Paper short abstract:

Côte d'Ivoire has experienced an expansion of cashew cultivation in its savannah areas, leading to an increasing loss of biodiversity. Agroforestry systems involving wild edible plants represents a nature-based solution to mitigate this trend while diversifying communities incomes.

Paper long abstract:

More than half of Côte d'Ivoire is covered by savannah vegetation. This area is facing a massive destruction for the establishment of cashew plantations, partly due to climatic and economic hazards. For only a decade, the country has become the first exporter of cashew nuts. Cashew plantations are owned by men and women have less and less land for their food crops. In addition, cashew cultivation is carried out in monoculture systems resulting in a high loss of plant biodiversity. Edible and multipurpose wild plants-based agroforestry (EMWPbA), is a nature-based solution to mitigate this trend. Indeed, this is a way for the diversification of incomes of communities and the conservation of species able not only to sequester carbon but also to attract pollinators to the cashew trees. Studies have been conducted in the country to identify candidate plant species for this purpose. Interviews were used to gather ethnobotanical information from communities. The abundance of target species in the vegetation was assessed. A total of 81 edible wild plants were identified. Nineteen species (27.14 % of taxa), are well known and well exploited by people. Twenty-two (22) species were identified as promising in agroforestry. The highest density was observed with Vitellaria paradoxa (93.6 ind. ha-1) and the lowest one with Ricinodendron heudelotii (2.3 ind. ha-1) and Tamarindus indica (2.3 ind. ha-1). Cashew plantations are characterized by low densities of the target species. We conclude that the valorization of edible wild plants can encourage farmers to adopt agroforestry.