Valorisation of Natural Resources and the Need for Economic and Sustainability Assessment: The Case of Cocoa Pod Husk in Indonesia

The uptake of innovative technologies and practices in agriculture aimed at the valorisation of natural resources can be scant in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Integration of financial viability assessments with farmers and environmental evaluations can help to understand some aspects of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2020-11, Vol.12 (21), p.8962
Main Authors: Picchioni, Fiorella, Warren, Geoffrey P., Lambert, Smilja, Balcombe, Kelvin, Robinson, J. Steve, Srinivasan, Chittur, D. Gomez, Leonardo, Faas, Laura, Westwood, Nicholas J., Chatzifragkou, Afroditi, Charalampopoulos, Dimitris, Shaw, Liz J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural economics
Agricultural practices
Agronomy
Calcium
Cocoa
Compensation
Crop residues
Experiments
Farmers
Farms
Feeds
Fertilizers
Focus groups
Food products
Harvest
Long-term effects
Magnesium
Natural resources
Nutrients
Phosphorus
Potassium
Questionnaires
Soil quality
Soils
Sustainability
Viability
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The uptake of innovative technologies and practices in agriculture aimed at the valorisation of natural resources can be scant in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Integration of financial viability assessments with farmers and environmental evaluations can help to understand some aspects of the low uptakes of innovations. Using the case study of Cocoa Pod Husk (CPH) valorisation in Indonesia, we provide insights into (i) a choice modelling method to assess the economic viability of CPH valorisation and (ii) an agronomic trial assessing the consequences on soil quality of diverting CPH from its role as a natural fertilizer. The economic viability assessment suggested that farmers require higher levels of compensation than might be expected to collect or process CPH (a small proportion of farmers would undertake all processing activities for 117 GBP/t CPH). The agronomic trial concluded that CPH plays only a minor role in the maintenance of soil phosphorus, calcium and magnesium, but it plays an important role for crop potassium. CPH removal would reduce the partial balances for carbon and nitrogen by 15.6% and 19.6%, respectively. Diversion of CPH from current practices should consider the long-term effects on soil quality, especially because it might create increased reliance on mineral fertilizers.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su12218962