Category: Early posts

Update from the CIAT office

 

Starting to feel like I’m settling into the CIAT office and Hanoi life, now that I have a better idea of what I’ll be working on and where I’ll be staying for the three months. The apartment is a twenty-minute drive from the office, shorter than many of my previous commutes so I’m enjoying that while it lasts. Hanoi in rush hour can be unpredictable like in any city, but despite the heavy traffic during these times it seems traffic rarely comes to a complete standstill (even if it seems like it should!) and miraculously I haven’t been overly late anywhere…yet!

Below is a picture of the front of the building that the CIAT offices are in. CIAT occupy the first, second and ninth floors. There are other agricultural research institutes in the same building, including the International Rice Research Institute.

There are glasshouses on the grounds and although I haven’t been able to identify what is being grown in them, just outside I did notice some mango trees with some decent looking mangoes. Continue reading “Update from the CIAT office”

Above-ground carbon stocks on cocoa farms

The first draft of the literature review has been submitted and I depart for Hanoi tomorrow. Since the last post I have been starting to look at carbon stocks and flows on cocoa farms and the following are some key points from what I have been reading.

Carbon stocks on-farm contribute to cocoa farming’s potential for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. In order to assess the carbon sequestration and mitigation potential, the carbon stock on farm must be estimated. The carbon stock of the farm is the total carbon stored in the system, including in the cocoa trees, shade trees, soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil litter. SOC is normally the largest contributor to the total carbon stock. In Sulawesi for example, a study found that SOC contributed 55% to the total carbon stock, followed by 22% from shade trees, 12% from cacao trees, 8% from roots, and 8% from soil litter (1), see figure below. Continue reading “Above-ground carbon stocks on cocoa farms”

First blog post – Cocoa production systems

Planning is well underway for my departure to Hanoi next week. I anticipate the change of scenery and new faces will help kick off the next phase of my research project which is a three-month placement in the Vietnam CIAT office.

My literature review research this last week has been focused on understanding what the various cocoa production systems are and why they’re used. Cocoa trees have historically been grown by smallholders within native tropical forests and as such they have a reputation as being a ‘shade-loving’ tree. Every cocoa production system offers different levels of shade to the cocoa trees. The choice of system may be constrained by a number of physical, economic or cultural factors such as climate or yield requirements. Continue reading “First blog post – Cocoa production systems”