An Examination of Theories on Savannasation and the Peasant-Environment Debate

Yaro, Joseph Awetori

doi:10.4314/wajae.v13i1.40581

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Most of these trees are of nutritional and economic significance and interviewees in local communities explained that they protected such trees from damage and even sometimes cultivated them for sustenance. This observation concurs with that of Yaro (2008) when he opined that economic trees like Vitellaria paradoxum and Parkia biglobosa are managed by local people in order to serve their livelihood needs. Species such as Alchornea cordifolia and Azardiracta indica were also found in substantial numbers probably because of their medicinal utility (Mante et al 2012).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Tree species composition, richness and diversity in the northern forest-savanna ecotone of Ghana

Attua¹,

Pabi²

2013

J. App. Bioscience.

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Objective: Stand structure, composition, abundance and diversity of tree species of the northern forest-savanna ecotone were characterized to determine their spatial variability for land management. Methodology and result: An inventory of the in-situ tree community of the northern forest-savanna ecotone of Ghana was undertaken using the stratified random sampling technique. In all, 1453 individuals, representing 88 species, 78 genera and 30 families were identified in the study. Antiaris toxicaria, Adansonia digitata, Acacia albida, Afzelia africana and Vitellaria paradoxum were found most dominant in the vegetation. A gradation of tree distribution was evident as the 'near-savanna' portion of the ecotone was more species-rich than the 'nearforest' portion. Significant differences were observed of the species richness, densities and diversity of trees across sites (P < 0.05) and savanna trees were preponderant over forest species. Conclusion and application: This work has provided evidence of variability in tree species composition, richness, density and diversity across the northern forest-savanna ecotone of Ghana. The information could be crucial for monitoring and managing agro-ecosystems sustainability. A future study would be required to isolate proximate factors of tree species distribution in the ecotone.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Tree species composition, richness and diversity in the northern forest-savanna ecotone of Ghana

Attua¹,

Pabi²

2013

J. App. Bioscience.

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“…Shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) is an insect pollinatordependent tropical plant (Hall et al 1996;Okullo 2004) which occurs naturally in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) especially arid and semi-arid zones (Naughton et al 2015). It is often retained on farmlands for economic, medicinal, cultural, nutritional, and ecological purposes (Yaro 2008;Bayala et al 2013). According to Glew and Lovett (2014), it contributes to the livelihoods of an estimated 16.2 million shea nut collectors in SSA.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insect pollinator dependence of shea (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn.) in the Guinea Savanna zone of Ghana

2019

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Shea (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn.) is a multipurpose tree species indigenous to the Sudano Sahelian zone of Africa and occurs as the most abundant economic tree species in northern Ghana. The edible oil (shea butter) extracted from shea kernel is ranked as the most economic product of the species. Although fruit set and yield of shea are known to be influenced by insect pollination, the actual contribution of insect pollinators to its reproductive success has rarely been studied. This study estimated the percentage insect pollinator dependence and monetary value of insect pollination per bag of shea kernel (85 kg) in the Guinea savanna zone. Open pollination and insect exclusion treatments were applied to the flowers of 18 randomly selected matured shea trees and observed from the onset of flowering to fruit maturity. Proportion of total production value attributed to insect pollination approach was used in estimating the monetary value of pollination per bag of shea kernel with the average market price as proxy. The study revealed an insect pollinator dependence of 77% and 73% for fruit set and dry kernel yield, respectively. Mean number of fruit set per inflorescence varied significantly between insectexcluded and open-pollinated inflorescences (p < 0.05). The monetary value of insect pollination was estimated at GH₵ 73.21 (US$ 18.67) per bag of kernel as of August 2016. Shea is a high insect pollinator-dependent species and the conservation of insect pollinators would be critical to the sustainability of yield.

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“…However, small portions of the Upper East region (particularly around the Bawku area) belong to the Sudan Savannah ecological zone. The Guinea Savannah comprises fire tolerant, deciduous, broadleaved trees interspersed with a ground flora of mainly grass, which is sometimes more than 1.5 m high (Yaro 2007).…”

Section: Ecological and Engineering Resilience In Northern Ghanamentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a Community-Based Resilience Assessment Model with reference to Northern Ghana

et al. 2014

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Faced with adversarial climatic and physical conditions and an inept socioeconomic development priorities, Northern Ghana remains one of the regions that are most vulnerable to climate-related shocks and disturbances in semi-arid Africa. Because of the effect of frequent floods, droughts, and bushfires, entire livelihoods in Ghana's predominantly smallholder agricultural population are under threat. In this paper, we present a model for community-based resilience assessment. This model was developed through an experiment conducted in selected rural communities in the Tolon and Wa West Districts in the Northern and Upper West Regions of Ghana. This experiment underpinned an ongoing five-year collaborative research project, Climate and Ecosystem Change Adaptation and Resilience Research in Semi-Arid Africa: AnIntegrated Approach (CECAR-Africa), and involved researchers and scientists from institutions in Ghana and Japan. Drawing on the findings from extensive literature review, field surveys, focus group discussions, unstructured interviews with various stakeholders, and participatory observations, we developed a matrix for assessing the different categories of community 1 United Nations University-Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo, Japan 2 University for Development Studies, Wa and Tamale, Ghana. 3 University of Ghana, Department of Geography and Resource Development, Legon, Accra, Ghana 4 United Nations University-Institute for Natural Resource in Africa (UNU-INRA), Accra, Ghana 5 Ghana Meteorological Agency, Accra, Ghana. 6 The University of Tokyo, Todai Institute for Advanced Study, Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S), Tokyo, Japan. resilience (ecological, engineering, and socioeconomic). The outcome of this resilience matrix, herein called an "integrated" assessment model, offers a mix of factors that could improve societal reorganization when faced with shocks or disturbances. The integrated model provides a workable assessment criteria and key indicators for community level resilience assessments. This experiment proved valuable and highly effective in selecting case study communities for CECAR-Africa. The next step will involve the testing and development of similar criteria and indicators to measure household level resilience.

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An Examination of Theories on Savannasation and the Peasant-Environment Debate

Cited by 3 publications

References 38 publications

Tree species composition, richness and diversity in the northern forest-savanna ecotone of Ghana

Tree species composition, richness and diversity in the northern forest-savanna ecotone of Ghana

Insect pollinator dependence of shea (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn.) in the Guinea Savanna zone of Ghana

Developing a Community-Based Resilience Assessment Model with reference to Northern Ghana

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