao Agroforestry Systems of Bahia, Brazil

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SBR-9422382 William E. Doolittle Norman D. Johns University of Texas-Austin Agroecological and Market Roles of Biologic Diversity in the Cacao Agroforestry Systems of Bahia, Brazil This research will integrate environmental and market factors to examine the agroforestry systems in southeastern Bahia, Brazil which produce cacao exclusively for an international market. The objective is to understand the rationale of the region's farmers to shade their cacao trees with either a dense, diverse canopy of native rainforest trees, known as cabrocagem, or to modernize with a thinner, homogeneous cover of imported trees and incorporate fertilizers and other technological inputs. The research methodology will employ regional and farm-scale phases. The regional-scale analysis will, for the first time, establish the cultivation patterns of the two farm types based on archive data and aerial photography held in Brazil's Center for Cacao Research near Itabuna, Bahia. This analysis will examine natural environmental gradients in climate and soil type along with regional variation in credit and technology availability for their role in determining the type of cultivation. The proposed dissertation research will contribute to the understanding of the interacting roles that factors of the natural environment, products markets, and individual farmer attitudes and goals play in shaping the level of biological diversity within an agroforestry system. This is especially significant since the agricultural policy environment of many tropical countries favors development of market-oriented systems of agroforestry.