2082019 TREEFARMS project The consortium & associated partners - - PDF document

20‐8‐2019 1

Dissemination workshop, Kumasi 29 April 2019

TREEFARMS project Presentation results 2016 ‐ 2019

The consortium & associated partners

Funding

Applied Research Fund

Recap of the project

• Problem: Tree farmers in degraded forest areas

abandon their tree plots after canopy closure

• Solution: Shade tolerant food crops (NTFPs)

may enhance income and food security

• Question: How can these products be

successfully harvested, processed and marketed?

Objective

• To enhance food and income security of MTS farmers and tree

farmers in off‐reserve areas after canopy closure. Specific objective

• To generate knowledge and build capacity that enables the

integration and production of shade‐tolerant NTFPs (black pepper, grains of paradise and honey) in on‐ and off‐reserve tree farms and their successful processing and marketing.

Black pepper (Piper guienense) Grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta) Bee keeping

Focus on three NTFPs

Policy relevance

2012 Forest and Wildlife Policy

Strategic Direction 1.4: Sustainably manage and develop commercial wood fuel supplies and other NTFs on both on and off reserve

• Promote research and development programmes for commercially viable NTFPs

Ghana National Plantation strategy (2016 ‐2040)

3.1.1 Strategic Objective 1: Establishment and management of planted forests

• Promote the development of NTFPs (i.e. spices, essential oils, apiculture etc.) within

forest plantations to provide additional short‐ and medium term income 3.1.3 Strategic Objective 3: Employment creation and sustainable livelihoods

• Growing of shade‐loving non‐ timber forest products (NTFPs) under plantations after

canopy closure; bee‐keeping and cultivation of food crops under taungya schemes as well as timber harvesting and processing.

Ministry of Food and Agriculture Medium Term Agricultural Sector Investment Plan (METASIP) II 2014 – 2017

• To promote (…) thriving agribusiness (…) for improved food security, nutrition and

incomes.

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Who are the NTFP farmers?

• 60% female
• 90% older than 40 yrs.
• 85% no formal education or middle school
• Based on General Entrepreneurial Tendency (GET) test:

0% high, 80% medium, 20% low entrepreneurial skills

• Survival entrepreneurs (trade to make a living but do not

aspire to expand)

Source: Mensah 2018

SWOT analysis entrepreneurship

Strengths

• Land for cultivation of GoP and BP
• Close by communities
• Favourable conditions
• fertile soils
• trees to support GoP and BP
• High level of interest: multiple uses

Weaknesses

• Risks of wildfire
• Low prices
• no storage facilities
• poor packaging
• low quantities
• Limited willingness to expand for

greater bulk

• Low education

Threats

• Lack of info on markets
• Poor road network / access to markets
• Pest & diseases
• Lack of info on sustainable forest mgt.
• Illegal activities in the forest
• Delayed supply of seedlings (low survival

rate in dry season)

• Time needed for GoP and BP to mature

Survival entrepreneurs Opportunities

• Capacity building by RUDEYA & RMSC
• Trees to support GoP and BP
• Potential for local marketing
• Free supply of seedlings (FC)
• Cross‐farm visits & peer‐to‐peer learning
• Group formation and joint learning

Marketing External factors Support Support Source: Mensah 2018

Major constraints indicated by farmers

• Pre‐production constraints
• Inadequate extension
• Low priority of these products in national programmes and plans
• Poor access to credit/finances
• Production constraints
• High labour costs
• Inadequate inputs (seeds/seedlings, Wellington boots)
• Post‐harvest constraints
• Low prices paid to farmers
• Packaging and transportation
• Lack of postharvest handling and storage

Information through ToT is not transferred Should be provided in the rainy season There might be markets, but not profitable?

Source: Mensah 2018; ASNAPP 2016

No follow‐up after plantation establishment

What have we done?

Baseline survey among 147 farmers January 2016 Botanical inventory in 3 communities; burnt and unburnt plots; open and closed canopy (12 blocks)

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Organising focus groups with 15 male and 17 female farmers to discuss NTFP production

• n‐ and off‐reserve

Organising inception workshop for 51 participants from FC, MOFA, MLNR, KNUST, CSIR –FORIG and SRI, Tropenbos, ASNAPP, NBSSI and consortium partners in April 2016

Organising proposal and thesis writeshops for 20 Mphil students & other staff of partner organisations

Fieldwork by 7 Mphil students = capacity building staff partner organisations Establishing 3 NTFP nurseries,

• incl. equipment and 1500 poly bags

Black pepper Grains of paradise Poly bags

Organising study tours and cross‐farm visits for 30 farmers

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Training 22 farmers in photo monitoring, seedling production and entrepreneurial skills (ToT)

Strengthening NTFP groups in 3 communities

Mankranso Nyamebekyere Akwaburaso Goaso

Organising community of practice meetings for 60 participants

Communicating results

https://treefarms.wordpress.com/

Organising learning platform for 121 participants from communities, FSD, MOFA and consortium partners

What do we know now?

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Grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta)

• Does well in the MTS
• Thrives well in cocoa and oil palm farms and fallows
• Highest yields reported in land uses with lower light

intensities (cocoa fields and fallows)

• However growing it in cocoa farms is not recommended

(insect pests)

• Appreciated in household use as spice and medicinal uses

Black pepper (Piper guineense)

• Black pepper does moderately well in the MTS; needs some

sunlight

• Seeds may fall overnight; special harvesting techniques required

(polythene or cloth)

• Further research needed

Bee‐keeping

• Technically and economically feasible in the MTS
• Thrives well under teak (Tectona grandis) and ofram (Terminalia

superba) but not under Cedrella odorata

• Bees avoid hives made from Cedrella wood
• Colonization rates and productivity are highest in beehives made

from teak but also acceptable when ofram is used

• Honey quality in terms of water content and acidity meet

international standards and did not show significant differences between teak and ofram beehives

• Beekeeping using these two timber species was also profitable
• Occurrence of honey/wax moths needs monitoring
• Training and protective clothing needed

Shade‐loving food crops

• 18 extra experimental plots established in Akwabraso and Nyamebekyere

No.3 with shade‐loving food crops (ginger, cocoyam and wild yam) to monitor growth under different spacing and light intensities, in a bid to find more species that do well in plantations

• Pilot suggests that ginger, cocoyam and wild yam (kooase bayere) flourish well

under shade

• Of interest for farmers’ food and income security: used in daily diet and ready

markets

• Further research needed

Markets: realistic expectations needed

• Quantities too small for export
• Products are found in local markets –

so focus on local market opportunities

• Prices for farmers are low especially

during harvesting season; so drying / packaging is important

• Collective marketing could create bulk,

but farmers seem to prefer individual marketing

What did we learn from farmers?

• Spacing grains of paradise closer than recommended 3x3m works

better (creeps together & fruits earlier)

• Black pepper needs some light
• Raising BP seedlings goes faster by planting seeds than

propagation by stem cutting

• Black peppercorns may fall on the floor overnight – polythene or

cloth needed to prevent loss of harvest

• Don’t integrate GoP in cocoa farms; it attracts insects
• Off‐reserve farmers in Goaso prefer GoP over black pepper
• Where shade‐loving NTFPs and food crops flourish there are less

wild fires

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Not all lessons learned are tangible Treefarms project was “different”

• Working in consortium was relatively new (not for ASNAPP, UENR,

UvA)

• Clear project set up with clear roles and responsibilities

(transparency)

• New partners
• Ongoing commitment
• New methods: Theory of Change, mixed methods research

Source: Ewijk & Ros‐Tonen 2018 ‘Agric and Forestry can go together’

Treefarms project was “different” – Knowledge co‐creation

• Learning from farmers and other actors
• Farmers: more self‐confidence through the

meetings; they felt heard (empowerment)

• Training & manuals done differently: farmers’ knowledge

more valued

• Practitioners: learned about the importance of research
• Another way of engaging with farmers and sharing

knowledge: learning platform adopted by FC

‘Usually we are the sole brewers

• f the soup, but

not in this project’ Source: Ewijk & Ros‐Tonen 2018

Thank you!

References

• Adu‐Sarpong, E., Andoh, H., Amoako, P.K., Kwanin, E. and Obuobi, S. (2016).

Baseline inventory report for the performance of shade‐tolerant NTFP in tree

• farms. Unpubl. Treefarms project report.
• ARF‐WOTRO Consortium (2016). Improving smallholders’ food and income security

by introducing non‐timber forest products in reforestation schemes and off‐ reserve tree farms: A collaborative learning process in Ghana. Unpubl. Treefarms baseline report.

• ASNAPP (2016). Rapid value chain/market assessment of three selected NTFPs

(GOP, black pepper & honey). Communities: Nyamebekyere‐Mankraso, Goaso Nyamebekyere‐Goaso, and Asuodei‐Goaso

• Ewijk, E. and Ros‐Tonen, M.A.F. (2018). Knowledge sharing, collaborative learning

and knowledge co‐creation in the TREEFARMS project. PowerPoint presentation Kumasi, 15 June 2018.

• Mensah, O.P. (2018). Enhancement of entrepreneurial skills of tree farmers in the

moist semi deciduous forest zones. Mphil thesis UENR.