Community Experiences in the use of Modified Taungya System for Restoring Degraded Forests and Improving Livelihoods in Ghana

Mark Appiah,Mary Agyemang Yeboah,Jones Abrefa Danquah,Badu Yeboah

doi:10.5296/emsd.v9i3.17047

Abstract

Using the Modified Taungya System (MTS) to establish plantations has been identified as one of the important strategies required to meet the demand for wood resources in Ghana. The MTS is a forest management approach in which farmers are given lands within degraded forest reserves to inter-plant food crops with trees, and further nurture the trees into maturity under specified roles and benefit sharing agreements. This study evaluated the MTSs and management approach based on the following sustainability criteria: recognition of gender role in agroforestry development, contribution of the systems to poverty reduction, and contribution of the systems to the improvement in productive and protective functions of agriculture. The systems were established in degraded portions of the Pamu-Berekum Forest Reserve, Ghana in 2000. Data were collected in 2016 through personal interviews of 40 farmers selected from three communities living close and around the forest reserve. It is clear from the result that women participation in the project activities is significant and may have contributed to the reported successful outcome. More than a decade after the establishment of these plantations, there is evidence that the non-timber forest products, (e.g. fuelwood, medicine) generated from practising MTS have had a signiﬁcant impact on the community livelihood with significant changes in annual income. Also, the farms clearly have many trees surviving that have economic, social, and ecological signiﬁcance. The MTS, indeed, has the potential to support biodiversity recovery within degraded forest reserves in Ghana as well as to improve the livelihoods of farmers.

Highlights

The Ghanaian forests are essential to the livelihoods for many people in Ghana (Appiah et al, 2007; Danquah et al, 2012; Appiah, 2013)
Women play important roles in agriculture, undertaking a wide range of activities relating to food production, processing, and marketing; and beyond farming, they are involved in land and water management: most often they are collectors of water, firewood, and fodder
It is clear from the results that, female participation in the project activities is significant and may have contributed to the reported outcome because women have for decades been important players in the development of subsistence farming in developing countries

Summary

Introduction

The Ghanaian forests are essential to the livelihoods for many people in Ghana (Appiah et al, 2007; Danquah et al, 2012; Appiah, 2013). The main causes of forest loss and degradation in Ghana include the clearing of forest for cultivation of cocoa and farming of other crops; the harvesting of fuel wood; mining; forest fires; infrastructure development; and both legal and illegal logging (Appiah et al, 2010). Behind these main causes, there are other factors such as low institutional capacity for environmental management, low awareness about the effects of human activities on the environment, and limited human and financial resources to implement reforestation and other management programmes

Methods

Results

Conclusion