Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T07:36:47.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Agricultural subsidies and forest clearing in Malawi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2012

CHRISTOPHER CHIBWANA ,
CHARLES B.L. JUMBE  and
GERALD SHIVELY
CHRISTOPHER CHIBWANA
Affiliation:
International Food Policy Research Institute, Lilongwe, Malawi
CHARLES B.L. JUMBE
Affiliation:
Center for Agricultural Research and Development, University of Malawi, Lilongwe, Malawi
GERALD SHIVELY*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA Department of Economics and Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
*
*Correspondence: Dr Gerald Shively Tel: +1 765 494 4218 Fax: +1 765 494 9176 e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Forests are an important source of environmental services and livelihoods in Africa, thus it is important to determine potential drivers of forest loss. Over recent decades, forest cover has been declining steadily in Malawi. This paper attempts to evaluate the influence of agricultural input subsidies on forest conversion in Malawi. A two-stage regression model analysis of 2009 farm survey data from Chimaliro and Liwonde Forest reserves in Kasungu and Machinga districts, respectively, did not reveal direct evidence of policy-induced forest clearing for agricultural expansion. Instead, subsidy-induced agricultural intensification of food crops, especially maize, appeared to have reduced the rate and extent of forest clearing among households in Malawi compared with households not benefiting from subsidies. However, indirect negative impacts on forests arose due to offtake of trees to construct drying sheds for tobacco, a local cash crop. These findings have implications for designing strategies for simultaneously conserving forests while promoting food security in rural areas, and shed light on the direct and indirect effects of input subsidies.

Keywords

agricultural intensificationextensificationfarm input subsidiesforest clearing
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , March 2013 , pp. 60 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angelsen, A. & Kaimowitz, D. (1999) Rethinking the causes of deforestation: lessons from economic models. The World Bank Research Observer 14: 73–98.Google Scholar
Angelsen, A., Shitindi, E. & Aarestad, J. (1999) Why do farmers expand their land into forests? Theories and evidence from Tanzania. Environment and Development Economics 4: 313–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bagachwa, M., Shechambo, F., Sosovele, H., Kulindwa, K., Naho, A.A. & Cromwell, E. (1995) Structural Adjustment and Sustainable Development in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam, Tunisia: Dar es Salaam University Press.Google Scholar
Barbier, E.B. & Burgess, J.C. (1996) Economic analysis of deforestation in Mexico. Environment and Development Economics 1: 203–239.Google Scholar
Bhalotra, S. (2006) Child Labor in Africa. Paris, France: OECD Directorate for Employment, Labor and Social Affairs.Google Scholar
Bunderson, T.W. & Hayes, I.M. (1997) Sustainable tobacco production in Malawi: the role of wood demand and supply [www document]. URL www.totallandcare.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=PAUINW5JIg8%3D&tabid=68&mid=385Google Scholar
Chibwana, C., Fisher, M. & Shively, G. (2012) Cropland allocation effects of agricultural input subsidies in Malawi. World Development 40: 124–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Contreras-Hermosilla, A. (2000) The underlying causes of forest decline. CIFOR Occasional Paper 30, Bogor, Indonesia.Google Scholar
Cragg, J.G. (1971) Some statistical models for limited dependent variables with application to the demand for durable goods. Econometrica 39: 829–844.Google Scholar
Debela, B., Shively, G., Angelsen, A. & Wik, M. (2012) Economic shocks, diversification and forest use in Uganda. Land Economics 88 (1): 139–154.Google Scholar
Delacote, P. (2007) Agricultural expansion, forest products as safety nets, and deforestation. Environment and Development Economics 12: 235–249.Google Scholar
Dorward, A., Chirwa, E., Kelly, V., Jayne, T.S., Boughton, D. & Slater, R. (2008) Evaluation of the 2006/7 agricultural input subsidy program, Malawi [www document]. URL https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/5130/Google Scholar
Elnagheeb, A. & Bromley, D. (1994) Extensification of agriculture and deforestation: empirical evidence from Sudan. Agricultural Economics 10: 193–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FAO (2005) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005. Country Reports: Malawi. Country Report 038. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy [www document]. URL http://www.fao.org/forestry/9915-0c89cb8035b3be85ba60bbeddd05c3efa.pdfGoogle Scholar
FAO (2010 a) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010. Main Report. FAO Forestry Paper 163. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy [www document]. URL http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1757e/i1757e.pdfGoogle Scholar
FAO (2010 b) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010. Country Reports: Malawi. FAO Forest Resources Assessment Report 122. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy [www document]. URL http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/al557E/al557e.pdfGoogle Scholar
FAOSTAT (2011) Production, crops, item (maize and tobacco), element (area harvested) [www document]. URL http://faostat.fao.org/site/567/default.aspx#anchorGoogle Scholar
Fisher, M. & Shively, G.E. (2005) Can income programs reduce tropical forest pressure? Income shocks and forest use in Malawi. World Development 33: 1115–1128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, M. & Shively, G.E. (2007) Agricultural subsidies and forest pressure in Malawi's miombo woodlands. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 32: 349–362.Google Scholar
García-Barrios, L., Galván-Miyoshi, Y.M., Valdivieso-Pérez, I.A., Masera, O.R., Bocco, G. & Vandermeer, J. (2009) Neotropical forest conservation, agricultural intensification, and rural out-migration: the Mexican experience. BioScience 59: 863–873.Google Scholar
Gbetnkom, D. (2005) Deforestation in Cameroon: immediate causes and consequences. Environment and Development Economics 10: 557–572.Google Scholar
Gibson, C., Williams, J. & Ostrom, E. (2005) Local enforcement and better forests. World Development 33: 273–284.Google Scholar
Godoy, R., O'Neill, K., Groff, S., Kostishack, P., Cubas, A., Demmer, J., Mcsweeney, K. & Overman, J. (1997) Household determinants of deforestation by Amerindians in Honduras. World Development 25: 977–987.Google Scholar
Government of Malawi (1998) State of the Environment Report for Malawi. Lilongwe, Malawi: Environmental Affairs Department.Google Scholar
Government of Malawi (2005) Integrated Household Survey: 2004–2005. Zomba, Malawi: National Statistical Office.Google Scholar
Government of Malawi (2007) Guidelines for beneficiary identification and coupon distribution for the 2007/2008 Farm Input Subsidy Program. Lilongwe, Malawi: Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.Google Scholar
Government of Malawi (2009) Agricultural Sector Wide Approach: Malawi's prioritized and harmonised Agricultural Development Agenda. Lilongwe, Malawi: Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.Google Scholar
Holden, S.T. & Lunduka, R. (2010) Too poor to be efficient? Impacts of the targeted fertilizer subsidy program in Malawi on farm plot level input use, crop choice and land productivity. Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Noragric Report No.55, Åas, Norway.Google Scholar
Jaffee, S. (2003) Malawi’ s Tobacco Sector: Standing on One Strong Leg is Better Than on None. Washington, DC, USA: The World Bank.Google Scholar
Jumbe, C.B.L. (2005) Community forest management, poverty and energy use in Malawi. PhD Dissertation. Department of Economics and Resource Management, Åas, Norway: Norwegian University of Life Sciences.Google Scholar
Jumbe, C.B.L. & Angelsen, A. (2006) Do the poor benefit from devolution policies? Evidence from Malawi's forest co-management program. Land Economics 82: 562–581.Google Scholar
Jumbe, C.B.L. & Angelsen, A. (2007) Forest dependence and participation in CPR management: empirical evidence from forest co-management in Malawi. Ecological Economics 62: 661–672.Google Scholar
Jumbe, C.B.L. & Angelsen, A (2011) Modeling choice of fuelwood source among rural households in Malawi: a multinomial probit analysis. Energy Economics 33:732–738.Google Scholar
Kaimowitz, D. & Angelsen, A. (1998) Economic Models of Tropical Deforestation. A Review. Bogor, Indonesia: Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).Google Scholar
Lin, T.-F. & Schmidt, P. (1984) A test of the Tobit specification against an alternative suggested by Cragg. The Review of Economics and Statistics 66: 174–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Makungwa, S. & Kayambazinthu, D. (1999) Monitoring and evaluating productivity in miombo woodlands under co-management arrangements: the case of Liwonde Forest Reserve. In: Community-based Management of Miombo Woodlands: Proceedings of a National Workshop, ed. Ngulube, M., Mwabumba, L. & Chirwa, P., pp. 115–130. Lilongwe, Malawi: Forestry Research Institute of Malawi.Google Scholar
Monela, G.C. (1995) Tropical rainforest deforestation, biodiversity benefits, and sustainable land use: analysis of economic and ecological aspects related to the Nguru Mountains, Tanzania. PhD dissertation, Agricultural University of Norway, Ås, Norway.Google Scholar
Morton, D.C., DeFries, R., Shimabukuro, Y., Anderson, O., Arai, E., Espirito-Santo, F., Freitas, R. & Morisette, J. (2006) Cropland expansion changes deforestation dynamics in the southern Brazilian Amazon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 103: 14637–14641.Google Scholar
Pattanayak, S., & Sills, E. (2001) Do tropical forests provide natural insurance? The microeconomics of non-timber forest product collection in the Brazilian Amazon. Land Economics 77: 592–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perfecto, I. & Vandermeer, J. (2010) The agroecological matrix as alternative to the landsparing/agriculture intensification model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107: 5786–5791.Google Scholar
Perz, S. (2003) Social determinants and land use correlates of agricultural technology adoption in a forest frontier: a case study in the Brazilian Amazon. Journal of Human Ecology 31: 133–165.Google Scholar
Peters, P.E. (1996) Maize, Food and Tobacco in Zomba: Situation Report, 1996. Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard Institute for International Development.Google Scholar
Ricker-Gilbert, J., Jayne, T.S. & Chirwa, E. (2011) Subsidies and crowding out: a double-hurdle model of fertilizer demand in Malawi. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 93: 26–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodríguez, J.P., Nassar, J.M., Rodríguez-Clark, K., Zager, M.I., Portillo-Quintero, C.A., Carrasquel, F. & Zambrano, S. (2008) Tropical dry forests in Venezuela: assessing status, threats and future prospects. Environmental Conservation 35: 311–318.Google Scholar
Shaw, R.P. (1989) Rapid population growth and environmental degradation: ultimate versus proximate factors. Environmental Conservation 16: 199–208.Google Scholar
Shively, G. (2001) Agricultural change, rural labor markets, and forest clearing: an illustrative case from the Philippines. Land Economics 77: 268–284.Google Scholar
Shively, G. & Fisher, M. (2004). Smallholder labor and deforestation: a systems approach. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 86: 1361–1366.Google Scholar
Shively, G.E. & Pagiola, S. (2004) Agricultural intensification, local labor markets, and deforestation in the Philippines. Environment and Development Economics 9: 241–266.Google Scholar
Takasaki, Y., Barham, B.L. & Coomes, O.T. (2004) Risk coping strategies in tropical forests: floods, illnesses, and resource extraction. Environment and Development Economics 9: 203–224.Google Scholar
Tobin, R. & Knausenberger, W. (1998) Dilemmas of development: Burley tobacco, the environment and economic growth in Malawi. Journal of Southern African Studies 24: 405–424.Google Scholar
van Soest, D.P., Bulte, E., Angelsen, A. & van Kooten, G. (2002) Technological change and tropical deforestation: a perspective at the household level. Environment and Development Economics 7: 269–280.Google Scholar
Xu, Z., Burke, W.J., Jayne, T.S. & Govereh, J. (2009) Do input subsidy programs ‘crowd in’ or ‘crowd out’ commercial market development? Modeling fertilizer demand in a two-channel marketing system. Agricultural Economics 40: 79–94.Google Scholar
Yemiru, T., Roos, A., Campbell, B. & Bohlin, F. (2010) Forest incomes and poverty alleviation under participatory forest management in the Bale Highlands, Southern Ethiopia. International Forestry Review 12: 66–77.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

C.CHIBWANA Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download C.CHIBWANA Supplementary Material(File)
File 31.2 KB