Community Experiences in the use of Modified Taungya System for Restoring Degraded Forests and Improving Livelihoods in Ghana

Using the Modified Taungya System (MTS) to establish plantations has been identified as one of the important strategies required to meet the demand for wood resources in Ghana. The MTS is a forest management approach in which farmers are given lands within degraded forest reserves to inter-plant food crops with trees, and further nurture the trees into maturity under specified roles and benefit sharing agreements. This study evaluated the MTSs and management approach based on the following sustainability criteria: recognition of gender role in agroforestry development, contribution of the systems to poverty reduction, and contribution of the systems to the improvement in productive and protective functions of agriculture. The systems were established in degraded portions of the Pamu-Berekum Forest Reserve, Ghana in 2000. Data were collected in 2016 through personal interviews of 40 farmers selected from three communities living close and around the forest reserve. It is clear from the result that women participation in the project activities is significant and may have contributed to the reported successful outcome. More than a decade after the establishment of these plantations, there is evidence that the non-timber forest products, (e.g. fuelwood, medicine) generated from practising MTS have had a significant impact on the community livelihood with significant changes in annual income. Also, the farms clearly have many trees surviving that have economic, social, and ecological significance. The MTS, indeed, has the potential to support biodiversity recovery within degraded forest reserves in Ghana as well as to improve the livelihoods of farmers.