Woodfuel Production and its Implication in Driving Deforestation in the Drylands of Ethiopia

Woodfuel production and consumption have been a concern for multiple stakeholders involved in household energy use, deforestation, and climate change. While research into the underlying decision-making process is growing, it remains insufficient. Such a study offers opportunities to develop policies that enable diversification of household energy consumption and livelihood options away from woodfuel use. Policymakers often lack an understanding of factors correlated with households' participation in woodfuel production. Therefore, this study examined the correlation between household participation in woodfuel production and factors that influence households' participation in woodfuel production in dryland areas of Ethiopia. Data were collected from 1,114 purposively selected woodfuel-producing and non-producing households through household surveys, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. The sample included 775 participant households and 339 non-participant households. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression model. The results revealed that drought and related shocks are the main factors that forced households to participate in woodfuel production. The model results indicated that age, education, landholding, livestock holding, production asset value, ownership of improved cook stoves, number of years lived in the area, distance from the forest, access to forest extension, and institutional membership are statistically significant factors that negatively influence household participation in woodfuel production. On the other hand, household expenditure and drought occurrence positively and significantly influence the participation of households in woodfuel production. The findings of the study suggest that sustainable management and utilization of dryland forest resources require considering socioeconomic, demographic, institutional, and environmental factors correlated with households' decisions to participate in woodfuel production. This can be achieved through sound institutional setups and policy frameworks in the sector.

India possesses several advantages due to its varied ecological range and agro-climates to cultivate several important and diverse commercial food commodities ranging from cereals, fruits and spices to medicinal plants. The country has abundance of human resource comprising skilled, educated, technical and scientific manpower on one hand and unskilled manpower on the other. Forests- and agriculture-based industries are a major source of employment in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors all over the country. This article has presented a brief overview of the potential of forest and agriculture in generating employment, providing livelihood and environmental services, sequestration of green house gases, carbon trading, rehabilitation of degraded lands, production of fuel wood, etc. There are clear linkages and synergies between agricultural production and sustainable forest management. If the sustainability of the agriculture and forests can be assured, food security and employment generation would go in long-term perpetuity.

This study examines the influence of livestock holding on households’ decision to participation in wood fuel production from dryland forest. Survey data were collected from 160 households in Dire Dawa administration council of Oromia state, Ethiopia following a snowball sampling technique. Binary logit regression model and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the impacts of livestock holding on households’ decision to participation in fuelwood production from dryland forest. The estimation of the model indicates that livestock and size of arable land holdings were significant factors in determining households’ participation in wood fuel production. An increase of one unit in livestock holding leads to the probability of participation in wood fuel production of households decreased by 0.118 units while the land size has a negative impact on the participation of wood fuel production. When land size increased by 1 hectare the probability of participating in wood fuel production will be decreased by 0.9 units. The mean of wood fuel producers’ livestock holding was about 5.84 TLU and 10.67 for non- wood fuel producer which indicates the negative correlation of livestock holding and wood fuel production. Thus the study concludes that households with large livestock less likely to participate in wood fuel extraction from dryland forest. Promoting sustainable livestock production with appropriate grazing plan can have a significant role in dryland forest conservation and sustainable forest management.

Dryland areas in Ethiopia encompass pastoral and agro-pastoral areas in the country and have long been regarded as peripheries especially in economic terms. Expansion of large-scale agricultural investments (land grabbing) in these areas is the current government’s focus and resulting in the loss and unsustainable utilization of natural resources. For instance, foreign investment in Ethiopia’s forestry sector is currently limited, but agricultural investments that affect forests largely through forest clearing are common in the country. Therefore, the objective of this review paper looks at the impact of large-scale agricultural investment expansions on natural resources and factors affecting it in drylands of Ethiopia. A literature search was conducted through the use of different search engines to organize this paper. Natural resource degradations such as rangelands fragmentation, soil salinity, water scarcity, deforestation, and seasonal wildlife migrations are the main problems resulting from large agricultural investments in dryland areas of Ethiopia. Government policies, climate variability and the weakening of customary rules are the main factors causing natural resources degradation in dryland Ethiopia. Large agricultural expansion investment in dryland areas of Ethiopia is currently affecting not only natural resources but also cannot improve people’s livelihood by far. Given the key roles forests play in rural livelihoods, new tenure arrangements will have significant implications for communities located at the forest farm interface in its dryland areas. Therefore, development of sound strategic policy that contributes to environmentally more sustainable and socially inclusive large-scale agricultural expansion in dryland areas of Ethiopia should be recommended.

Developing energy markets have the potential to transform forestry. Although all UK forests and woodlands have been managed in the past, large areas of woodland have not been thinned or harvested for many years. This lack of management has led to a decline in woodland biodiversity. The emergence of viable renewable heat markets, able to cover the cost of harvesting, extracting and processing wood, have the potential to increase woodland management levels, and reverse the decline in biodiversity. However, the existing forest resource can only supply a fraction of our total energy demand and increased competition for this resource is likely. Increased demand for, and hence value of, wood could lead to more woodlands being established in the UK. Energy markets may lead to an increase in the use of alternative silvicultural systems such as short rotation coppice and short rotation forestry. The way wood is used to produce energy is likely to change in the future. Research continues on using wood to produce liquid fuels whilst combining carbon capture and storage facilities with biomass fired power generation has the potential to deliver carbon negative energy. However, these environmental and economic benefits will only be delivered if bioenergy supply chains are based on established sustainable forest management practices.

Sustainability is the new global targets for improving people’s lives around the world. Most academics, researchers and practitioners apply the concept to connote improving and sustaining a healthy economic, ecological and social system for human development. This study assessed the knowledge level of rural vegetable farmers on sustainable production in Enugu State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used in selecting 120 respondents for the study. Structured interview schedule was used for data collection and the data was analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean statistics analysis and Pearson correlation model. Results revealed that majority (95.8%) of the respondents made used personal experience as main source of information on sustainable vegetable production practices, 89.2% indicated obtaining information on sustainable vegetable production practices from relatives and neighbors, 80.0% indicated obtaining information on sustainable vegetable production practices from radio. Majority (92.5%) of the respondents have moderate knowledge of sustainable vegetable production. Result revealed that there is a very high significant positive correlation between the sustainability practices of the rural vegetable farmers and their knowledge level (R=0.280, P=0.02). Improved access to information on sustainable vegetable production through face-to-face extension teaching method and other media will advance the knowledge level and use of sustainable production practices by rural vegetable farmers.

A total of 231 cocoa farmers were interviewed through a structured survey in selected districts in the Eastern, Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Western regions of Ghana to explore their views on how the existing land tenurial arrangement incentivise sustainable cocoa production practices. In addition, 12 key informant interviews and six focus group discussions were held. The composition of focus group discussions ranged between 14 and 26 cocoa farmers. Survey findings revealed that increasing cocoa production through farm expansion is no longer an option but the challenge is to meet the dual goal of environmental sustainability and improvement of farmers' welfare through the adoption of sustainable production practices. Survey findings confirmed that the existing land tenurial arrangements need to be improved in order to incentivise farmers in Ghana to adopt environmentally sustainable production practices. Farmers and other stakeholders suggested that the development of a land policy for cocoa farming that ensures proper documentation and formalisation of tenurial systems with clear benefit sharing agreements, education on land registration and proper acquisition of land and resolution of land disputes will incentivise the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices, among others.

One of the major challenges facing Ethiopia in striving for development is environmental degradation, manifested in the degradation of land and water resources as well as loss of biodiversity. Land degradation is expressed in terms of soil erosion and loss of soil fertility. Deforestation/devegetation is one of the major factors contributing to land degradation by exposing the soil to various agents of erosion. With high-intensity rainstorms and extensive steep slopes, Ethiopia is highly susceptible to soil erosion, especially in the highlands. The organic content of soils is often low due to the widespread use of dung and crop residues for energy. Land degradation in turn greatly affects agricultural productivity and production. In 1990 alone, for instance, reduced soil depth caused by erosion resulted in a grain production loss of 57,000 (at 3.5 mm soil loss) to 128,000 tons (at 8 mm soil depth). It has been estimated that the grain production lost due to land degradation in 1990 would have been sufficient to feed more than four million people. The availability of land suitable for agriculture is shrinking, while at the same time the amount of land required to feed the growing population is steadily increasing. With agricultural productivity increases lagging behind population growth rates, the gap between availability and demand for agricultural land continues to grow, resulting in severe land-use conflicts between crop farming, animal grazing, and forestry. Natural high forests and plantations are encroached upon and cleared for cultivation or grazing by local people. State and community forest interests collide with local grazing interests on hillside land, and grazing and fuel wood/charcoal interests confront each other in the woodlands and bushlands. Forestry can play a role in reducing land pressure and land degradation, but forestry alone cannot solve the problem. Even if the management of existing forest resources is improved and new trees and forests are established, this may well prove futile if high population growth rates continue to increase the need for crop and grazing land. Using the land for forestry to improve soil fertility or to rehabilitate and conserve the environment will be viewed as secondary to using the land for cropping and grazing to meet immediate survival needs. Attempts to alleviate land degradation are therefore critically dependent on efforts to deal with the three main underlying causes of land degradation, namely population growth, low agricultural productivity, and high dependence on fuel wood, dung, and crop residue as sources of household energy. Considering the magnitude of the land degradation problem, conservation programs implemented so far are inadequate. The policy, institutional, planning, and technical constraints responsible for the inadequacy of past conservation efforts are presented, and any future initiatives to overcome the escalating land degradation problem in Ethiopia should first address these constraints realistically. There are no universal formulae or solutions that can work across the board; rather, solutions should be locality-specific and closely tied to the socioeconomic setup of the communities. In this regard, forestry can play a significant role in either preventing or arresting land degradation by avoiding or reducing soil erosion through reduced surface runoff and maintenance of organic matter and soil fertility. It can help not only in addressing off-farm and on-farm dimensions of soil erosion but also in maintaining the fertility of the soil, thereby alleviating land degradation and the destruction of natural resources. The various means by which forestry can be used to address problems of land degradation are discussed as outlined in the Ethiopian Forestry Action Program.

Renewable energy and wood fuel productions in the Nordic region: Can it be changed?

Remarkable increase in tree density and fuelwood production in the croplands of northern Nigeria

Chapter 9 - Wood Fuels

Rural households in Ethiopia have limited options to meet their domestic energy needs because they lack access to modern fuels and technologies. Domestic use of certain fuel sources, such as cow dung, can hinder agricultural outcomes and productivity. This article explores the tradeoffs between domestic and productive uses of biomass energy sources in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia using a nonseparable farm household model where labor allocation to energy collection and farming are analyzed simultaneously. We estimate a system of five structural equations using three‐stage least squares and find that the use of dung as a domestic fuel source has negative implications for the value of harvested crops, while use of on‐farm fuelwood is associated with increased value of agricultural output. On‐farm production of fuelwood appears to increase the value of crop output and provide labor savings, by making fuelwood collection more convenient for households. Policy interventions to support the expansion of agroforestry and increase access to new energy‐efficient technologies are needed to ensure that agricultural productivity can be both increased and sustained.

The present paper, based on a study of five village ecosystems, assesses the energy efficiency of rain-fed agriculture in a dry tropical environment and the impact of agricultural activity on the surrounding natural ecosystems. Energy flow in the forest villages of Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary of Central India, along with it’s impact on the surrounding forests have been assessed and documented. Energy requirements such as firewood, food, fodder, and kerosene were inventoried. Energy efficiency was determined by calculating output-input ratio. Paddy was cultivated as single rainfed crop and except or rice all the food items in the villages were imported from the market. About 75-80% and 95-100% of the fodder and firewood needs were met from the forests, respectively. The use of firewood and kerosene in the study villages were 132 kg day -1 and 2 l day -1 . Firewood consumption was 185 x 10 5 KJ yr -1 ha -1 of cultivated land. Kerosene use ranged from 5 to 14 x 10 5 KJ yr -1 ha -1 . Fodder from the forests used for the livestock ranged between 324 to 606 x 10 5 KJ yr -1 ha -1 of cultivated land. The energy efficiency was 2.67 for all the cropped area. The illegal felling and lopping of trees was found to be increasing in concentric circles in and around the villages along with grazing, resulting into a savanna like situation. The study recommends conservation of forests by establishing fuel wood plantations, woodlots and pastures. For fulfilling the fodder requirements, village pastures should be developed with a mixture of grasses and legumes. All possible encouragement of reduction of livestock population needs to be given. Systematic fuel-wood plantations of fast-growing plants within the villages or their immediate environs would surely reduce the stress on the natural forests. Integration of fodder, fuel, and food, production through agroforestry and silvipasture systems needs to be experimented with and, when found effective, duly popularized. This may reduce the need for areas to be put under fodder and fuel-wood production. To reduce the existing levels of fuel-wood consumption, public awareness needs to be generated about the low efficiency of existing cooking practices and the pollution hazards from wood-burning. By the introduction of efficient wood-burning stoves it would be possible to reduce fuel-wood consumption. Possibilities of substitution of fuel-wood by other sources of energy—such as solar energy and kerosene— should be taken into consideration. Above all, efforts have to be made for alternative and complementary means of livelihood of the villagers—for the coupled optimal use of available man-days and economic well-being.

The Sub-Regional Office of the Caribbean of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO-SLC) facilitated the collation of information on sustainable production practices in Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Kitts/Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and St. Lucia. The study, carried out by the Caribbean Agricultural Development and Research Institute (CARDI) on behalf of the FAO, aimed to identify the use of some of the 'tried-and-tested' methods in order to promote them by making them available to the wider agricultural community in the Region. This is in keeping with FAO's sustainable crop production intensification (SCPI) objective, which aims to increase crop production per unit area, taking into consideration all relevant factors affecting productivity and sustainability, including social, political, economic and environmental impact. In the current study, 'sustainability' included environmental, financial and socio-economic elements. Current practices were determined via onfarm observation and inquiry, as well as by reviewing marketing and legislative protocols. Activities of over 2000 producers were drawn from individual interviews, field inspections, Extension Officer reviews, and structured group sessions. Whilst several practices were seen to be endemic and common to all seven countries, there were subtle inter- and intra-island differences. Results indicate that in all countries, sustainability was more commonly defined in terms of environmental aspects by way of soil and water conservation, and ' sustainable' practices dealt with land clearing, erosion reduction and soil improvement. Additionally, water conservation as opposed to rainwater harvesting and storage was a central pursuit. Appropriate cropping patterns and other farming practices were largely determined by geography. There was a reasonable level of understanding of the benefits of biodiversity as related to sustainability. Interestingly, there were some practices which were not as widespread that could be expanded, and others that were widespread but not effectively executed. Several recommendations are presented based on the amalgam of practices recorded, on the areas of land use, soil quality, water use and reuse, environmental sustainability, and financial sustainability.

This publication is intended to serve researchers and teachers as well as development practitioners. It was prepared based on requests from CIFOR's national partners in Ethiopia and the region to compile existing information and help address the lack of documents available for teaching graduate and undergraduate students about the management of forests in dryland areas in general, and the production and marketing of gums and resins in particular. By describing the current status of the dry forest resource base and the production and marketing of gums and resins, this publication contributes toward filling the existing knowledge gap. Chapter 1 presents an overview of challenges and forest-based opportunities in the drylands of Ethiopia. Chapter 2 describes in detail the resource base of gums and resins as well as the challenges to their productivity. Chapter 3 discusses production, handling and quality control, while Chapter 4 addresses value-added processing and the marketing of gums and resins. Finally, Chapter 5 summarises challenges and opportunities as well as actions for sustainable gum and resin production