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Crop commercialization and adoption of gum-arabic agroforestry and their effect on farming system in western Sudan

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Abstract

Increasing trend in the sole crops commercialization has questioned the sustainability of the traditional gum Arabic agroforestry (Bush-fallow) system in western Sudan. This shift in the farming system from a traditional sustainable system to more commercialized one has resulted in a drastic decline in soil fertility, decreased crop productivity and low gum Arabic production. Therefore, identification of alternative options and incentives are required to ameliorate the negative environmental effects of increasing commercialization trends. This paper takes this issue and empirically investigating the factors influencing the decision to adopt agroforestry using a binary probit model. The results show that farmers with less commercialization, access to credit, less fragmented land, more education, high gum Arabic gate price, located away from the markets, and with more years of experience in farming are more likely to practice the traditional gum Arabic agroforestry system. In contrast, the allocation of more working days for commercial sole crops production, more fragmented land, and higher commercialization index reduces the probability of gum Arabic agroforestry adoption. In conclusion, this dichotomy between sole crop commercialization and traditional gum agroforestry system may be solved through the encouragement of the adoption of the traditional intercropping system with gum tree (Acacia senegal). Production of gum tree (Acacia senegal) itself should be more commercialized and prioritized. Conservation programs should focus on more educated, experienced famers with less fragmentized land if the policy is to promote the sustainable farming system in the region to promote soil fertility and to improve the effect of sole crop commercialization on traditional gum Arabic agroforestry system.

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Notes

  1. It is resin obtained from two species acacia namely Acacia Senegal and Acacia seyal. These two dominant acacia characterizes the gum belt in sub-Sahara Africa. But Acacia Senegal is found in a greater density in Sudan.

  2. The gum of Acacia seyal tree is known as talih.

  3. The NPC is defined as the ratio of the farm gate price to the Free On Boat (F. O. B.) price received in Sudan minus marketing and processing cost.

  4. The term commercialization is defined as the volume of produce and household resources that enter the exchange economy which may include sales or barter of farm products not used for subsistence and off-farm employment of labor and capital (von Braun 1994).

  5. We estimated agricultural Commercialization Index (ACI), which is defined as the value of agricultural product sales divided by total value of crop production (CI = [Gross value of all crop sales of households per year/gross vale of all crop production of households per year] * 100). As the value of the commercialization approaches 100, the famers are likely to be more market oriented.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express their thanks to the local households in the study area, who willingly participated in the survey. The earlier versions of this paper has benefited from the comments and valuable suggestions of the participants of the 2007 IUFRO all Division 5 Conference, Forest Products and Environment-A Productive Symbiosis, October 28th–November 2nd, 2007, Grand Hotel, Taipei, Taiwan. The invaluable comments made by the two anonymous reviewers have contributed to the improvement of this paper. The remaining errors and omissions are our responsibility.

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  1. Institut für Betriebslehre der Agrar-und Ernährungswissenschaften, Professur für Projekt- und Regionalplanung, Senckenbergstr. 3, 35390, Giessen, Germany

    Tarig M. Gibreel

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Gibreel, T.M. Crop commercialization and adoption of gum-arabic agroforestry and their effect on farming system in western Sudan. Agroforest Syst 87, 311–318 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-012-9552-2

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