Impact of Farm Management Practices and Agricultural Land Use on Soil Organic Carbon Storage Potential in the Savannah Ecological Zone of Northern Ghana

Abstract

In recent times, there has been increasing interest in the importance of agricultural soils as global carbon sinks, and the opportunity of enhancing the resilience of degraded agroecosystems – particularly in savannah regions of the world. However, this opportunity is largely a function of land use and/or land management choices, which differ between and within regions. In the present study, we investigated the role of agriculture land use and farm management practices on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in the savannah regions of northern Ghana. We evaluated selected land use types by using an integrated approach, involving on-farm interviews, community transect walks, land use monitoring, and soil sampling. Our results indicated that, at the landscape level, community land use and resource needs are important determinants of SOC storage in farmlands. We determined low SOC accumulation across the investigated landscape; however, the relatively high SOC stock in protected lands compared with croplands implies the potential for increasing SOC build-up by using recommended management practices. Low incomes, constraints to fertilizer use, low biomass availability, and reductions in fallow periods remain as barriers to SOC buildup. In this context, global soil carbon storage potential and smallholder food production systems will benefit from an ecosystembased adaptation strategy that prioritizes building a portfolio of carbon stores at the landscape level.

Predicting the Potential Impact of Climate Change on Carbon Stock in Semi-Arid West African Savannas

“…The total carbon stock in the Dano watershed was found to be higher in the gallery forest, followed by the woodland, tree savanna, shrub savanna, and croplands. These results are consistent with those of Boakye-Danquah et al [72] in northern Ghana. This shows that natural or semi-natural vegetation have a higher carbon storage capacity than environments degraded or transformed by anthropogenic activities, and that carbon sequestration is a function of the abundance of trees in the environment.…”

“…This result is in line with the findings of Hounkpatin et al [26] in the same study area. A study in Ghana by Boakye-Danquah et al [72] reported that SOC cropland (22.9 Mg C ha −1 ) is lower than that in native vegetation (49.4 Mg C ha −1 ) for the topsoil (0-20 cm). In Burkina Faso, Hien et al [73] recorded 16-25 Mg C ha −1 for cropland and 61 Mg C ha −1 for savanna soils in Poni Province in southwestern Burkina Faso.…”

Education for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR): Linking Theory with Practice in Ghana’s Basic Schools

“…Temperature averages are around 25 °C to 36 °C, with an average annual rainfall range of 900-1000 mm. [29][30][31]. Ecosystems that used to regulate and support the environment and people in times of extreme weather conditions have been exploited.…”

C and N stocks are not impacted by land use change from Brazilian Savanna (Cerrado) to agriculture despite changes in soil fertility and microbial abundances

“…Even though it is well established that land use changes significantly affect soil fertility and microbial biomass, information about these effects in Cerrado regions is still scarce ( Frazão et al, ; Cenciani et al, ). Also little it is still known about the Savanna biomes worldwide and studies in Africa show that it is a potential fragile biome in a global warming scenario ( Boakye‐Danquah et al, ; Valentini et al, ).…”