Successional agroforestry systems enhance environmental sustainability in cacao production: Evidence from a long-term trial

Cacao is a strategic crop in many tropical countries, but achieving a balance between productivity, sustainability, and food security represents a complex challenge. This study presents a robust, multidimensional evaluation of five cacao production systems that integrates the energy–water–emissions–food (EWEF) nexus framework with life cycle assessment (LCA) and nutritional functional units to assess long-term environmental sustainability. Based on a 12-year dataset (2010–2021) from a long-term trial, the analysis spans from the establishment of the plots to their maturity. The systems include full-sun monocultures and agroforestry under organic and conventional management, and a successional agroforest, i. e., a highly diverse and dense system without external inputs. Monocultures, especially conventional ones, achieved higher cacao yields (between 1.77 and 2.22 times) but worse environmental outcomes (between −2.5% and −94%). In contrast, agroforestry systems produced 5.2 times more food (cacao and associated crops) per hectare, improving resource use efficiency in terms of energy (3.6 times more efficient) and using less water per kilogram of total food produced (−96%). Additionally, nutritional quality indicators reached higher values in relation to water and energy use in agroforestry systems (4 to 14 times higher), mainly in the successional one. Compared with monocultures, agroforestry systems had lower environmental impacts across most of the analyzed categories, during both the young (2010–2016) and the mature phase (2017–2021). Organic management did not systematically report lower environmental impacts for all categories and functional units analyzed. Our findings indicate that successional agroforests combine efficient resource use with high nutritional quality, and achieve similar cacao yields to those of conventional and organic agroforestry systems. Overall, this study supports the potential of diversified agroforestry systems—especially successional agroforestry—to advance food security and sustainability goals in cacao production. • Analysis of the environmental and productive performance of different cacao systems. • Monocultures achieve higher cocoa yields (+40%) but less food per hectare (−81%). • Agroforests have lower impacts in the young and mature phases (between −2.5 and −96%). • Highest efficient resource use and nutritional quality in successional agroforests. • Differences between organic and conventional farming are inconclusive.