A Bioeconomic Rationale for the Expansion of Tree Planting by Upland Philippine Farmers

Upland farmers have long been cast as key actors of deforestation, but in the wake of timber scarcity brought on by deforestation and logging restrictions, many have adopted a new role--tree planters. Responding to market signals, upland farmers in Mindanao have spontaneously been planting fast-growing timber species on parcels going out of annual crop production. Research was conducted in Bukidnon province to compare the potential returns from trees and annual crops, and determine whether the typical farm forestry practice of intercropping trees and crops conferred efficiencies that could make it competitive with larger scale plantation projects. A bioeconomic model was developed from the research. The paper suggests that farm forestry is economically efficient, environmentally advantageous, and socially empowering, and that policy should be pursued to facilitate its expansion by providing information such as best management practices and by removing disincentives to tree planting such as harvesting restrictions and tenure insecurity. It also suggests that forestry investment should be directed at protecting and enhancing the nonmarket benefits of complex forests.bioeconomy, upland farming, tree planting, farm forestry

A Bioeconomic Rationale for the Expansion of Tree Planting by Upland Philippine Farmers

Upland farmers have long been cast as key actors of deforestation, but in the wake of timber scarcity brought on by deforestation and logging restrictions, many have adopted a new role--tree planters. Responding to market signals, upland farmers in Mindanao have spontaneously been planting fast-growing timber species on parcels going out of annual crop production. Research was conducted in Bukidnon province to compare the potential returns from trees and annual crops, and determine whether the typical farm forestry practice of intercropping trees and crops conferred efficiencies that could make it competitive with larger scale plantation projects. A bioeconomic model was developed from the research. The paper suggests that farm forestry is economically efficient, environmentally advantageous, and socially empowering, and that policy should be pursued to facilitate its expansion by providing information such as best management practices and by removing disincentives to tree planting such as harvesting restrictions and tenure insecurity. It also suggests that forestry investment should be directed at protecting and enhancing the nonmarket benefits of complex forests.bioeconomy, upland farming, tree planting, farm forestry

CRP commissioned external evaluation of CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes

Executive Summary The CGIAR Research Program (CRP) on Grain Legumes (referred to as Grain Legumes) is one of 15 CRPs. The Grain Legumes is led by the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), which combines and coordinates the Research-for-Development (R4D) activities of eleven principal partners: four CGIAR centres (ICRISAT-lead centre, CIAT, ICARDA and IITA), a CGIAR Challenge Program (Generation), four major national agricultural research systems (EIAR, Ethiopia; EMBRAPA-Brazil, GDAR-Turkey and ICAR-India) and two USAID-supported legume Cooperative Research Support Programs, all of whom are leaders in grain legume research and development. Established in mid-2012, the program aimed to achieve five Intermediate Development Objectives (IDOs - Food Security, Income, Nutrition & Health, Productivity and Environment). The program was structured around eight Product Lines (PL) (i.e. technological innovations) intersecting five Strategic Components (SC), but in 2015, it was restructured along a more R4D output model into eight Flagship Projects (FP): 1) Managing Productivity; 2) Trait determination; 3) Trait deployment; 4) Seed systems, post-harvest processing and nutrition; 5) Capacity-building and partnerships; 6) Knowledge, impacts, priorities and gender organisation; 7) Tools and platforms for genotyping and bioinformatics; and 8) Management. Five FPs focus on R4D; FPs 5 and 6 are considered cross-cutting; FP 8 has an overarching objective. Over the three year period since its inception in July 1012, Grain Legumes has had a total budget of $140 million. The CRP Commissioned External Evaluation (CCEE) aims to provide an independent assessment of the Grain Legumes, including retrospective analyses of performance against the aims and objectives set out in the initial CRP proposal; and a forward-looking element that will examine the likelihood of success of the second funding phase. As such, the evaluation may guide decision-making internally by the Grain Legumes and externally by donors; as well as feeding into decisions on the next phase of CRPs, to start in 2017. Six criteria are being considered within the evaluation, from the point of view of the activity per se and the extent to which the CRP assists in the implementation of the activity: Relevance; Efficiency; Quality of science; Effectiveness; Impact; and Sustainability. Three cross-cutting issues: Gender, Capacity-building, and Partnerships, will be explored to gauge added value of the programme-integrating activities among participants and impact outcomes for its intended beneficiaries. The scope encompasses all activities, structures and institutions within the Grain Legumes. This evaluation of Grain Legumes has been commissioned by CRP management, managed by a CRP staff member specifically provided with the authority to manage evaluations, and overseen by an oversight body, which is set up specifically for the evaluation and includes independent members. To ensure the confidentiality of participants in the evaluation, information, e.g. from interviews and surveys, is kept in a secure location. The evaluation will use a variety of methods to address the evaluation criteria, including semi-structured interviews of Grain Legumes researchers and stakeholders; country field visits; review of a sample of Grain Legumes projects; focus group discussions; self-evaluation exercises; short E-surveys; and an examination of documentation. The evaluation team consists of four independent evaluators looking specifically at the scope and focus of the CRP. The initial evaluation and the inception report were prepared over a short time period; given the size, complexity and numbers of crops in the CRP, this mitigates against a clear cut outcome from the evaluation. A further shortcoming is the lack of “management and evaluation” data. The team has also had no access to an IEA Evaluation Analyst. These limitations reduce the team’s ability to collect and analyse information. Additionally, the Management Entity has still not provided the Evaluation Team with consolidated details of contacts within the CRP, of external partners, of meetings and other events suitable for capturing multiple actors/stakeholders for interview. Key dates and activities in the evaluation include: late-April 2015 and ongoing: Desk-top review of research projects and SKYPE interviews with Product Line Coordinators and other key actors; May 2015: Country visit to INRA (Morocco) and IITA/INRAB (Benin); June 2015: Attend meeting in Montpelier and country visit to ICRISAT (India – Hyderabad and New Delhi); end June/July 2015: Country visit to Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Malawi; June2015: Grain Legumes scientist E-survey; July 2015: Data analysis and additional data collection as required; Draft report and recommendations circulated for comments; August 2015: Presentation of findings - to CGIAR in Hyderabad; Final report. This inception report sets out the proposals of the independent evaluation team regarding the purpose, objectives and scope of the evaluation, its target audiences and use; the evaluation objectives and approach; and the timeline and work-plan. This final draft incorporates stakeholder comments on the first draft

Biomass stocks in Ghanaian cocoa ecosystems: the effects of region, management and stand age of cocoa trees

Determination of biomass produced in cocoa ecosystems is an important step towards quantifying the carbon sequestration potential of cocoa production systems. This study provides data on the biomass of cocoa systems being influenced by management, cocoa stand ages and region. Eight cocoa farms were sampled on the basis of three variables: region (Eastern, Western region), shade management (shaded, unshaded) and stand age (15 years). Allometric equations (R2 > 0.94) were developed to estimate the biomass of live cocoa trees, while the biomass of non-cocoa trees was estimated using an existing equation by FAO. Generally, biomass stocks were higher in the Eastern than Western region, shaded than unshaded, and in stands >15 years than those <15 years. The total cocoa ecosystem biomass range was, 48.1 ± 6.5 to 101.6 ± 12.6 Mg/ha. The high biomass estimates reveals a potential of system to restore appreciable biomass losses resulting from deforestation and forest degradation in Ghana

Tradeoffs between pasture production and plant diversity and soil health attributes of pasture systems of Central Queensland, Australia

The clearing land of trees and introduction of exotic pastures to enhance pasture production and associated monetary gains has been a common practise in Queensland. Previous studies on tree clearing emphasised the gains in pasture production, but over periods of less than 10&ndash;15 years after clearing, thus potentially misleading land managers who plan to continue grazing beyond that time. The present research follows an integrated approach to quantify the pasture yield and the effects of tree clearing on pasture species composition, soil properties (organic carbon, available N (NO3&minus;), pHw and microbial biomass (C and N)), and litter production over time-since-clearing on a grazing property in central Queensland, and to evaluate the implications of our findings for the region. The cleared pasture systems were taken at &lt;5, 11&ndash;13 and &gt;33 year age of clearing in comparison to their paired uncleared pastures for three major tree communities representative of the region: Eucalyptus populnea, Eucalyptus melanophloia and Acacia harpophylla. The paper evaluates the effects of clearing on individual attributes as well as an integrated effect of these attributes, i.e. overall ecological services. Pasture production generally increased with clearing but plant diversity, litter production and potential return of N and P through litter decreased. Among soil attributes, clearing of trees adversely impacted upon soil pH and microbial biomass, which play an important role in nutrient availability and mineralisation. This, the initial gains in pasture production are not sustainable over time. The multivariate analysis for such ecological attributes suggests that at the &gt;33 year age of clearing, the ecological state of pasture systems changed compared to that at 5 year or 11&ndash;13 year or to the uncleared system. A disturbed pasture system will most likely take longer to revert to the original state compared to the time that would have taken to harvest the benefits. The results are important for landholders and policy makers to comprehend the real gains and losses following tree clearing for pasture development over the long term

Effects of spatial and temporal regulation of drip emitters and tube configurations on water productivity of juvenile macadamia trees in the tropics

Macadamia in Australia is traditionally grown in semi-arid climates with hot and humid summers and cool winters supporting rainfed cultivation. Recent industry expansion into more northern, drier production areas of Queensland, Australia, requires supplementary irrigation for successful macadamia production. However, ever-increasing demand for irrigation water in these areas is both competitive and regulated. Limited information is available to optimize water use efficiency for field-grown macadamia trees. We trialled a technique that employs specially designed drip tubes with push-in emitter plugs to close emitters so that transplanting can start with emitters closed distant from tree bases and open next to the trunks of each tree. Additional emitters are then gradually opened (i.e., plugs are removed) as tree canopy size increases over subsequent years. This technique was tested on single and double in-line irrigation tube configurations per row of macadamia. Temporal regulation of emitter closure significantly reduced irrigation input by 75, 50 and 25% in the first, second and third year of treatment. Hence, irrigation over the three-year establishment period was reduced to one-half that of the non-regulated crop. These early reductions of irrigation in juvenile trees had no significant negative effects on plant growth (height, canopy spread, leaf chlorophyll and leaf photosynthetic rates), nor on nut counts. Control of emitter discharge between the plants along the row in the earlier stage (i.e., before complete within-row canopy cover) also reduced weed growth between the trees in the row. Notable growth advantages of the single in-line over the double in-line tube configuration were evident, with a non-significant but sizeable benefit on nut counts too. Effects of the temporal regulation of emitters and of in-line tube configurations must be validated on cultivars with differing water requirements and for the longer-term reproductive performance and nut quality

Leaf Litter Decomposition and Mitigation of CO₂ Emissions in Cocoa Ecosystems

Studies simultaneously quantifying litter weight losses and rates of CO2-C evolved are few, though essential for accurate estimates of forest carbon budgets. A 120-day dry matter loss and a 130-day carbon emission experiments were concurrently conducted at the soil laboratory of the University of Reading, UK. Leaf litters of tree species comprising cocoa (Theobroma cacao), Newbouldia laevis (dominant shade tree in Eastern region (ER)) and Persea americana (dominant shade tree in Western region (WR)) of Ghana were incubated using a single tree leaf litter and/or a 1:1 mixed species leaf litters to determine and predict the litter decomposition and C dynamics in cocoa systems with or without the shade trees. Decomposition and C release trends in the ER systems followed: shade > mixed cocoa-shade = predicted mixed litter > cocoa; and in the WR, the order was: cocoa = mixed cocoa-shade > predicted mixed > shade. Differences between released C estimated from litter weight loss and CO2-C evolution measurement methods were not consistent. Regression analysis revealed a strong (R2 = 0.71) relationship between loss of litter C and the CO2-C evolution during litter decomposition. The large C pool for shaded cocoa systems indicates the potential to store more C and thus, its promotion could play a significant role in atmospheric CO2 mitigations

Carbon storage in Ghanaian cocoa ecosystems

Background: The recent inclusion of the cocoa sector as an option for carbon storage necessitates the need to quantify the C stocks in cocoa systems of Ghana. Results: Using farmers’ fields, the carbon (C) stocks in shaded and unshaded cocoa systems selected from the Eastern (ER) and Western (WR) regions of Ghana were measured. Total ecosystem C (biomass C + soil C to 60 cm depth) ranged from 81.8 to 153.9 Mg C/ha. The bulk (~89 %) of the systems’ C stock was stored in the soils. The total C stocks were higher in the WR (137.8 ± 8.6 Mg C/ha) than ER (95.7 ± 8.6 Mg C/ha). Conclusion: Based on the cocoa cultivation area of 1.45 million hectares, the cocoa sector in Ghana potentially could store 118.6–223.2 Gg C in cocoa systems with cocoa systems aged within 30 years regardless of shade management. Thus, the decision to include the cocoa sector in the national carbon accounting emissions budget of Ghana is warranted