Linking farming practices, agrobiodiversity, and cocoa tree health: a comparative study of organic and conventional cocoa cropping systems in Côte d’Ivoire

The most widespread plant health management approaches are pathogen-focused and rely on chemical inputs. Conversely, agroecology with salutogenic approaches, centred on biodiversity-based plant health, are gaining attention. Understanding how agrobiodiversity structure influence plant health is crucial for advancing these alternative strategies. This study was conducted in cocoa-based agroforestry systems in Côte d’Ivoire, characterised by an agrobiodiversity gradient in species diversity and spatial distribution. These systems are managed by farmers using diverse farming practices based on their knowledge and experience influenced by the socioeconomic environment. The hypothesis was that agrobiodiversity associated with the cocoa trees supports their health in the plots through greater diversity. Consequently, cocoa trees were expected to be healthier under organic farming systems than conventional farming, aligned with biodiversity-based management practices. This was tested by comparing management practices and agrobiodiversity in both organic and conventional farming systems in a network of 84 cocoa plots. Statistical tests on a subset of 37 plots assessed the relationship between agrobiodiversity and farming practices. The study revealed that farming practices and annual intervention frequency varied little between the organic and conventional farming situations. Moreover, organic farmers relied on substitution strategy to manage cocoa tree health, by replacing synthetic inputs with inputs certified for organic farming. The results, obtained with multivariate statistical and clustering methods, indicated that species richness was significantly related to cocoa health, particularly in organic farming systems. This finding raised questions about how farming practices influence biodiversity-health interactions and called for further research to deepen the understanding of these dynamics.