The urban fuel plantation in tropical Africa

The urban fuel plantation in tropical Africa A case for re-evaluation

R.A. Cline-Cole

The potential of fuel plantations for ameliorating urban fuel shortages is severely limited, both by inappropriate project design and by unimaginative management practices and techniques. Often, plantation projects fail to contribute to sustainable sectoral energy and regional economic development. These problems stem from a poor appreciation of the dynamics of woodfuel ‘crises’, especially thelr location- and time-specific nature. This article reviews the professed advantages of exotic monoculture and reveals the misleading assumptions upon which they are based. A strong argument is made for greater consideration of local plant resources and indigenous ecological knowledge in plantation pr~ramm~ and projects. This could lead to the development of valuable local resources which are currently being merely used. Reginald Cline-Cole lectures in geography at Bayer0 University, Kano, Nigeria, and is a Research Fellow of the international African Institute in London, UK. This revised version of the paper was presented to a physical geography seminar at the University of Reading, UK, in October 1989. The efforts of Andy Millington and John Soussan in organizing the seminar are gratefully acknowledged, along with their useful comments on the paper on that occasion. I would also iike to thank an an~ymous referee for insightful comments on the original manuscript.

’ R.A. Che-Cole, ‘Woodfuel research and development, and the fuel plantation in tropical Africa’, unpublished manuscript, ~finu~ on page 324

The fuelwood plantation in Africa is the product of complex political, economic and ecological influences which have recently been identified and evaluated.’ By and large, fuel plantation policy and practice in Africa have fallen prey to the danger identified by Kinsey. that what begins of necessity as tactics continues by default as strategy. hording the future hostage to the present.’ Fuel plantation policy has failed consistently over the years to distinguish tactics from strategy, and in practice has tended to react to, rather than initiate, woodfuel change.” Consequently the woodfuel plantation has, by and large, wallowed helplessly out of tune with the needs and aspirations of a rapidly evolving woodfuel sector. The latter, it is now widely acknowledged, has often been in dire need of rejuvenation and sustainability.” Recent concern about the negative socioeconomic and environmental effects of woodfuel production, consumption and trade has prompted proposals for incorporating the fuel plantation into a planned restructuring, along sustainable lines, of the woodfuel sector.” The creation of new fuelwood resources in various land use configurations is recommended as part of larger policy proposals (Table 1); these reserve an expanded role for the urban fuel or energy plantation.’ In its late-20th-century form, the urban fuelwood plantation is a man-made forest, usually an exotic monoculture, devoted primarily to fuel production, with subsidiary products representing an important secondary objective.’ It is credited with environmental, regional employment and commercial advantages, and it has been suggested that practical experience accumulated during its design, establishment and management could, with profit, be employed in the subsequent production of valuable plantation timber.’ This plantation type enjoys tremendous favour with aid agencies, technical advisory institutions and recipient governments, who continue to act as catalysts in woodfuel change in Africa.” However, an expanded role for exotic monoculture in Africa’s woodfuel future raises several important issues. These may be summarized in the single question: is

0284-8377/90/040323-14 @ 1990 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd

323

The urban fuel plut~/a/io~r itr rropical A/k:

Table 1. Major policy proposals

for tackling

Africa’s

woodfuel

problem.

1. Increasing the productivity of existing woodfuel resources through the active management and protection vegetation (converting timber offcuts into charcoal using portable kilns; compressing sawdust into combustible dereservation of state/communal forests for energy production, etc). 2. 0 0

of forests, woodland and scrubland briquettes; temporary and/or partial

Creating new fuelwood resources in various land use configurations through: the establishment of woodlots and windrows and the expansion of homestead planting m rural areas (social or community forestry, etc), and the creation of large plantations for urban areas and fuelwood-consuming industrial uses (commercial fuelwocd or energy plantations).

3. Reducing consumption fuelwood collection/storage, ‘fireless’ cook boxes, etc).

through the greater use of wood-saving techniques (drymg wood before use, improving methods of charcoal burnmg and etc), and the wider diffusion of more cfficlent end-use technologies (‘improved’ firewood and charcoal stoves and ovens,

4. Encouraging energy substitution away from fuelwood (subsidizing fossil fuels. popularizing pellets. densified agricultural residues, etc).

‘alternative‘

renewable energy - biogas, alcohol, sawdust

5. Organizing fuelwood distribution to ensure maximum access to currently inaccessible supplies and prevent the expansion of localized overcutting and vegetation destruction (introducing systems of discriminatory rates for exploitation permits, ‘sliding’ freight vehicles taxes to favour vehicles which move fuel out of areas which are difficult of access, etc).

continued from page 323 Bayer0 University, Kano, Nigeria, 1989. ’ B. Kinsey, ‘Forever gained: resettlement and land policy in the context of national development in Zimbabwe’, Africa, Vol 52, No 3, 1982, pp 92-l 13. 3 Cline-Cole, op tit, Ref 1. 4 Food and Agriculture Organization, Tropical Forestry Action Plan, FAO, Rome, Italy, 1985; Food and Agriculture Organization, Repofl of the Technical Consultation on Wood Energy Research and Development in Africa, FAO, Rome, Italy, 1985. ’ Ibid. 6 Ibid. ‘C. Cocklin, S.C. Lonergan and D.W. Clarke, ‘Forest energy plantations: an international perspective’, Geoforum, Vol 16, No 3, 1984. pp 257-264; R.P. Moss and W.B. Morgan, Fuelwood and Rural Energy Production and Supply in the Humid Tropics, Tycooly International, Dublin, Eire, 1981; D. Anderson, The Economics of Afforestation. A Case Study in Africa, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, USA, 1987. * Atlanta und Industrie, Report of feasibility Study on Forest Resources Develop ment in Sierra Leone, Hamburg, FR Germany, 1979. Q D. Anderson and R.W. Fishwick, Fuelwood Consumption and Deforestation in African Countries, Staff Working Paper No 704, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA, 1984; FAO, Tropical forestry Action f/an, op tit, Ref 4; K. Ruddle and W. Manshard, Renewable Natural Resources and the Environment, Tycooly International, Dublin, Eire, 1981; D. French, ‘Confronting an unsolvable problem: deforestation in Malawi’, World Development, Vol 14. No 4, 1986, pp 531-540. ‘OFAO, op tit, Ref 4; Moss and Morgan, op tit, Ref 7; L. Timberlake, Africa in Crisis. The Causes and Consequences of Environmental Bankruptcy, Earthscan-IIED, London, UK, 1985; P. Bradley, N. Chavangi and A. Van Gelder, ‘Development research and energy planning in Kenya’, Ambio, Vol 14, Nos 4-5, 1985, pp 228236; J. Gill, ‘Improved stoves in developing continued on page 325

324

the exotic monoculture tactic compatible with the wider aims of fuelwood policy and the general goals of regional and national economic development?

Sustainable

woodfuel development

A widespread lack of coordinated woodfuel and comprehensive energy policies notwithstanding, programmes and projects which are capable of contributing to the eventual emergence of a sustainable woodfuel sector could be undertaken.‘O Indeed, imaginative ways of pursuing this objective at different geographic scales, and employing a variety of approaches, have been recorded, albeit infrequently.” In addition, insights deriving from critiques of entire strategies, as well as specific programmes and projects, are fairly well documented; a better understanding of the reasons for the failure of woodfuel projects and programmes in the past is slowly emerging:

l Agencies of planned energy change, lacking adequate knowledge of

0

0

the cultural and economic properties of the ‘traditional’ woodfuel systems being transformed, jeopardize their chances of success by premising their activities on wrong assumptions. The political dimension of planned woodfuel change often remains unanalysed or under-analysed, particularly within a technocratic framework. There is a need for well-articulated sectoral policies to guide selection and coordination of woodfuel activities, and to ensure that the goals of the latter are consistent with long-term sectoral, as well as national, aspirations.12

It has been argued that the broad contours of the design, execution, management and appraisal of woodfuel activities could be traced ‘as though the elements of a [fuel energy] policy were in place, [and precautions taken] to make the[se activities] conform with [them]‘.‘” This requires a good understanding of the goals and characteristics of sustainable development, with particular reference to the woodfuel sector. These are subjects on which there exists no real consensus. The aims and aspirations of the highly differentiated participants in the woodfuel sector are wide and varied, and often contradictory. Woodfuel situations characterizing the sector to be ‘sustained’ also vary widely. Moreover, the concept of sustainable development itself has many meanings, and ‘can be all things to all men’.14 LAND USE POLICY

October

1990

continued

from page 324

countries: a critique’, Energy Policy, Vol 15, No 2,1987, pp 135-144. ” R.A. Cline-Cole, J.A. Falola, H.A.C. Main, M.J. Mo~imore, J.E. Nicholand F.D. O’Reilly, Woodfuel in Kano: Producton, Consumption and Trade in a West African Savanna Environment, Report to the Un-

ited Nations University, Kano, Nigeria, 1987; Bradlev et al, op cif, Ref 10; Moss and Morgan, op tit, R&f 7. ‘* Gill. oo cit. Ref 10: French. oo cit. Ref 9: Moss $d Mbrgan, ip tit, Ref i; D..Anderson, ‘Declining tree stocks in African countries’, World Development, Vol 14, No 7, 1986, pp 863-863; Anderson, op cit. Ref 7: F.M.R. Hughes, ‘Fuelwood: a forgotten dimension of irrigation planning’, in W.M. Adams and A.T. Grove, eds, Tropical Africa: Problems and Problem Solving, African Studies Centre, Cambridge, UK, 1985, pp 50-66; F.M.R. Hughes, ‘Conflicting uses of forest resource; in the Lowe; Tana River basin of Kenva’. in David M. Anderson and R. Grove: ebs, Conservation in Africa, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1987, pp 21 l-228. I3 FAO, ffepori of the Technical Consultation, op tit, Ref 4, p 128. ” WM. Adams, Greening ~eve~~rnent: Environmental

issues in the Third World,

Routledge, London, UK, in press. ” W.M. Adams. ‘Inside the Janus head: the confused ideology of sustainable de velopment’. paper presented to the Silver Jubilee Conference of the African Studies Association of the United Kingdom, Cambridge, UK, 1988; Adams, op tit, Ref 14; P. Richards, indigenous Agricultural Revolti tion: Ecology and Food Producrion in Wesl Africa, Hutchinson, London, UK, 1985; M. Redcliff, Sustainable Development: &xploring the Contradictions, Methuen. Lon-

don, UK, 1987. l6 Ciine-Cole, op tit, Ref 1. ” S.K Adeyoju, Forestry and the Nigerian Economy, t&&ersity P&s, Ibadan, Nigeria, 1975; Moss and Morgan, op tit, Ref 7; G.P. Buckley, The Forest Resources of the Jos Plateau and the Role of Eucalyptus Plantations. Interim Report No 7. Jos En-

vironmental Resources Development Programme, Durham, 1986. ‘a Cline-Cole ef al, op tit, Ref 11. ‘* Cline-Cole, op tit, Ref 1; A.K. Biswas, Y.F.O. Masakhalia, L.A. Odero-Ogwel and E.P. Pallangyo, ‘Land use and farming systems in the Horn of Africa’, Land Use Policy, Vol 4, No 4, 1987, pp 419-443. xI Cline-Cole, op tit, Ref 1; H.S. Kernan, Assistance inForestry Deve/opmen& Sierra Leone, FAO, Rome, Italy, 1980: Atlanta und Industrie, op tit, Ref 8; C. Bailly, C. Barbier, C. CIBment, J.P. Goudet and 0. Hamel, ‘Les problbmes de la satisfaction des besoins en bois en Afrique tropicale s&he’, 3oi.s et For&s des Tropiques, Vol 197, No 3, 1982, pp 23-43. ” Adeyoju, op tit, Ref 17. 22 K.F.S. King, ‘An economic analysis of the lbadan Fuel Plantation’, Nigeria Fores~ntinu~

on page 326

LAND USE POLICY October 1990

Nonetheless, it can be accepted for present purposes that the principles of sustainable development include, among other things, the following:

l 0 0

an emphasis on the significance and importance of indigenous cultures and knowledge; the need for local participation in development; and a qualitative and quantitative improvement of woodfuel resources for sustained human use, without an attendant increase in the ‘costs’ of development already borne by the (individual or collective) poor. ”

Plantation orthodoxy falls some way short of these requirements, and the potential of current urban plantation poficy and practice for contributing to sustainable sectoral development therefore appears very slim. In particular, exotic monoculture has prospered at the expense of local-level indigenous vegetation and socio-ecological resources. and national financial, technical and often administrative contro1.16 It reserves no meaningful participatory role for local biological and socioecological resources, even though these need to be developed alongside imported or introduced resources if the woodfuel sector is to develop in a sustainable manner. More than half a century of experimental and small-scale commercial fuelwood plantation activity has failed to produce any significant advances in the knowledge of indigenous species as potential fuelwood plantation crops.” At the same time, plantation activity devoted to the production of exotic tree species has not extracted the maximum mileage from more than seven decades of preferential attention. Commercial viability, for example, has proved elusive,‘8 and dependence on external sources for planting material, and often for technical expertise, remains high.‘” In addition, the monitoring of plantation projects is irregular, partial in coverage, or both;*O evaluation criteria and methods are often illdefined or completely undefined;*’ improvisation frequently passes for detailed planning;22 and project or programme aims and objectives regularly contradict each other, and conflict with wider development objectives.*’ Clearly, there is a need to (re-)evaluate the urban fuel plantation’s role in Africa’s woodfuel future, and, in particular, some of its better-known characteristics and hitherto largely unquestioned underlying assumptions.

Need for urban fuel plantations The urban energy plantation is the largest of the three scales of fuelwood planting recognized by fuelwood R&D, the others being rural woodlot~windrows and homestea~farm pianting.24 It yields biomass for use as fuelwood or in energy conversion processes to generate electricity, and produce charcoal or alcohol, the latter for use as a transport fuel.*’ Electricity generation and alcohol production from energy plantations are still little developed in Africa. Urban plantations are proposed for the production of fuelwood and charcoal to satisfy growing domestic, artisanal and small-scale industrial demand. Estimates speak of the need for some 512 000 ha of fuelwood plantations to satisfy urban demand in Ethiopia to the year 1992, for example.2h 325

The urban fuel planration

in tropicul Africu

Orthodox view of urban plantations These plantations contribute to both regional and national development, and possess the following advantages: continued from page 325 try fnformation Bulletin, NS, No 17, Ministry of Information, Lagos, Nigeria, 1966. 23 Ciine-Cole. op tit, Ref 1. 24P Stewart, ‘British forestry policy: time for a change?‘, Land Use Policy, Vol2, No 1, 1985, pp 16-29. 25 Commission of the European Communities, Energy for the People, Panos Institute, London, UK, 1988; FAO, Tropical Forestry Action Plan, op cif, Ref 4. 26 Biswas ef al, op tit, Ref 19. *’ Cocklin et al, op tit, Fief 7, p 258 ** Cocklin, et al, op tit, Ref 7, p 258. ” Ruddle and Manshard, op tit, Ref 9 3o R. Plochmann, ‘Forestry in a technical world - aims, methods and problems’, Plant Research and Development, Vol 11, 1980, pp 79-91. 3’ MO&’ and Morgan, op cit. Ref 7. 32 FAO. Trooical Fores&v Action Plan. oo cit. Rei 4; FAO, t?eport.of the Tech&l Consultation, op cit. Ref 4; Moss and Morgan, op tit, Ref 7; H. Turabu, ‘Protection of plantations against animals and man’, in Forestry Paper No 11, FAO, Rome, Italy, 1987, pp 209-213. 33 G. Shepherd, Forest Policies, Forest Politics, Paper 3a, Social Forestry Network of the ODI, London, UK, October 1986. 34 Ruddle and Manshard, op tit, Ref 9. 35 Cocklin ef al, op tit, Ref 7. 36 R.P. Moss, ‘Ecological constraints on fuelwood production in the humid and subhumid tropics’, in L ‘Energie dans /es communauk% wales des pay du Tiers Monde, UNU-CEGET-CNRS, Bordeaux, France, 1981, pp 399-412. 37 FAO Report of the Technical Consulfation, 0; tit, Ref 4. 38 T H Booth, ‘A new method for assisting species selection’, Commonwealth Forestry Review, Vol64,1985, pp 241-250; T.H. Booth and T. Jovanovic, ‘Assaying climatic variability in some Australian species with fuelwood and agroforestry potential’, Commonwealth Forestry Review, Vol 67, 1988, pp 27-34. 39 Buckley, op tit, Ref 17. 4o These operate on the assumption that species from other parts of the world could be successfully introduced into parts of Africa with environmental and climatic conditions similar to those of the native ranges of the species in question.The principle of establishing the bioclimatic profiles of species is also useful in the selection of species provenances for particular climatic zones. 4’ J. Burley, ‘Obstacles to tree planting in the arid zone with particular reference to India and Kenya’, in L ‘Energie dans /es communaufbs wales des pays du Tiers Monde, UNU-CEGET-CNRS, Bordeaux, France, 1981, pp 447-462; Moss, op tit, Ref 37; Cocklin et al, op tit, Ref 7.

326

l They help to maintain security of supply and contribute, as domestic energy sources, towards the goal of energy self-sufficiency.

l They are renewable. l They provide a rapid return on investment. l The supply system is flexible and plantations l 0

l

can be moved in response to changing spatial demand patterns. Alternative end uses (eg poles, pulp, timber) impart versatility to the crops. They are ecologically inoffensive. They contribute to the improvement of regional economies and create employment opportunities2’

Plantation establishment and management costs are high but biomass yields are much higher than in (semi-)natural forests as both tree growth rates and structural size are increased in plantation forests.28 Establishment and management techniques involve extensive land clearance and preparation using mechanical and/or chemical means, and the use of fertilizers and biocides to improve growth and yield, and control biological risks;29 but careful management techniques can minimize environmental disruption resulting from exchange processes such as soil erosion, siltation, eutrophication, etc.“” The significance of institutional and economic considerations for plantation establishment and management is readily appreciated.“’ Land and capital acquisition and labour and market organization are recognized as problems specific to individual environments;“’ these demand ‘tailor-made’ solutions, particularly where complex land and tree tenure relations have to be unravelled, and innovative tenurial and labour arrangements introduced.” These problems can be minimized if plantations depend on hired labour, and are sited on already reserved land in the vicinity of the consuming centres to be served. Also, better use can be made of unskilled labour as management techniques required in plantations are simpler than those needed for forests.j4 The choice of plantation technology is a major component of plantation design. Major considerations which influence this choice include the bioecological basis (site, tree species, moisture and nutrient availability), genetic improvement of trees (hybridization and cloning) and weed control, fertilization and cultural practices (site preparation, irrigation).“’ Species choice is a complex affair involving, in addition to plant biology, environmental conditions as well as available and practicable management techniques.“h Careful planning and economic appraisal informed by rapid responses to queries about ecology, technology, marketing, etc, are needed to avoid errors in decision making and investment.” Rapid appraisal techniques like bioclimatic analysis” or the homoclimatic principle”’ possess the potential for responding, in part at least, to this need.40 Quick-growing, genetically improved trees are preferred as plantation stock, and are grown in short rotations of ten years or less; cultivation is intensive and trees are closely spaced. 4’ Evaluated purely on the basis of potential tion

growth and community

productivity,

tried and tested planta-

species possessing the capacity for rapid assimilation of cultural and

LAND

USE POLICY

October 1990

The urban fuel plantorion

in tropical

Africa

represent the most attractive proposition for the rapid production of large quantities of wood.‘* Species which sprout from coppiced stools and pollarded trunks and grow rapidly are particularly favoured, as they reduce the need for replanting after each harvest; regular harvesting of self-propagating communities minimizes capital and management inputs, which are in greatest demand during planting and plantation establishment.4” The most widely used plantation species in Africa are readily available exotics whose pathology and biology are well understood.44 A total of nine such species, recently enumerated in World Bank projects in five African countries, included six eucalypts. 4s This domination of plantation activity by exotics, notably eucalypts, is justified on economic and ecological grounds; on the basis of community performance and individual species capacity, it currently represents the most promising route to plantation establishment.4h Finally, plantation products are standardized, of better quality than non-plantation alternatives, and can be sold at competitive prices in urban areas, particularly where roundwood shortages exist or are imminent.47

genetic improvements

Alternative assessment

42 Moss and Morgan, op cil, Ref 7. 43 Moss and Morgan, op tit, Ref 7. 44 Ibid. 45 J. Burley, ‘Choice of species for fuelwood plantations’, paper presented to the 8th World Forestry Congress, Jakarta, Indonesia, 1978; National Academy of Sciences, Firewood Crops: Tree and Shrub Species for Energy Production, NAS, Washington, DC, USA, 1980; Moss and Morgan, op tit, Ref 7. 46 Burley, op tit, Ref 45. 47 Moss, op tit, Ref 36; R.P. Moss, ‘The ecological and agricultural aspects of rural energy resources’, in W.B. Morgan, R.P. Moss and G.J.A. Ojo, eds, Rural Energy Systems of the Humid Tropics, UNU, Tokyo, Japan, 1980, pp 14-20; Moss and Morgan, op tit, Ref 7; Keman, op tit, Ref 20; FAO, Report of the Technical Consultation. op tit, Ref 4; Atlanta und Industrie, op tit, Ref 8. 48 R Chambers, ‘Bureaucratic reversals and ‘local diversity’, IDS Bulletin, Vol 19, No 4, October 1988, pp 50-56. 4g Buckley, op tit, Ref 17. 5o Bailly et al, op tit, Ref 20. ” Buckley, op tit, Ref 17.

LAND USE POLICY

October

1990

As one of several means for achieving an improved woodfuel situation, the establishment of communities of well-understood and rapid-growing exotics has much to commend it. This is especially true where urban fuel is in short supply, and where there exists an urgent and effective demand for large quantities of plantation fuel. Unfortunately, this ‘exotic option’ is increasingly becoming a ‘universal option’, with plantation proposals routinely dismissing non-exotic options as ‘untried’, ‘untested’, ‘risky’ or ‘uncertain’. In this modified form the ‘exotic option’ does not make any provision for proper R&D devoted to indigenous alternatives, and becomes, therefore, a manifestly more controversial proposition. Chambers has decried such ‘biological Fordism’, often the product of centrally designed blueprints, and its approaches to agriculture and forestry: ‘In place of the Model T, which could be any colour as long as it was black, we find the paddy which could be any variety so long as it was IR8, or the tree which could be any shape, size or species as long as it was eucaiyptus.‘4X Yield assessments

Reported higher rates of productivity for exotic plantations over (semi-)natural forests and woodlands have played a major role in influencing policies in favour of plantation forestry. Maximum reliability of crop yields can be achieved only through continued accurate measurements taken at regular intervals, and the development of yield tables from normal growing plantations, using stem analysis techniques.4y In Nigeria and elsewhere, productivity data are frequently obtained from small experimental plantings and growth trials,“” yet the presence of ‘edge trees’ deriving the benefit of site resources outside demarcated plots means that the latter give exaggerated results.” Also, productivity estimates obtained from one-off assessments rather than repeated measurements over several years indicate mean annual incremental

327

The urban fuel planrrrrion in rropical Africu

52 Ibid; AS. Mather, ‘New private forests in Scotland: characteristics and contrasts’, Area, Vol 20, No 2, 1988, pp 135-143. 53 Buckley, op cit. Ref 17. 54 Ibid. 55 Bailly et al, op tit, Ref 20. 560. Kadeba and E.A. Aduayi, ‘Biomass production in Pinus caribaea L. of different ages in the savanna zone of Nigeria’, paper presented to IUFRO Symposium on Forest Site and Continuous Productivity, Seattle, WA, USA, 1982; J.K. Jackson, Silviculture and Mensuration. FAO. Rome. Italy, 1974; J. Ahsan, Fores; Managemeni Planning in the Arid Zone of Northern Nigeria, Project Working Document No 8, UNDPIFAOIFederal Governent of Nigeria, Lagos, 1981. 57Bailly et al, op tit, Ref 20. 58 Federal Department of Forestry, High Forest Inventory - Mensuration, Federal Department of Forestry, Lagos, Nigeria, 1979. 5g Buckley, op cif, Ref 17; Bailly et al, op cit. Ref 20; Cline-Cole ef al, op tit, Ref 11. 6oJ.K. Jackson, G.F. Taylor II and C. Cond&Wane, Management of the Natural Forest in the Sahel Region, OECD-CILLS, Washington. DC, USA, 1983. 61 Buckley, op tit, Ref 17; J.K. Jackson and G.O.A. Ojo, Productivity of Natural Woodland and Plantations in the Savanna Zones of Nigeria, Research Paper 20, Federal Department of Forest Research, Ibadan, Nigeria, 1973; Jackson et al, op tit, Ref 80. 62 Bailly el al, op tit, Ref 20. 63 Kernan, op cif, Ref 20; Biswas et al, op tit, Ref 19. 64 Atlanta und Industrie, op tit, Ref 8; J. Horsman, ‘Production forestry in the Zaria area’, Savanna, Vol 4, No 1, 1975. pp 7Q-74.

328

growth (MAI) for specific dates, rather than yield class (the maximum average rate of volume increment that a given stand can achieve, or MMAI).‘* MAIs are thus likely to provide underestimates of yield.53 Caution is required, therefore, in the use of one as of the other type of estimate. Such caution is not always demonstrated.” Exotic species achieve maximum productivity only under extremely favourable regional climatic and site-specific conditions; yields decline as climatic and other stresses increase.” Estimates which ignore such interregional and situation-specific differences are of suspect value. They are, however, not unknown in Africa, where, for instance, the productivity of stands of exotics in the forest zone has been used as. indicative of potential savanna plantation productivity.“’ Some of the growth and yield data which helped to establish the importance of major fuelwood plantation species, and which continue to provide economic justification for the urban plantation tactic, may therefore not be of unquestionable validity. Bailly et al, for example, have recommended a downward revision of productivity expectations in arid and semi-arid areas; but even so, they caution, upper limits of productivity ranges would still need to be considered exceptional.“’ Adjusted productivity estimates continue to show a comparative advantage in favour of exotics, but at a sometimes considerably reduced scale.” This enhances, albeit marginally, the status of (semi-)natural communities. Indeed, this status could be enhanced even further by subjecting carefully selected communities to silvicultural treatments normally associated with plantations.“” On the basis of this and similar evidence, Jackson, Taylor and Cond&Wane have made a case, which I support fully, for greater attention to be paid to the management of natural forest communities.“‘” I would like to suggest here that, along with community productivity per se, the identification of species with rapid growth characteristics of potential plantation value should be a major objective of all renewed and/or expanded interest in indigenous vegetation. The possibilities raised need to be investigated and carefully assessed, especially in areas of less than 800 mm of rainfall, where the performance of exotic monocultures has been most disappointing.” This, however, demands time, funds and expertise. These are three things which are difficult, if not impossible, to wrest in sufficient quantities, and in a sustained manner, from a forestry sector which, with the active support of funding agencies and technical advisory institutions, is resolutely committed to the ‘exotic option’. Plantation

inputs

Even though urban woodfuel plantations qualify for ‘soft’ investment loans, they are fully commercial enterprises which are under an obligation to be economically viable (Table 2) and to show unmistakable potential for providing a rapid return on investment.“* This is the only way they can attract funding away from alternative development activities.“’ Thus the selection of ‘appropriate’ (ie commercially ‘secure’) plantation stock and technology becomes, arguably, the most important component of design; this puts designers and managers under tremendous pressure to ‘play it safe’ and opt for tried and tested species and proven technology, which give the most favourable economic rates of retun on investment.ti ’ Package’ plantation designs which specify

LAND USE POLICY October 1990

The urban fuel planration Table 2. Major characteristics

in rropicul Africa

of the proposed urban fuelwood plantation for the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown.

I, 2. 3. 4.

Probable location: partly on state-reserved land in the vicinity of the city. Size: 5000-16 006 ha. Production programme: 75 -249 Ooo m3/yr (fuelwood, building and transmission poles). Species choice: EucalyprUs terreticornis and E. camaldulensis in pure stands. Possibly Anthocephalus spp. 5. Proposed market penetration: 20-100%. 6. Capital requirements: c Le 3.2 million, including an interest of Le 1.2 million on capital to be borrowed at 2% interest (W-year ‘soft’ loan; amortization in 20 equal instalments beginning c 19-l 1 years after start of project). Cost/unit area = c Le 406/ha. 7. Profitability: Internal rate of return (IRR) based on a 15year period: IFtFhS = 5.7-8.8%. Internal rate of return (IRR) based on a 3Cr-year period: IRRW = 11 S-13.1 %. Payback period = 12-14 years (static assumption). Payback period = 18-23 years (dynamic assumption). Profits after payback period = c Le 1 .I-3.6 million/yr. 8. Sensitivity analysis: IRR,5 = 0.8 (assuming a 14% rise in expenditure and a 7.5% drop in returns). IRR= = 20.2 (assuming a 14% drop in expenditure and a 15% rise in returns). Payback period = 9 years, assuming a 14% drop in expenditure and 15% rise in returns (static assumption). Pavback period P 30 years, assuming a 14% rise in expenditure and a 7.5% drop in returns (dynamic assumption). Nofet Le = Leone; in 1979 21 = Le 2. Source: Compiled from Atlanta und Industrie, op tit, Ref 8, and Kernan. op cit. Ref 20

species choices, recommended cultural practices, etc, for given sites have for this reason become tremendously attractive.“’ The transfer of plantation technology in this manner is facilitated by species uniformity, or at least a contraction in species diversity. It is becoming progressively widespread as a small number of often related species move to consolidate their emergent monopoly of timber and non-timber plantation activity. Such monopoly is possible because of the considerable overlap in the choice of species for fuelwood, pulp and paper, etc. In Sierra Leone, for instance, Eucalyptus camaldulensis and E. terreticornis are recommended with equal enthusiasm for fuelwood and pole production in the forest zone of greater than 5000 mm of rainfall as for high-quality timber production in the northern savannas of less than half as much rainfall.M As species uniformity progresses and plantation technology is increasingly perfected (standardized?), monocultures of currently favoured exotics tend to replace those of previously favoured exotics. The succession to the status of the most widely used plantation tree in Africa during the 20th century has been Cassia siamea - Gmelina arborea - Eucalyptus species. Often these exotics prosper at the expense of communities of indigenous vegetation. The latter remain poorly understood, both as functioning entities and as sources of propagules of potential plantation value.” In the classic manner of circular causation, the biology of exotics becomes, in contrast to that of indigenous species, increasingly well understood. Yet this appeal is mostly commercial in nature, and exists mainly because the proven biological potential of these species is under constant review and manipulation. Indeed, continued and even increasing dependence on these exotics leads to a corresponding lack of interest in, and understanding of, indigenous species. Significantly, the lack of interest in indigenous plantation species is not the product of a proven lack of suitable taxa, but of a general lack of familiarity with indigenous trees in general.hx This has a long history in tropical forestry, and is not restricted to firewood crops: ‘as study progressed, slowly and painfully, a strange fact gradually emerged; practically all . . . decorative plants were introduced, exotics, foreigners. The more I probed the question “why?“, the more species did I discover to be of tropical American or West Indian origin.“’ The

probable

”

NAS, op tit, Ref 45; Atlanta und Indusop cir, Ref 8; FAO, Report of the Technical Consultation, op tit, Ref 4; Horsman, op tit, Ref 84. 66 Kernan, op tit, Ref 20. ” N Myers, Conversion of Tropical Moist For&s, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, USA, 1980; J.P. Lanly and J. CIBment, Present and Future Forest and Plantation Areas in the Tropics, FO: MISCi79/1, FAO. Rome, Italy, 1979; I. Hedberg, ‘Conservation and land use’, in G.W. Lawson, ed, Plant Ecology in West Africa, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK,

trie,

1986, pp 309-326. 68 Moss and Morgan, op cit. Ref 7. ” W.B. Collins, ‘A plea for flora’, farm Forest, Vol 5, No 2, 1944, p 26.

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The urban fuel planruriorr irr Iropiul

Africcc

current tendency for plantation design to incorporate species trials involving active additional experimentation with exotics, while paying little more than lip service to indigenous fuelwood crops,‘” only reinforces this well-established trend, and makes it difficult to respond to Collins’s plaintive query: ‘What then [do indigenous] species lack?“l Yet this need not be so. Eucalypts, Casuarinas and Acacias represent some of the major exotics in Africa. They owe their reputation to the sustained scientific interest they have generated within their native ranges in Australia, 72 often as with E. camaldulensis (one of the most widely planted eucalypts oltside Australia), in spite of lacklustre local performance.‘” Clearly, had the current exotic favourites in Africa been the subject in their native ranges of the neglect which has characterized the treatment of indigenous African species, Africa and the rest of the world would today be poorer, ecologically, for lack of the ‘miracle trees’ of Australian origin. Undoubtedly, the efficient use of both native and introduced species will be required if sustainable development of the woodfuel sector is to be achieved.74 Commercial

viability

Although fuelwood plantations have often been non-viable commercial enterprises through recent colonial and post-colonial times,” it is believed that currently ‘[rlising scarcity prices frequently show fuelwood plantations to have prospects of good financial and economic rates of return, eg as with peri-urban plantations for towns . .‘.” Such optimism appears largely misplaced. Urban woodfuel scarcity prices are still not high enough over large parts of Africa to guarantee that plantation wood can compete successfully against indigenous forest/farm/woodland fuel.” Why, even in alleged conditions of scarcity, are urban fuel plantations frequently not commercially viable? At what cost to sustainable woodfuel development is commercial success likely to be achieved? Three separate but related issues need to be addressed: the nature of fuelwood demand; the quality of plantation fuel when compared to that of non-plantation fuel; and the relative market prices of the various types of plantation product.

7o See, for example, Atlanta und Industrie, op cit. Ref 8; FAO, Reporl of the Technical Consultation, op tit, Ref 4. ” Collins. OD cit. Ref 69, o 26. ‘* NAS, op & Ref 45. 73 MR. Jacobs. Growth Habits of the Eucalypts, Forestry and limber Bureau, Canberra, Australia, 1955, cited in Bucklev, OD cit. Ref 17. “‘.NiS, ob tit, Ref 45. 75 Cline-Cole. OD cit. Ref 1. ” Anderson, ‘ob tit, kef 12, p 857; see also Table 2. ” French, op cir, Ref 9; Cline-Cole eta/, op tit, Ref 11; Anderson and Fishwick, op tit, Ref 9; Bailly et al, op tit, Ref 20.

330

(1) The market for plantation fuel. Arguments in favour of investment in urban fuel plantations have characteristically cited rapid and sustained increases in the price of non-plantation fuel as evidence of a growing imbalance between demand and supply, and the inability of decentralized production and distribution systems to respond adequately to the demands of a growing market. In these circumstances, it is argued, well-designed and carefully managed plantations, exploited in a sustainable manner, would have a ready-made market to exploit. However, demand projections on which assessments of the performance of proposed plantations are based refer often to need rather than effective demand. For the majority of low-income households, and some middle-income consumers, the need for fuelwood is not backed by the ability and/or willingness to pay the market price of fuel produced in capital-intensive urban plantations. That plantation fuel is normally sold in ‘wholesale’ (cord, m3, etc) rather than ‘retail’ (bundle, etc) units puts it even further out of the reach of the poorer consumers, the single largest group of wood users;

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The urban fuel planfalion

in tropical

Africa

these are, in this way, effectively priced out of the market. This leaves a much-depleted market and a correspondingly reduced opportunity for plantation activity to benefit from scale economies; these are normally associated with production for larger rather than smaller markets. This is significant, for much non-plantation fuel is collected free, or almost so, or is produced as a by-product of farm clearance. Its production thus typically includes labour and capital costs for collection, but generally excludes regeneration preparation and transportation, costs. The latter represents a major component of the market price of plantation fuel. It does appear that urban scarcity prices of non-plantation fuel will have to rise to much higher levels than at present if plantation fuel is to become competitive over a much wider proportion of urban Africa. ” Moss and Morgan, op cit. Ref 7. ” R.A. Cline-Cole, ‘The socio-ecology of fuelwood and charcoal on the Freeibwn Peninsula’. Africa. Vol 57. No 4. 1987. DD 457-497. -. ” F S Collier and JR Lockie, ‘The Ibadan Plantations: their history and management’, The Nigerian Forester, Vol 1, No 1, 1945, pp 15-20. ” J. Wyatt-Smith, ‘The lbadan Fuel Plantations’, Farm and Forest, Vol6, No 2, 1945, pp 95-99. ” A H Unwin, Report of the Forests and Forest Problems of Sierra Leone, Government Printer, Freetown, Sierra Leone, 1909; RD. Catteral, ‘The ljebu clan fuel schemes’, Farm and Forest, Vol 2, No 1, 1941, pp 49-50; Wyatt-Smith, op tit, Ref 81. 83 D.S. Ellis, ‘Working Plan for the Kano Native Authority FUG Plantation for the oeriod 1956/57-l 970171’. mimeo. London. i955; M. Perham, Native’Admini&ation ii Nigeria, Oxford University Press, London, UK, 1937: Cline-Cole et al. OD cit. Ref 11: NAS, op bit, Ref 45; R.A. &ne-Cole, ‘To: wards an understanding of man-firewood relations in Freetown (Sierra Leone)‘, Geoforum, Vol 15, No 4, 1984, pp 583594. 84 NAS, op tit, Ref 45; E.M. Mnzava, Vi//age Afforestalion: Lessons of Experience in- Tanzania, FAO, Rome, Italy, 1980; Hushes, 1985. OD cit. Ref 12. a’ l%gh&, 1985: op bit, Ref 12. 86 P.C. Goswami and M. Hoskins, Assistance to Local Community Forestry - Sierra Leone, FAO/SIDA, Rome, Italy, 1980; Cline-Cole, op tit, Ref 83; Hughes, 1985, op cil, Ref 12. *’ Cline-Cole, op cir, Ref 79; R.A. ClineCole, Consumer Perception as a Factor in Fuelwood Resources Monitoring and Evaluation in Freetown (Sierra Leone) and Kano (Nigeria), Reading Geographical Papers, Universitv of Readina. UK. in press; R. Wilkins&, ‘Forest &lie& in Jema’a Division, Kaduna State - a case for conservation’, paper presented to the Ford Foundation Workshop on Land Administration and Development in Northern Nigeria, Kano, Nigeria,‘March 1989; Moss, op cit. Ref 47; FAO, Tropical Forestry Action Plan, op tit, Ref 4.

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(2) Consumer fuel preferences and plantation product quality. The main purpose of urban plantation establishment is the rapid production of large quantities of standardized products, rather than the outturn of specific types of products.” This explains the emphasis on growth rate indices which give no indication of the type or quality of fuelwood (to be) produced. Plantation design has historically tended to pay insufficient attention to the great diversity and complexity characterizing consumer quality demands; yet it is a consideration of crucial relevance to the economic viability of plantations.” This disregard for the preferences and tastes of consumers has, in part at least, prevented plantations from becoming economically viable.80 Traditionally, the distinction between plantation and non-plantation fuel products was seen as a straightforward one between ‘good’ and ‘inferior’ quality fuel; it is, as always, a choice between ‘plantation firewood rather than dead, rotten farm fuel’.x’ Plantation products were of such vastly superior quality, so the reasoning went, that if they performed badly on the market against farm and forest fuelwood, this had very little if anything to do with their quality (or lack of it) as fuel.” Research into trends in wood preference patterns in various parts of Africa has so far revealed very little justification for any of these assumptions. Instead, clear evidence has emerged that preferred fuel can command prices up to 50% higher than those at which less preferred fuel is sold.‘” An inadequate appreciation of consumer quality requirements could jeopardize resources invested in woodfuel production schemes; target consumers have been known to ‘boycott’ products because of their unacceptable fuel qualities.x4 Even fuel offered free to consumers is not immune from such negative discrimination.” Consumer quality preferences (or indigenous ecological considerations) ought, therefore, to be of primary concern to plantation designers and managers, particularly as some of the plantation fuel which has failed to respond adequately to consumer requirements in the past has often come from some of the most widely planted, best-understood and fastest-growing exotics in Africa.xh But consumer preferences should be of interest to donor agencies, plantation designers and managers, and recipient governments concerned with socioeconomic and environmental management for an additional reason. They encourage selective felling as a supply response, with major implications for the management of woodfuel resources, vegetation and wildlife conservation, and agricultural production.x7

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The urban fuel planturiorl

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Africu

Although its policy and practical significance has been largely ignored until recently, the observation of selective exploitation itself is not new. Catteral, for instance, noticed nearly half a century ago the existence of widespread consumer preference for the species Chrysobalunus effiticus in Lagos. xX This had the effect of distributing selective fuelwood exploitation for the Lagos market over an extremely wide radius in the surrounding creek and lagoon region, preventing wholesale fuelwoodinduced denudation of tree growth in the city’s immediate vicinity. The latter would have resulted from intense generalized exploitation, had Lagos wood consumers been completely undiscerning in their requirements. Significantly, Catteral’s concern, and by his admission that of other forestry officials in post in the colony, on seeing huge piles of wood in Lagos markets was not, as one would expect, one of trepidation for the environmental damage ostensibly wrought by the collectors. It was one of regret that revenue in the form of taxes could not be generated from an activity which had the characteristics of sustainability! Information on fuelwood preferences, and the selective vegetation exploitation which they give rise to, can constitute the basis of fuelwood resources monitoring and appraisal projects and programmes.x’ Such information is invaluable in identifying and/or assessing areas, rates and patterns of fuelwood exploitation pressure, which could inform decisions on plantation establishment and management (site, species choice, end products, rotation length, etc). Assessments of social requirements are therefore as important as those of ecological and economic factors. and this must be reflected in plantation design and practice (eg through incorporating research into, and experiments with, yield in relation to calorific value, age, chemical wood constituents, ash and moisture content. drying quality, etc, of preferred fuelwood species). There is clearly a wealth of material of direct relevance here to considerations of the commerical viability of urban plantations.

(3) Relative competitiveness of fuel and subsidiary plantation products. Given the small and largely uneconomic returns to pure fuelwood production, plantation managers are constantly preoccupied with the need to increase the range of plantation products.“” A tried and tested solution is the sale of plantation output in the form of poles, pulp, etc, in addition to, and sometimes in place of, fuelwood and charcoal (Figure I). 9’ The overlap in the choice of species for these various uses makes this possible (eg Gmelina, Eucalyptus, Pines). The higher market prices which these subsidiary products often command make it an attractive management option. The major issues at stake then become: as plantation establishment and management costs escalate, and plantation managers come under increasing pressure to guarantee the security of the huge amounts invested in the enterprises under their control, is there not a real danger that ‘fuel plantations’ which depend almost entirely on profits realized BECatteral, op tit, Ref 82. from the sale of non-fuel products for their economic survival will 8Q Cline-Cole. op tit, Ref 79; Ciine-Cole, become increasingly common? Were this to happen, would urban fuel op tit, Ref 87. SOBooth and Jovanovic, op tit, Fief 38. plantation projects and programmes, and the woodfuel sector as a St Horsman,op cit. Ref 84; Cline-Cole, op whole, not be reduced to little more than conduits for resources which tit, Ref 1; Atlanta und Industrie, op tit, Ref or pulp and 8; Collier and Lockie, op tit, Ref 80; Wyatt- will ultimately be of much greater value to the construction Smith,op cit. Ref 81. paper industry, for instance?

332

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The urban fuel planlation in tropical Ajrira A.

By

volume

8.

Fuelwood Building pole !S Transmission Doles

By

value

86%

Figure 1. Production schedule for the proposed Freetown Fuel Plantation. Source: Atlanta und Industrie, op tit, Ref 8 and Kernan, op cif, Ref 20.

The orthodox view may be correct in its claim that alternative end uses impart versatility to plantations, but it underplays, or fails to recognize, that such versatility, which considerably enhances the capacity of plantations for providing a rapid return on investment, could have long-run negative effects on the status of fuel production within tropical forestry. Environmental

Soil Characteristics and the Factors Influencing Their Development on Minespoil of the Jos Plateau, interim Q2J.W. Alexander,

Report No 11, Jos Environmental Resources Development Programme, Durham, 1986. ” Plochman, op tit, Ref 30. p 84. 94 FAO Report of the Technical Consultation, 0; tit, Ref 4. ” See, inter alia, E.P. Eckholm, ‘The other energy crisis’, Ecologist, Vol6, No 3,1976, pp 80-86; D. French, ‘Firewood in Africa’, paper presented to the Africa Bureau Firewood Workshop, 1978; J.E.M. Arnold and J. Jongma, ‘Firewood and charcoal in developing countries: an economic survey’, Unasytva, No 118, 1977, pp 2-9.

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1990

impact

of plantations

Alexander’s preliminary conclusion that E. camaldufensis exhibits an only slightly less ameliorative effect on soil nutrient status and physical condition than Acacia albida notwithstanding,“* the increased yields of exotic monocultures are probably still obtained largely ‘at the expense of increased risks, not yet quantified, caused by biotic and abiotic losses’.93 A recent census of current concerns in woodfuel R&D indicates the following: while provenance trials and research as well as species growth trials are considered worthy of attention, the study of attitudes and constraints to the planting and use of exotics, and concern with the impact of afforestation on the environment, are almost completely neglected; also, the biological and ecological effects of intensive fuelwood cultivation are considered of minimal priority in proposed future regional cooperation in woodfuel R&LD.“~This is a strange way to prove or confirm claims of the ecological inoffensiveness of urban plantations. Such lack of interest in the environmental impact of intensive fuelwood cultivation is at variance with the expressed concern over long-term environmental stability which provided tremendous initial stimulus for policies favouring expanded woodfuel planting in the first place.“’ At least one major implication of this neglect deserves mention. The

333

The urbun fuel planlalion

in lropical AJricu unprecedented interest in tree planting for commercial and industrial purposes, and community and farm forestry by international development agencies, national governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), has considerably increased the demand for planting material.” These are of highly variable quality, and are obtained from a variety of sources, both formal and informal. The latter channels, financed largely by multilateral development finance, are notoriously difficult to monitor. Species involved in this transfer are quick-growing and aggressive.” They are ‘potentially invasive’, and need to be ‘introduced only with great care’ because of a great threat of weediness.“’ Yet very few African countries currently exercise effective genetic control over propagules that are being imported or locally collected (sometimes from earlier introductions) and planted in increasing numbers in recent years.99 The introduction of the species Acacia hofosericea into the northern Nigerian state of Kano is instructive in this regard. Initially introduced from neighbouring Niger Republic via informal channels, the shrub’s rapid growth and prolific seed production quickly caught the attention of the local Forestry Service. The latter first tried it in experimental shelterbelt planting with great success, and subsequently used it in rural woodlots. Its use has recently expanded considerably, and Kano has been a source for its diffusion to some other nearby states in the Federation. However, for most of the early period of the species diffusion and use in the state, its identity had not even been established.‘o(’ The species provenance is still not known. It is crucial, therefore, as Burley argues, for greater control, through effective certification systems, to be exercised over the phytosanitory conditions, physiological and physical quality, and health and genetic composition of plant propagules.“” This, he predicts, would have significant commercial advantages (further acquisition of seeds which perform well, and rejection of those which do not) as well as environmental benefits: documentation of (i) genetic imports and local genetic conservation, (ii) seed production, and (iii) selective breeding and propagation, etc. Plantations have to be designed, funded and run to ensure that they make the maximum contribution to this, as well as the following long-term goal: a fuller understanding, through careful and regular monitoring, of the ecological and biological consequences of intensive fuelwood plantation activity.

Discussion and conclusion

96 Burley, op tit, Ref 41. ” NAS, op tit, Ref 45; Buckley, op tit, Ref 17. ‘* NAS, op tit, Ref 45, p ix. 99 J. Burley, ‘Problems of tree seed certification in developing countries’, Commonwealth Forestrv Review, Vol 62, No 2, 1987, pp 139-i 50; see also Buckley, op tit, Ref 17. loo Janus Debski, personal communication. lo1 Burlev. oo cit. Ref 99. ‘02 A.K. l?edby, Technology, Development and Environment: a Re-appraisal, UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya, 1979.

According to Reddy, a truly ‘appropriate’ technology, particularly if it is to be transferred, is expected to conserve energy, save capital, generate employment and depend on local materials; it is also expected to blend into the natural ecosystem with minimal disturbance, and promote endogenous self-reliance through increased social participation and control.“‘* These requirements concur very closely with those accepted as defining, for the purposes of this article, sustainable development. Current urban fuelwood plantation technology fails on several of these fronts, most spectacularly, perhaps, in its tendency to increase rather than reduce dependency on external sources (for capital, ecological engineering techniques, seeds, fertilizers, herbicides, etc); in its poorly understood and unpredictable long-term potential for ecosystem trans-

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October 1990

The urban fuel plantation in tropical Africa

formation; in its failure to encourage greater social participation; and in conflicting commitments to job creation, and economic efficiency or cost minimization. “” As a technology credited with the capacity for maintaining security of energy supply and contributing to energy self-sufficiency, the urban fuelwood plantation cannot afford to be so dependent on forces it is incapable of influencing to any significant degree. Bailly et al argue that the ‘indigenous-exotic controversy’ is a non-issue; for them the decisive factor should be the goal of plantation establishment: [A] production forest in an area of 900 mm of rainfall, for example, must be stocked with exotic species (Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Gmelina arborea, etc) for maximum productivity [while] a windrow or shelterbelt under similar rainfall conditions could be planted to indigenous species (Khaya senegalensis) . . . Slow-growing indigenous species are poorly adapted to production forestry. But they could in special circumstances, and in areas of between 600 mm and 800 mm, or less than 600 mm of rainfall be acceptable substitutes for exotics, when the objective is both production and protection (Acacia Senegal, A. nilotica, etc).lW

Stewart, op tit, Ref 24. lo4 Op tit, Rei 20, p 31. lo5 Sheoherd. ODcit. Ref 33.

‘03

lo6 lbidf M. bdhnny, J. Karimu and P. Richards, ‘Upland and swamp rice farming systems in Sierra Leone: the social context of technological change’, Africa, Vol 51, No 2. 1981, pp 598-620. lo7 See FAO, Report of the Technical Consultation, op cif, Ref 4, for some standard examples of the latter. lo6 Reddy, op cit. Ref 102.

LAND USE POLICY October 1990

This is to ignore the core issue of the changing nature of the influences guiding the direction and pace of development within tropical forestry as a whole, and the implications of this for a meaningful assessment of the forestry sector’s (potential) contribution in Africa. Yet influences with implications for environmental management need to be discussed in the context of competing human interests, rather than apolitically or asocially. “‘s The periurban exotic monoculture is therefore best conceptualized as a production tactic employed in a programme of afforestation, the latter constituting a component of a wider woodfuel policy whose aims would be some unique combination of objectives. Such a policy would be the product of competing human interests, and the technological choices it makes cannot be expected to have an independent determinative role to play in social and environmental change.‘0h The probable effects of integrating popular science and indigenous species into the mainstream of urban plantation policy and practice need to be carefully assessed as a policy issue. The continued institutionalized neglect of these resources is very likely at the heart of a process of systematic erosion of local biological and socio-ecological ‘stocks’. This would put it at variance with the goals of sustained fuelwood resources management. Whether or not an expanded role for indigenous fuelwood species within plantations is feasible can be determined only through detailed R&D activities devoted specifically to the task of exploring this question. Such activities will have to differ in significant ways from those which currently enjoy institutional favour or seem likely to be recommended for development assistance in future.“” They will have, too, to be defined by local needs and aspirations, rather than being simply dictated by their potential for attracting international funding. They will need to ensure that local resources are developed rather than being simply used. “M Should the meaningful participation of indigenous human and plant resources in fuel plantation activity prove feasible, and if its incorporation into plantation practice is recommended, institutional support and development finance would be crucial for the development and wide-

335

The urhun fuel platmriotl

in rroyical

A/rim

spread adoption of the new ideas and practices which such a process of incorporation would involve. Technical and financial support will, however, have to be earned. Resources which could be more profitably (in the widest sense of the word) devoted to alternative endeavours are unlikely to be invested in plantation activity, even of a modified kind. Convincing arguments will be needed to support claims on these resources. This article has tried to identify elements of a modified and more ‘appropriate’ policy which would support such claims.

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