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Title: | How farmers develop local ecological knowledge for on-farm tree management: The perspectives of some farming communities of Ghana |
Authors: | Awuah, Raheal Kyereh, Boateng |
Keywords: | Agroecology decision-making farming cycle forest restoration tree management functional role |
Issue Date: | 2020 |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Abstract: | In the tropics, tree populations located outside forests constitute a significant component of the natural resource
base. They serve very important commodity roles as fuelwood, timber, medicine and food, whilst in the environmental
front they are indispensable in nutrient cycling, micro-climate moderation and carbon storage (de Foresta
et al., 2013). Yet, tree populations outside forests are not being sustainably managed resulting in a low tree-densitylandscape
in many parts of the tropics. To reverse this trend and enhance tropical landscape's productivity there is
the need to develop sustainable tree management systems for trees outside forests but the limited scientific
information on the subject is a major hindrance to this policy.
Usually, a lot of tree management information resides with farmers and other local people who have traditionally
been managing trees on farmlands (Amanor, 1996). It is also acknowledged in scientific circles that the strong dependency
of rural people in the tropics on natural resources has enabled them to acquire a tremendous wealth of ecological
knowledge for managing resources on a sustainable basis in their environment (Trosper & Parrotta, 2012).
Therefore, tree management in cropping systems is one important area in natural resource management in the
tropics where people are expected to have good levels of knowledge because of the importance of trees in the
sustainability of tropical farming systems.
There have been persistent calls for increased use of local ecological knowledge (LEK) in natural resource
conservation and development (Paloniemi et al., 2018; Tengö, Brondizio, Elmqvist,Malmer, & Spierenburg, 2014). Nonetheless,
this can materialise only with proper documentation and communication of LEK which invariably should start
with an exploration of farmers understanding what it means to manage trees in different agroecological set-ups. The
study is also relevant to forest restoration which involves trees on farms, and this requires knowledge on how to work
with local farmers. This study therefore sought to determine farmers' perceptions of what constitutes on-farm tree management
and how these perceptions influence knowledge generation on trees in farming systems by farmers.
On-farm trees are forest trees integrated into agricultural cropping systems that may either be natural
regeneration from seedlings, stumps and root coppices or deliberately planted. On-farm trees are part of tree
resources outside forests and contribute significantly to subsistence and commercial wood production (Pouliot &
Treue, 2013). Worldwide, trees and agricultural activities co-exist in both larger landscapes and smaller landholdings
either permanently or temporarily under some kind of agroforestry practice. They provide goods and services such
as food, fuel, fodder, building materials, saleable commodities and protection of soils and crops (Arnold &
Dewees, 2014). At the global level it is estimated that about 46% of all agricultural lands have more than 10% tree
cover (Zomer, Trabucco, Coe, & Place, 2009). Species retained on farms are often multifunctional and are therefore
managed to fulfill multiple objectives but invariably their ecological roles stand out as paramount (Idol, Haggar, &
Cox, 2011). On-farm trees exist under a wide range of socio-economic conditions, for example in Ghana, such trees
may be fully owned by farmers if they do not have much timber value on the other hand, where they happen to be
commercial timber trees, their ownership is vested in landowners whilst the right to harvest is vested in the state
and administered by the Forestry Commission. Farmers, nonetheless, are the de facto managers of all on-farm trees
irrespective of their economic value (Dumenu, Pelz, & Kyereh, 2014). |
Description: | This article is published in Wiley and also available at DOI: 10.1111/1477-8947.12210 |
URI: | 10.1111/1477-8947.12210 http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/13499 |
Appears in Collections: | College of Agric and Natural Resources
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