Poverty Dimensions of Public Governance and Forest Management ...

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In the more northerly yam farming belts, tree resources are important for staking yams and yam
farms are made in areas with large densities of small trees. However, to cultivate yams under the
trees, the latter have to be induced to shed their leaf cover to enable the yam tendrils to gain
adequate access to sunlight. This is achieved by making fires under the trees, by ringing their
bark, or by lopping the branches. The trees often recover and put out new shoots. These unusual
patterns of tree use give agriculture a distinctive character in the relevant areas, and have
important implications both on-farm (for cultivation) and off-farm (for charcoal production).
In the semi-deciduous forest zone, the most commonly preserved trees tend to be pioneer species,
which are often the most robust and fastest growing. While there are many important timber
resources in this forest, farmers do not have rights to these trees or to royalties from their
exploitation.
Interestingly, farmers within parkland environments tend to preserve more trees on-farm than in
the semi-deciduous forest zone. This is not surprising given that parkland trees are usually
smaller than high forest trees, and regenerate easier from coppice regrowth. Farmers in the forest
fringe area reported more problems coping with changes in tree cover, particularly as regards tree
regeneration, than those in the parkland, particularly after the 1983 bush fires. The new scenario
in the forest fringes includes annual bush fires which destroy forest trees and prevent their
regeneration, expansion of grassland and areas dominated by the weed Chromolaena odorata
(‘Acheampong’), and increasing fuelwood shortage.
However, the picture is complex. For example, Buoku has a mixed forest and savanna aspect,
with a high proportion of Borassus Palm (Borassus aethiopum). Informants at Buoku contend that
the savanna grassland areas have existed as long as living memory, although they have expanded
in recent times. In the past, forest and savanna coexisted in this area, although many of the timber
trees were felled by concessionaires, mostly in the 1980s. Some savanna species – including
Borassus palm – have expanded in area, due to the increasing incidence of bush fires, and have
now become the dominant species in formerly forested areas. The occurrence of Borassus in the
forest zone suggests that environmental change in the area has a long history.
Environmental change would appear to have been less in the parkland than semi-deciduous forest
areas. When it comes to the nature of environmental change, farming populations in the parkland
areas tend to be divided into two camps:
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