Ecosystem restoration in fire-managed savanna woodlands: Effects on biodiversity,local livelihoods and fire intensity

Ethiopia aims to restore 15 million ha degraded forests and woodlands, but effects on the potentially contrasting goals of long-term carbon storage, biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods are unknown. To quantify the effects of grazing exclusion on vegetation and fire behaviour, we established six 30 × 30 m fenced exclosures with grazed controls, in a mesic wooded savanna. Experimental burns were done after 1.5 years. Tree seedlings were few but more common inside fences. Field layer cover and biomass increased inside fences, and grass species increased in numbers and cover. Fire intensity was higher inside fences, killing shrubs and saplings but not mature trees. Interviews confirmed that overgrazing has resulted in “cool fires”, causing shrub encroachment. High-intensity fires occurred in the 1980s after a zoonotic disease killed most livestock. Short-term increase in carbon storage through fire and grazing exclusion may lead to loss of pasture, and in the long-term increased wildfire risk.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01343-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

The miombo woodlands at the cross roads: Potential threats, sustainable livelihoods, policy gaps and challenges

The Miombo, the most extensive tropical woodland formation of Africa directly supports the livelihoods of over 100 million people through the provision of many tree products and ecosystem services essential to both the rural and urban communities. While the destruction of the Miombo has often been blamed on the rural communities dwelling near the forest resources, many urban dwellers depend heavily on the various products derived from the woodlands. This paper highlights the importance of the Miombo in the livelihoods of rural people, the potential threats to this ecosystem and opportunities for its sustainable management. About 70% of energy consumed in southern Africa is in the form of fuelwood or charcoal. The economic importance of the Miombo especially from non-timber forest products (NTFPs) is usually understated due to their perceived non-economic value yet they play an important role in sustaining livelihoods of forest dependent people in the miombo ecoregion. The Miombo also contributes to health services through the use of medicinal plant and products, in some cases, contributing up to 80% to rural health, including helping in coping with effects of HIV/AIDS, malaria and several diseases. The possibility of developing payment for environmental services schemes through public–private partnerships, and community-based sustainable management models are proposed. Through conservation and commercialization of some of the products and services, there is a potential to provide income and improve the livelihood of people involved in the trade along the value chain.     

Agricultural policies and the emergence of cotton as the dominant crop in northern Côte d'Ivoire: Historical overview and current outlook

In most of sub‐Saharan Africa, where the agricultural sector experiences dismal performance and is characterized by a gloomy picture, the cotton sub‐sector in Côte d’Ivoire is often mentioned as a “success story” given the spectacular rise in the quantity of cotton production and the profile of the crop within the farming system. What are the historical and political antecedents of the development of cotton and the factors responsible for the feat accomplished in the midst of general failures in the same continent? To what extent can cotton be regarded as a “success story” and, what lessons can be drawn for agricultural development strategies based on the Ivorian case study? This paper traces the historical and socio‐political background of cotton development in Côte d’Ivoire and identifies key policy and institutional interventions that have influenced the rise of cotton production and its emergence as the dominant crop in the farming systems of the country. Four stages in Ivorian cotton development are identified: planning, take off, crisis and the renaissance phases. The study demonstrates how a combination of good planning, technological advancement and appropriate policy and institutional conditions have contributed significantly to the rise of cotton production and its influence on the agricultural economy of northern Côte d’Ivoire. The study also highlights how the sustainability of agricultural development has been impacted by domestic and international policies and political events over which smallholder farm families have little control, and can at best only respond to. Important questions about cotton development in Côte d'Ivoire are raised that need to be answered before the program can be categorized conclusively as a success story. The study shows that there are no quick fixes to agricultural development in the sub‐region. Rather, good planning and putting the necessary building blocks in place are important prerequisites. It is recommended that agricultural development efforts in the continent take cognizance of the complexity of the sector and address the inter‐relationships that exist among the technical, policy, market and institutional factors that combine individually and collectively to influence African agriculture.     

Traditional occupancy–abundance models are inadequate for zero-inflated ecological count data

Traditional occupancy–abundance and abundance–variance–occupancy models do not take into account zero-inflation, which occurs when sampling rare species or in correlated counts arising from repeated measures. In this paper we propose a novel approach extending occupancy–abundance relationships to zero-inflated count data. This approach involves three steps: (1) selecting distributional assumptions and parsimonious models for the count data, (2) estimating abundance, occupancy and variance parameters as functions of site- and/or time-specific covariates, and (3) modelling the occupancy–abundance relationship using the parameters estimated in step 2. Five count datasets were used for comparing standard Poisson and negative binomial distribution (NBD) occupancy–abundance models. Zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) and zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) occupancy–abundance models were introduced for the first time, and these were compared with the Poisson, NBD, He and Gaston's and Wilson and Room's abundance–variance–occupancy models. The percentage of zero counts ranged from 45 to 80% in the datasets analysed. For most of the datasets, the ZINB occupancy–abundance model performed better than the traditional Poisson, NBD and Wilson and Room's model. He and Gaston's model performed better than the ZINB in two out of the five datasets. However, the occupancy predicted by all models increased faster than the observed as density increased resulting in significant mismatch at the highest densities. Limitations of the various models are discussed, and the need for careful choice of count distributions and predictors in estimating abundance and occupancy parameter are indicated.     

Managing fodder trees as a solution to human–livestock food conflicts and their contribution to income generation for smallholder farmers in southern Africa

Livestock production is an integral part of smallholder farming systems in southern Africa. While goats and sheep play some role in the smallholder farmer household economy, cattle are the predominant livestock species supplying draught power, milk, manure and meat. Production of cattle is based on range grazing. However, the nutritive value of the range is generally low depending on vegetation type and season. With the rapid increase in human population in southern Africa and the increasing need to produce staple food on a sustainable basis, smallholder farmers are increasingly encroaching onto lands formerly reserved for livestock grazing. Therefore, livestock subsisting on the range require supplementation. Conventional bought‐in supplements are expensive. Fodder trees and shrubs have been integrated within some farming systems of southern Africa as fodder banks with varying degrees of success. Work carried out in Tanzania, Malawi and Zimbabwe is reviewed to provide evidence on how the fodder tree technology has impacted on livestock production with special reference to smallholder dairy production, human food production and smallholder farmers’ income. For the wider adoption of the technology, a synopsis of the different scaling up pathways and approaches adopted by research and development agencies is presented.     

Adoption of renewable soil fertility replenishment technologies in the southern African region: Lessons learnt and the way forward

Low soil fertility is one of the most important biophysical constraints to increasing agricultural productivity in sub‐Saharan Africa. Several renewable soil fertility replenishment (RSFR) technologies that are based on nutrient re‐cycling principles have been developed in southern Africa. Some success stories have been recorded (e.g. nitrogen‐fixing legumes), but the adoption of RSFR technologies has generally lagged behind scientific advances thereby reducing the potential impacts of the technologies. This paper describes the major RSFR technologies being promoted in the region, synthesizes available information regarding their adoption by farmers, and identifies the challenges, key lessons learnt and the way forward for up‐scaling RSFR technologies in the region. The review indicated that farmer uptake of RSFR technologies depends on several factors that can be grouped into broad categories: technology‐specific (e.g. soil type, management regime), household‐specific (e.g. farmer perceptions, resource endowment, household size), policy and institutions context within which RSFR is disseminated (inputs and output prices, land tenure and property rights), and geo‐spatial (performance of species across different bio‐physical conditions, location of village). Adoption of RSFR technologies can be enhanced by targeting them to their biophysical and social niches, facilitating appropriate policy and institutional contexts for dissemination, understanding the broader context and dynamics of the adoption process, a paradigm shift in the approach to the dissemination of RSFR (e.g. expanding RSFR to high value crop systems, exploring synergy with inorganic fertilizer) and, targeted incentive systems that encourage farmers to take cognizance of natural resource implications when making agricultural production decisions.