Agricultural intensification as a strategy for climate mitigation in Ghana

Gockowski J, Robiglio V., Muilerman S. and Agyeman NF. 2010. Agricultural intensification as a strategy for climate mitigation in Ghana. Copenhagen, Denmark: CCAFS.

In Ghana, as in many other tropical landscapes of West Africa, the expansion of extensive low input agriculture has resulted in significant deforestation with concomitant loss of biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions. Of the many crops grown in Ghana, cocoa has had the largest expansion in area extent and is a strategic crop for the country's development. The story of cocoa in Ghana in recent years is a tale of two very different expansion episodes—the first episode witnessed an increase in the area cultivated by smallholders using extensive cocoa technology and took place in the 90s; the second episode has consisted of intensive cocoa technology adoption by smallholders induced by policy actions and growing land pressures in the decade of the 00s. A case study of cocoa intensification and the Cocobod High Tech program was conducted by the Sustainable Tree Crops Program of IITA in 2011 to better understand the potential of the intensified perennial tree production systems as a potential tool for addressing rural poverty and climate change mitigation. The objectives of this study include:

1. Quantification of the factors underlying increased cocoa yields and incomes in Bia (Juabeso).
2. Estimation of the rates of deforestation post intensification and the area of deforestation and forest degradation mitigated because of the adoption of intensified land use systems.
3. Analysis of the institutions required for the sustainable intensification of cocoa farming systems.
4. Examination of the characteristics and predictors of households adopting the intensified production of cocoa.
5. Analysis of the economic and environmental tradeoffs between shaded and full sun cocoa.