Farmers' agronomic practices in relation to the productivity of cacao, Theobroma cacao L. in the major growing regions of Uganda

Despite being the 3rd most important foreign earner crop in Uganda, production of cacao is only 550 kg/ha of dry beans, compared to Côte d'Ivoire (800 kg/ha) and Malaysia (1,700 kg/ha), probably due to poor agronomic and management practices, among others. We therefore visited 116 cacao growing households located in the three major cacao growing regions of Uganda to assess agronomic and management practices carried out by farmers. A 50 x 50 m plot was demarcated in each household garden and 12 cacao trees were systematically sampled along two cross diagonal transects. We established the age, number of pods, level of plant and field management as well as spacing of cacao trees. Results showed that >50% of cacao trees were >20 years old, with an average of 13.1 pods per tree. Cacao trees were generally poorly managed and spaced at an average of 4.0 x 4.1m. Gardens were highly intercropped (94%) and under agroforestry (99.9%), with (89.7%) and coffee (51.7%), and, Maesopsis eminii (32.1%), being most prevalent, respectively. More than half of the gardens were moderately to highly weeded or mulched but, only 2.6 and 12.9% of the gardens had cover crops and trenches, respectively. Furthermore, the number of pods increased significantly (p≤0.05) with pruning and stumping but, decreased with age and plant density, though not significantly (p≥0.05). This information forms a baseline for developing technologies and innovations for managing these agronomic and management stresses as well as the National Cacao Research Agenda and Strategic Plan for Uganda.