Part of the big project "Capitalizing the inland valley potential for food and nutrition security for smallholder farmers in West Africa (CIPA)"

Project: PhD

Project Details

Description

Given high moisture content and soil fertility, IVs have been considered to have a high potential for improving the food and nutrition security of smallholder farmers in Africa (Mohapatra, 2016, Djagba et al., 2018). Contrary to this optimistic projection, some studies have raised concerns that an unsustainable utilization of IV resources may negatively affect their productivity in the long run (Nyamadzawo et al., 2015). Furthermore, there may exist trade-offs between short and long-run benefits revealed from IV resource use. So far, however, little is known about existing resource use strategies in African IVs, and how potentially conflicting objectives for using these resources can best be balanced. Specifically, a systematic analysis of resource use strategies, allowing to identify those which perform best at the local level under defined targets and constraints, is lacking. The aim of this PhD project is, therefore, to identify optimal land-use scenarios for IVs in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. This will be achieved with an approach combining household surveys, economic modeling and stakeholder participation approaches. The specific objectives are i) to characterize IVs from a socio-economic and institutional perspective at the local level; ii) to identify relevant factors determining household decisions to participate in IV farming; iii) to identify and estimate the economic value of IV ecosystem services that are considered key by farmers; and iv) to develop optimal land use and resource management strategies for selected IVs that meet long-term sustainability goals given a set of biophysical and socio-economic constraints.
StatusActive
Effective start/end date1/12/17 → …

Countries

  • Côte d'Ivoire

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