28 • Climate Change • C&CI May 2012
Low fertilizer use driving deforestation in West Africa
A
ccording to the study, which was undertaken by researchers at the International Institute for Tropical
Agriculture (IITA) and the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the results of which were published online in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Management, increases in production in West Africa have largely been driven by deforestation, rather than by maximising production from existing farms. Cocoa production in West Africa is an
important commercial sector and a source of livelihoods for about two million house- holds in the region. For the last 20 years Côte d’Ivoire has been the largest producer both in terms of output and numbers of pro- ducers, followed by Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon with these four countries now accounting for 70 per cent of global cocoa supply.
Production increases but forest is felled
According to the study, cocoa production in West Africa’s Guinean Rainforest region doubled between 1987 and 2007, but most of this increase was fuelled by clearing for- est areas, resulting in large losses of biodi- versity and high carbon emissions. The Guinean Rainforest (GRF) of West
Africa, identified over 20 years ago as a global biodiversity hotspot, had reduced to 113,000km2 at the start of the new millenni- um, which was 18 per cent of its original area, according to the report. The principal driver of this environmental
change has been the expansion of low-input smallholder agriculture that depends on environmentally destructive practices like slash-and-burn and land clearing.
More fertilizer could spare the forest
Researchers at IITA found that increasing fertilizer use on cocoa-timber farms would have spared roughly 2 million hectares of tropical forest from being cleared or severe- ly degraded. On average, farmers are using
The IITA and CIFOR believe that greater use of fertilizer would result in less deforestation
less than 4kg of total nutrients per hectare in the region. The study suggests that farmers could
have achieved the same outputs without rampant deforestation through the intensi- fied use of fertilizer and agrochemicals cou- pled with improved crop husbandry. According to IITA, by doing so farmers
would have doubled their incomes and helped to avoid deforestation and degrada- tion of 2.1 million hectares. In the process, this would have significantly reduced CO2 emissions.
Deforestation increases emissions
The authors of the report said the findings should be taken into consideration in discus- sions around efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation. Instead of considering compli- cated strategies involving monetary or in-kind transfers to farmers or communities for alter- ing their land use behaviour, REDD funds could be used to incentivize and promote agricultural intensification efforts that would lead to higher rural incomes, greater food
security, and reduced emissions through the achievement of higher agricultural yields. The REDD programme is the United
Nations collaborative initiative on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries. The programme was launched in September 2008 to assist developing countries prepare and implement national REDD strategies, and builds on the convening power and expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). REDD+ stands for reducing emissions from defor- estation and forest degradation. It is a mechanism being discussed as part of the UN climate talks in Durban, which could see billions of dollars channelled to developing countries to protect their forests "The limited use of fertilizer may have
been logical in 1960, when West African populations were only 25 per cent of today's levels and forestland was still relatively abun- dant. That choice is no longer tenable in a context where only 15 to 20 per cent of the GRF remains," said the authors of the report.
A study completed in 2011 suggests that low-input farming for cocoa, cassava and palm oil has resulted in widespread deforestation and degradation of West Africa’s tropical forest
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