Project Leader: P. P. Bosu
Background
Forest plantation development efforts in Ghana are unacceptably skewed towards the planting of exotic monoculture teak plantations. This is in spite of the high diversity of indigenous species available for plantation development. The preference for teak can be attributed to its fast growing, pest resilience, and fire tolerance characteristics compared with many indigenous species. Teak plantations, however, do not provide for the multitude of other non-timber products that can be provided by natural forests or indigenous species plantations capable of sustaining ecological diversity as well as providing communities with sustainable livelihoods. This project started in 2005.
The goal of this study is to identify prospects of mixed-species planting as alternatively, more sustainable plantation strategy to support the development of indigenous species plantations in Ghana.
Objectives
- To minimize pest damage to ‘at risk’ high value indigenous timber species and enhance their success in plantations using mixed-species planting approach.
- To demonstrate the ecological advantages of indigenous mixed species plantations over exotic monoculture plantations.
- To promote the establishment of indigenous mixed-species plantations as viable alternative forest plantation enterprise.