Towards bamboo agroforestry development in Ghana: evaluation of crop performance, soil properties and economic benefit
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Towards bamboo agroforestry development in Ghana: evaluation of crop performance, soil properties and economic benefit Daniel S. Akoto . Samuel T. Partey . Manfred Denich . Michael Kwaku . Christian Borgemeister . Christine B. Schmitt
Received: 30 April 2019 / Accepted: 16 April 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract In the quest to promote bamboo agroforestry in the dry semi-deciduous forest zone of Ghana, we evaluated changes in soil properties, crop productivity and the economic potential of a bamboobased intercropping system. The intercropping system was established from 3-months old sympodial bamboo (Bambusa balcooa) seedlings planted at a 5 m95 m spacing and intercropped with maize, cassava or cowpea. Separate monocropping fields for maize, cassava, cowpea and bamboo were set up adjacent to the intercropped field. In both the intercropping and monocropping fields, plots were with fertilizer treatments and without. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with four replicates and studied over three years. Economic analysis was conducted using the financial benefit– D. S. Akoto (&) · M. Denich · C. Borgemeister · C. B. Schmitt Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, 53113 Bonn, Germany e-mail: [email protected] D. S. Akoto · S. T. Partey · M. Kwaku International Bamboo and Rattan Organization (INBAR), PMB, 00233 Fumesua, Kumasi, Ghana D. S. Akoto University of Energy and Natural Resources, P. O. Box 214, Sunyani, Ghana S. T. Partey International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), BP 320, Bamako, Mali
cost ratio method. The results showed that regardless of fertilizer treatments, bamboo agroforestry and monocropped fields had comparable effects on soil properties and crop productivity within two years of establishment. In the third year, however, bamboo agroforestry had significantly (p\0.05) higher soil moisture, pH and crop productivity levels. An intercropping advantage over monocropping was evident for all crops with respective partial land equivalent ratios for fertilized and non-fertilized intercropped systems as follows: cowpea (1.37 and 1.54), maize (1.38 and 1.36), and cassava (1.12 and 1.19). The economic evaluation also indicated marginal profitability of bamboo intercropping over monocropping systems. From the results obtained, there are clear indications that where bamboo is a prioritized woody perennial, integrated systems with crops may be encouraged. Keywords Agroecology · Crop productivity · Food security · Soil productivity · Sustainable agriculture
Introduction In Africa, forests provide important ecosystem services that support the environment and livelihoods. However current deforestation figures point to a dire situation for such important natural resources. FAO (2015, 2016) reports that Africa lost about 3.4
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Agroforest Syst
million hectares of forest land between the periods of 2000 to 2010. In Ghana, the closed forest reduced from 2,317,166 hectares to 1,785,802 hectares bet
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