## 2 Materials and Methods  
### Study Area  
Cocoa as a tropical crop is specific in its climatic and soil requirements. In Ghana, cocoa can only be profitably grown in the tropical rainforest belt. The tropical rainforest of Ghana is divided into five major forest types (Figure 2) namely: wet evergreen; upland evergreen; moist evergreen; moist semi-deciduous (northwest and southeast subtypes) and dry semi-deciduous (fire zone, inner zone and marginal subtypes).  
The study was conducted in the dry (Offonso Municipal District) and moist (Adansi North District) semi-deciduous ecological zones of Ghana, which are also separated by political boundaries (Figure 3). The two areas have diverse forest structures and resources, and different cultural norms and traditional administration; however, both are major cocoa-producing areas in the Ashanti Region of Ghana [34; 35].  
Figure 2: Forest zones which support cocoa production in the southern part of Ghana. Forest boundaries shown by a broken line (———). Forest-type abbreviations: WE = wet evergreen; UE = upland evergreen; ME = moist evergreen; MS = moist semi-deciduous (NW = northwest subtype; SE = southeast subtype); DS = dry semi-deciduous (FZ = fire zone subtype; IZ = inner zone subtype; SM = southern marginal; SO = southern outliers. Source: [33].  
The Forest Services Division and Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) have district offices overseeing the sustainable management of the forest and cocoa farms, respectively. It has been widely published that the expansion of cocoa farming has led to massive deforestation in cocoa-growing areas [36; 37; 38]. These indications are crucial for creating a robust cocoa industry to support the growing populations in these areas.  
Despite the differences in the ecology, both areas share common production and management practices. In both study areas, the cocoa cropping year begins in October, with purchases of the main crop, while the smaller mid-crop (light or lean crop) cycle is in July. Though light-crop beans have smaller sizes than the main-crop beans, both are of the same quality [39]. The average farm size of a cocoa farm is 4 Ha and is owned by families or individuals [40]. Tenure of cocoa farms may be through rent, hire (for a specific number of years), sharecropping or be farmer-owned (inherited or purchased) [41]. Largely, the heads of cocoa-growing households are men with an average age of 55 years [42].  
The detailed characteristics of the two study areas are described in Table 1 according to their demographics, physical features, vegetation and climate.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l} \hline
**Attribute** & **Offonso Municipal District** & **Adansi North District** \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{Location} & The municipality lies within longitude 1\({}^{\circ}\)45\({}^{\prime}\) and latitude 6\({}^{\circ}\)95\({}^{\prime}\) N. The municipality also shares a random number of the Ahafo Ano South District in the west, whilst its eastern and southern borders are shared with the Afígya Kwabre District. & The district lies between longitude 1\({}^{\circ}\)50\({}^{\prime}\) W and latitude 6\({}^{\circ}\)17\({}^{\prime}\) N. The district shares a boundary with Amanše Central in the northwest, Obuasi Municipality in the south, Adansi South District, and Bekwai Municipality in the north. \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: Summary description of the Offinso Municipal and Adansi North Districts.  
Figure 3: Map of the study area showing Offinso Municipal and Adansi North Districts.