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Quantifying trade-offs between future yield levels, food availability and forest and woodland conservation in Benin

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Title Quantifying trade-offs between future yield levels, food availability and forest and woodland conservation in Benin
 
Creator Dukua, C.
Zwart, Sander J.
Bussel, Lenny G. J. van
Heina, L.
 
Subject food security
food availability
climate change
population growth
 
Description Meeting the dual objectives of food security and ecosystem protection is a major challenge in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To this end agricultural intensification is considered desirable, yet, there remain uncertainties regarding the impact of climate change on opportunities for agricultural intensification and the adequacy of intensification options given the rapid population growth. We quantify trade-offs between levels of yield gap closure, food availability and forest and woodland conservation under different scenarios. Each scenario is made up of a combination of variants of four parameters i.e. (1) climate change based on Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs); (2) population growth based on Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs); (3) cropland expansion with varying degrees of deforestation; and (4) different degrees of yield gap closure. We carry out these analyses for three major food crops, i.e. maize, cassava and yam, in Benin. Our analyses show that in most of the scenarios, the required levels of yield gap closures required to maintain the current levels of food availability can be achieved by 2050 by maintaining the average rate of yield increases recorded over the past two and half decades in addition to the current cropping intensity. However, yields will have to increase at a faster rate than has been recorded over the past two and half decades in order to achieve the required levels of yield gap closures by 2100. Our analyses also show that without the stated levels of yield gap closure, the areas under maize, cassava and yam cultivation will have to increase by 95%, 102% and 250% respectively in order to maintain the current levels of per capita food availability. Our study shows that food security outcomes and forest and woodland conservation goals in Benin and likely the larger SSA region are inextricably linked together and require holistic management strategies that considers trade-offs and co-benefits.
 
Date 2018-01
2019-07-02T14:56:57Z
2019-07-02T14:56:57Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Dukua, C., Zwart, S.J., van Bussel, L.G.J., and Heina, L. 2018. Quantifying trade-offs between future yield levels, food availability and forest and woodland conservation in Benin. Science of The Total Environment 610–611:1581-1589
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/102026
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.115
 
Language en
 
Rights Copyrighted; all rights reserved
Limited Access
 
Publisher Elsevier BV
 
Source Science of the Total Environment