EverGreen AgricultureEvidence of Economic

Benefits And Challenges for Scaling up

Frank PlaceWorld Agroforestry CentreMay 2014

In the following slides:

Some evidence of the economic benefits of the following types of tree practices:

• Tree products

• Livestock

• Crop yields

Tree Foods – there are some commercial successes – 1 is Mango

Mango production in KENYA has increased significantly between 2005 and 2010 (more than 100% according to GoK stats).

Exports were $10 million in 2010 and domestic sales about $70 million (and much more production is subsistence)

In full production, the net profit perhectare is about $500 which is high compared to most annual crops

MALI has grown its exports of mangoes from 1500 tons in late 1990s to to 4000 tons now

Vitellaria paradoxa (shea)

Production of almost 1 million tons, exports of more than 350,000 tons (at value of $300 – $500 per ton)

Much of the shea is used domestically (fruit and kernal for food)

1 million women involved in the value chain in northern Ghana and Burkina Faso

Fuelwood Production

Drylands produce much of the firewood and charcoal for local and urban consumption

In 2013, the retail value of charcoal used in Kenya was estimated at $920 million (Owen 2013).

By 2030, the charcoal market is predicted to exceed US$ 12 billion, employing 12 million people (World Bank 2011)

Wood as input to producing other types of energy is also emerging as a viable value chain

As agriculture expands, opportunities grow for farmers to increasingly participate to meet these growing demands

Description of a 2011-2012 Study in the Sahel on the Economic Benefits of Farmer Managed Natural

Regeneration

4 countries: Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal

Selected broad areas were regreening had occurred, specific areas that differed by rainfall and market access

1080 households surveyed altogether

Complete inventory of trees made

Country Value of harvested

tree products per

household (USD)

Value of marketed tree products per

household (USD)

% of hhs with sales of tree

products

Mean Mean %

Burkina Faso181 64 45

Mali254 73 51

Niger267 12 18

Senegal 119 37 48

Value of harvested and marketed tree products – from the Sahel 2011

Country Value of harvested tree products per household

(USD)

Value of marketed tree products per household

(USD)

Mean Mean

Burkina Faso181 64

Mali254 73

Niger267 12

Senegal 119 37

Value of harvested and marketed tree products – from the Sahel 2011

In context: value of average millet production in Niger --- 1 hectare is about $80, in Mali would be $150

Burkina Faso % hhs Mean # months

Maximum # months

Balanites aegyptiaca 38.8 4.54 12Piliostigma reticulatum 33.8 3.63 8Faidherbia albida 35.0 3.33 7Combretum glutinosum 39.6 3.24 7

Mali Balanites aegyptiaca 19.6 2.69 6Pterocarpus erinaceus 43.8 1.87 5

Niger Piliostigma reticulatum 9.2 4.57 12Faidherbia albida 35.6 3.16 10

Senegal Faidherbia albida 90.0+ 2.41 12Adansonia digitata 64.1 1.99 7

Importance of Fodder Shrubs in the Sahel

Study of Crop Yield Effects of Trees and Inputs:

A complicated reality

Linear

LogarithmicQuadratic

Yield

Number of trees

No effect

Basic Statistics on Crop Production

Mali

Mean millet yield is 597 kg/ha

26% of plots received fertilizer; mean amount is 8.8 kg/ha54% of plots received manure; mean amount is 3317 kg/ha

57% of plots have mature ‘fertilizer’ trees with mean of about 5

Niger

Mean millet yield of 318 kg/ha

26.5 % of plots received fertilizer; mean amount is 5 kg/ha78.7% of plots received manure, mean amount is 1336 kg/ha

68% of plots have at least one mature fertilizer tree in, mean of 7 faidherbia and about 20 mature trees of all types

Key Results from Yield Analyses

The older trees known for positive soil effects have a positive effect on yields – observed average density explains 16 -30 % of yield for millet in Niger and Mali

In Niger and Mali, farmers tend to invest more manure and fertilizer on fields where the mature fertilizer trees are present (correlation of about .2)

Manure and fertilizer also increase crop yields in Mali, but results were not significant in Niger, perhaps from very low use

Effect of doubling of trees and inputs on millet production in Niger and Mali

Assumption: doubling on those plots already with trees and inputs and scaled up to 10,000 ha of millet, using regression results and adoption data

NIGER

Trees: from 20 to 40 mature fertilizer trees, would add about 240,026 kilograms of millet

Manure and fertilizer – production coefficients not significant

MALI

Trees: from 5 to 10 mature fertilizer trees, would add about 231,397 kilograms of millet

Manure: from 3.3 to 6.6 tons would add about 154,742 kilograms of millet

Fertilizer: from 9 to 18 kg would add about 135,400 kilograms of millet

The good news, is that in some sites, that doubling is well on the way

Regeneration and planting/active propagation in the Sahel

Mali Niger

% households planting 11.8 8.5%

Mean # planted, all households

6.6 1.8

Regeneration is the dominant means for tree establishment well over 90% of trees in Sahel study

While FMNR is a foundational practice to extend in the drylands, its expression in terms of types and numbers of species differs across sites

However, to take advantage of markets, to bring in species not in the soils of the area or to plan for climate change, effort is needed to improve the tree planting numbers

Challenges to Upscaling of EverGreen Agriculture in the Drylands

Existing forest regulations particularly protect indigenous species and thus create major disincentives for farmers to retain many trees

Management of grazing and fires affects all types of tree investments in the drylands – grazing cited as one of the top factors by farmers in the Sahel

Poor market development for most tree products reduces value of trees to farmers. Equally, rewards for carbon or other environmental services provided by trees are virtually non-existent in dryland zones.

Germplasm multiplication and distribution for supplementing FMNR – e.g. for high value species

Knowledge at policy and extension level on various ways of integrating trees into farming and cropping systems

Key Research Challenges

1. Policy: how to fully change forest laws and officers to promote rather than inhibit tree management on farms

2. Markets: How can value chains for more dryland tree products be better developed (e.g. overcome the big challenges in drylands of disperse farmers, poor infrastructure)?

3. Germplasm: How climate change resistant is existing planting material in the soil and how can better adapted germplasm be best propagated in the drylands?

4. Overall: How to enhance the potential of the heterogeneous parklands which emerge through FMNR and then supplement this through active propagation of trees?