Environmental assessment of the Ecuadorian cocoa value chain with statistics-based LCA

Avadi Tapia Angel Daniel. 2023. Environmental assessment of the Ecuadorian cocoa value chain with statistics-based LCA. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 28 : 1495-1515.

Résumé : Introduction: Cocoa is one of the main crops grown in Ecuador. The agricultural area dedicated to cocoa represents the largest area dedicated to a permanent crop the country. Dry bean production has grown at an average annual rate of 15% since 2014, mainly due to yield improvements and replacement of other crops. Several varieties of cocoa are grown, but production is dominated by two main varieties: “Cacao Fino y de Aroma” and clonal varieties (dominated by CCN-51). Cocoa, mainly in monocrop systems, is mainly produced on the Ecuadorian Coast (but also in the Highlands and Amazonia). This study presents a statistics-based LCA of the Ecuadorian cocoa value chain. Material and methods: LCIs representing the various types of systems in each link of the value chain—i.e. the various types of farming systems, processing and distribution—were constructed in terms of representative production units. Sub-chains centred on different cocoa varieties and value-adding strategies were identified. Primary and secondary data were collected for the most representative system types, as defined in the actor typologies. Primary data were obtained via field visits and surveys, while secondary data were obtained mainly from statistical datasets of the National Institute of Statistics and Census. Impacts were computed following the European Commission's Product Environmental Footprint, while soil carbon turnover was modelled using RothC. Results and discussion: Identified types of producers are subsistence and entrepreneurial small, medium, and large. Two post-harvest strategies were modelled: a volume-oriented one and a quality-oriented one. The main sub-chains identified are the volume/commodity-oriented one (which is dominantly based on cocoa which either does not undergo post-harvest, or which undergoes volume-oriented post-harvest activities) and the quality-oriented one. Across producer types, irrigation and negative direct field emissions are the most important factors, followed in importance by total energy consumption. Post-harvest and processing activities are dominated by energy expenditures. Sub-chains feature significantly different intensity of impacts, with the volume-oriented sub-chain (i.e. those privileging quantity over quality) featuring lower impacts than the quality-oriented ones. Conclusions: The impacts of the value chain are comparatively lower, at least regarding climate change, than in other producing countries. Its agricultural phase generally exhibits low input pressure, contributes to climate change mitigation through high C sequestration in biomass that exceeds C losses due to land use change (e.g. deforestation), and does not seem to pose an immediate threat to biodiversity. Improvement initiatives do not necessarily imply intensification of production.

Mots-clés Agrovoc : analyse du cycle de vie, chaîne de valeur, évaluation de l'impact sur l'environnement, évaluation de l'impact, production alimentaire, données de production, statistiques agricoles, statistiques de la production, Theobroma cacao, chaîne de valeur agricole

Mots-clés géographiques Agrovoc : Équateur

Mots-clés libres : Biodiversity, Soil organic carbon, Value chain, Agroforestry, Monocrop

Classification Agris : J10 - Manutention, transport, stockage et conservation des produits agricoles
P02 - Pollution
P40 - Météorologie et climatologie

Champ stratégique Cirad : CTS 2 (2019-) - Transitions agroécologiques

Agences de financement européennes : European Commission

Programme de financement européen : H2020

Projets sur financement : (EU) Value Chain Analysis for Development Project

Auteurs et affiliations

• Avadi Tapia Angel Daniel, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR Recyclage et risque (CIV) ORCID: 0000-0002-8114-916X - auteur correspondant

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/603967/)

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