IMPACT OF CASH CROPPING, FARM TECHNOLOGIES, AND DEFORESTATION IN NIGERIA
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IMPACT OF CASH CROPPING, FARM TECHNOLOGIES, AND DEFORESTATION IN NIGERIA
Introduction
The growing recognition of the numerous services supplied by tropical forests (Costanza et al. 1997), combined with the rapid growth in tropical deforestation, has pushed forests to the forefront of the agendas of developers, environmentalists, and policymakers.
Many of the factors influencing deforestation have been studied by researchers, including the opening of new roads (Chomitz & Grey 1996; Reid 2001), land property rights issues (Deacon 1999; Alston et al. 2000; Godoy et al. 2001), the spread of industrial cash cropping (McMorrow & Talip 2001), and slash-and-burn agriculture, cattle ranching, and logging activities.
Researchers discovered that the numerous elements that induce deforestation are interconnected in a complex web of interactions (Angelsen & Kaimowitz 1999). Furthermore, the authors discover that the causes of deforestation can lead to deforestation.
Because of the issue’s complexity, variability among sites, and a lack of solid empirical data, there is no agreement on a general process to explain deforestation. However, one of the most significant limitations of deforestation study is a lack of actual data.
Kaimowitz and Angelsen (1998) examined 146 econometric models explaining deforestation and discovered that 24% were based on simulations and 23% on analytical models, which are theoretical mathematical equations with no empirical data.
Furthermore, of the 53% of research based on empirical data, 38 used secondary, national-level data. Only nine of the models examined (or 6% of the total) utilised household-level empirical data.
The authors propose that future studies of the causes of deforestation should focus on either household or regional-level data, because studies without a strong micro-level empirical Cash cropping and deforestation base are of little value: “There is no substitute for careful, quantitative micro-level empirical research, and the volume of such studies is not impressive.”
Plausible theoretical mechanisms are frequently found to have little empirical relevance” (Kaimowitz & Angelsen 1998, p. 99).
There are two components to this study. In the first section, we use household data from Tsimane’ Amerindians, a horticultural and foraging civilisation in the Bolivian Amazon, to analyse how cash cropping by smallholders influences neotropical forest clearing.
We investigate clearing of fallow and old-growth forests since earlier research indicates that fallow woods contain significant ecological diversity (Finegan 1996; Silver et al. 1996; Smith et al. 1999), but we focus specifically on old-growth forests.
In the second section of the research, we utilise the same data to replicate the effects of rural poor cash cropping their way out of poverty. We concentrate on the implications for the total area of forest clearing, household labour requirements, and fallow length.
We pay specific attention to fallow duration since recent research indicates that rising land scarcity shortens the fallow time (Coomes et al., 2000). This investigation adds to the discussion over the causes of deforestation in various ways.
First, we employ household-level data, which, according to Kaimowitz and Angelsen (1998), is extremely valuable and nevertheless rather scarce. Second, we document indigenous deforestation.
Indigenous peoples do not account for a significant portion of deforestation, although this proportion may increase if indigenous people become more incorporated into the market economy (Godoy 2001) or in reaction to population expansion (Picchi 1991).
Third, we contribute to the debate about the consequences of agricultural technology advancements on cash farming and deforestation (5). The simulation results help to make recommendations on the kind of technology required to balance tropical forest expansion and conservation.
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