Assessment of the performance of traditional agroforestry systems in Southwestern Cameroon

Amid the diversity of farming systems developed in humid tropical zones, a large number is characterized by the combination of perennial and annual plants. The productive functioning, the agronomic and economic performance, and the sustainability of these crop associations remain poorly understood. To improve the management capacity of these complex agroforestry systems, adequate indicators must be developed and integrated in assessment systems. These may then be used to assist farmers in their decision making regarding management practices, as well as used to evaluate the contributions of these farming systems to sustainability. This study focused on 38 farmers in the Southwestern Province of Cameroon, whose agroforestry systems were surveyed using indicators which were then integrated into a Traditional Agroforestry Performance Indicators System (TAPIS). Analyses of the relationships between indicators in TAPIS allowed an improved understanding of agro-ecological and agro-economic performances in the studied parcels, and may contribute for the sustainability assessment of agroforestry systems.