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Abstract:Purpose: The rise in wood fuel consumption and charcoal has been associated with increased deforestation in Ghana. Plantation developments from teak (Tectona grandis), bamboo (Bambusa balcooa) and Acacia auriculiformis are promoted to produce sustainable biomass for charcoal production. While all species have comparable charcoal quality, there is limited available data to elucidate the environmental impacts associated with their plantation development and use as biomass sources for producing charcoal. This study therefore quantified and compared the cradle-to-gate environmental impacts of producing charcoal from T. grandis, A. auriculiformis and B. balcooa.Methods: The study was conducted in accordance with the ISO procedural framework for performing LCAs in the ISO 14040/14044. For this study, the functional unit chosen was 1 MJ energy charcoal produced from three species: T. grandis, A. auriculiformis and B. balcooa. Data on B. balcooa plantation was collected from a B. balcooa-based intercropping system established by the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan in the Sekyere Central District of Ghana. Input data for A. auriculiformis and T. grandis were based on plantations established by the Forestry Commission of Ghana within the forest agroecological zone of Ghana. All input data were from primary local data. Calculations for pollutant emissions were made with Simapro version 8 applying life cycle inventory (LCI) databases of Ecoinvent V3 and Idemat 2015 (a database of the Delft University of Technology) to analyse the contribution of all the flow processes to the emissions. The emissions were expressed as eco-costs and used as an indicator for impact assessment.Results and discussion: The results showed that relative to B. balcooa, the total eco- Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporationcost (comprising eco-cost of human health, ecosystems, resource depletion and global warming) of a cradle-to-gate production of 1 MJ energy charcoal will be 140% higher with T. grandis and 113% higher with A. auriculiformis. The increased environmental impacts associated with T. grandis and A. auriculiformis occurred at their biomass production stage (involving nursery and plantation establishment) which constituted about 85% of the total eco-cost due to the use of relatively large quantities of pesticides, weedicides and fertilizers with high acidification, ozone depletion and global warming potentials.Conclusions: B. balcooa plantations may be the most environmentally viable option based on the results. Where T. grandis or A. auriculiformis is a priority, improvement options will be key in reducing environmental costs at the biomass production stage for improved environmental sustainability. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 Results and discussion: The res...

Bamboo agroforestry is currently being promoted in Ghana as a viable land use option to reduce dependence on natural forest for wood fuels. To align the design and introduction of bamboo agroforestry to the needs of farmers, information on the determinants of bamboo acceptability and adoption is necessary. It is, therefore, the aim of this study to determine how socioeconomic factors, local farming practices and local knowledge on bamboo may influence its acceptability and adoption as a component of local farming systems. Data were collected from 200 farmers in the dry semi-deciduous forest zone of Ghana using semi-structured questionnaire interviews. The results show that farmers' traditional knowledge on bamboo including its use for charcoal production and leaves for fodder are influential determinants of bamboo adoption. Among the demographic characteristics of farmers, age and gender are the most significant predictors. It is also evident that the regular practice of leaving trees on farmlands and type of cropping system may influence bamboo integration into traditional farming systems.

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 bamboo-based intercropping system. The intercropping system was established from 3-months old sympodial bamboo (Bambusa balcooa) seedlings planted at a 5 m × 5 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–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.

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