This section presents a brief history of the MTS (see Chapter 4 for details) and exam- ines the institutional arrangements that govern the system.
Brief historical perspective of the modified taungya system
The colonial government introduced the taungya system in Ghana in the early 1920s with the primary aim being to obtain a mature crop of plantation timber with a relatively short rotation period (Agyeman et al. 2010). The then Forestry Department gave it a boost in the early 1970s by giving farmers access to parcels of degraded forest reserves to plant food crops and establish timber trees. The system became important in Ghana as communities fringing forest reserves were faced with a lack of farming lands whereas the forest reserves were degraded in terms of commercial timber species that needed to be restocked. The system enabled participating farmers to improve household food se- curity. However, in the early 1980s the system exhibited some flaws, including the fact that access to forestland was limited to three years and that farmers had no direct share in the revenues from the harvestable trees they helped to establish.
As a result farmers did not regard it as a priority to pay attention to the trees and in many instances did not plant them at all (Mayers & Kotey 1996, Marfo 2009, Agyeman
et al. 2010). The old system was classified as a failure, leading to its decline and subse- quent abandonment in the late 1980s (Owusu et al. 1989). In spite of the above chal- lenges, the forest fringe communities viewed the taungya system as a favourable means of getting access to farmland with no implications of crop sharing or land rent payment. Thus, repeated requests were made to the government for its re-introduction after which the Forest Services Division (FSD) in the mid-1990s piloted the modified taun- gya system (MTS) and carried out studies to identify the weaknesses and strengths of the old system (Agyeman et al. 2010). Ironically, the taungya system produced better results in terms of forest land restoration than plantations established by the FSD with hired labourers (Affum-Baffoe 2008). In early 2002, the Forestry Commission (FC) of Ghana, through the FSD, initiated the MTS as a co-management approach. The partner- ship is between the FSD and the forest fringe communities to establish forest plantations in degraded forest reserves for shared benefits. It is a reforestation strategy aimed at restoring the forest cover and creating livelihood opportunities for forest fringe commu- nities through the provision of land to cultivate timber trees and food crops in return for which farmers share in the harvestable timber (see next subsection for more details). The key improvements vis-à-vis the old taungya system are increased tenure security and benefit sharing arrangements for the timber revenues that were absent in the old taungya system (Marfo 2009, FC-NPDP 2003).
Institutional arrangements
In 2001 the government of Ghana launched the MTS as one of the key poverty reduc- tion strategies for the forest fringe communities in the country. The objectives of the plantation development programme under the MTS are in line with the overall objec- tives of the National Forest Plantation Development Programme (NFPDP) (see Chap- ters 4 and 5). Thus, the MTS became functional mostly in the high forest zone in 2002 and has its basis in some provisions of the Forest and Wildlife Policy of 1994 related to community forestry that encourages reforestation programmes.
Complementing the policy framework is the pursuit of the Forestry and Wildlife Master Plan to reverse deforestation with an annual target of establishing 10,000 ha of
plantations over a twenty-year period (Agyeman et al. 2010). From the legal perspec- tive, the MTS is governed by land lease and benefit sharing agreements that clearly state the tenurial arrangements, responsibilities as well as the benefits of each of the parties involved in the scheme.
Within the land lease agreement, the FC is the ‘Lessor’ as the party in charge of the management of the country’s forest reserves and protected areas and their development. The mandate of the FC as the land leaseholder is based in Sections 16(1) and (2) of the Concessions Act 1962 (Act 124) which establish that lands that have been constituted as forest reserves are vested in the President of Ghana’s trust for the stool. The ‘Lessee’ is the group of MTS farmers who participate in the plantations development scheme in the degraded reserves. The farmer is to use the land for the purpose stipulated in the agree- ment, which is for the planting of trees, being inter-planted with food crops (not cash crops). Within the lease agreement, the purpose of the lease, as well as the obligations and responsibilities of the ‘Lessor’ and ‘Lessee’ and the general stipulations such as ownership rights, benefit sharing, and dispute resolution mechanism are clearly stated (FC 2005). In the interest of this study, Section (8) of the lease agreement states the mechanisms of managing disputes or conflicts as follows:
‘In case of any dispute, difference or controversy arising out of, or in connection with this lease, that cannot be settled amicably between the parties, it shall be settled in accordance with the provisions of the Arbitration Act 1961 (Act 38) and any subsequent amendments by a panel of three arbitrators. Each party shall appoint one arbitrator and the two arbitrators shall appoint the arbitrators who shall be the umpire. The place of arbitration shall be at the arbitration centre, Accra, Ghana, or any other places as the arbitrators and the parties may agree. The language of the arbitration shall be English. The decision of the arbitrators shall be final (FC 2005)’.
The benefit sharing agreement of 2005 outlines four key actors that form the institu- tional body of the MTS. These are the FC, the farmers involved in the plantations, the stool landowners and the community. The FC, referred to as the ‘investor’, is responsi- ble for the financial management, marketing and technical inputs of the plantation in- vestment. The taungya farmer, referred to as the ‘farmer’, is responsible for the provi- sion of labour and maintenance of the modified taungya plantation. The third party is the ‘landowner’ – generally the stool (see Chapter 5) responsible for guaranteeing ac- cess to the land and security of tenure for all parties concerned. The fourth party to the agreement is the ‘local community’ responsible for assisting in the prevention of wild- fire and illegal activities within the plantation. Section (7) of the agreement document outlines how the benefits from the harvested timber trees are to be shared among the key parties. The FC receives 40% of all proceeds obtained from the plantation (i.e. the timber revenues), excluding those from non-permanent food crops unless by mutual agreement with the farmer. The farmers receive 40% of all the proceeds obtained from the tree plantations and all the non-permanent food crops except when agreed otherwise. The landowner and the local community receive 15% and 5% respectively of all pro- ceeds obtained from the tree plantations, excluding proceeds from non-permanent food crops. The MTS scheme across the country has a mixture of both indigenous timber tree species (e.g. Mansonia altissima (oprono), Terminalia superba (oftam) and exotic tim- ber species (e.g. Tectona grandis (teak) and Cedrella odorata (cedrella). Timber tree species for a specific forest reserve are selected by the Forest Services Division. Tree seedlings are sometimes supplied by the FSD, while at some plantation sites farmers are allowed to grow seedlings in nurseries, for which they are paid by the government.
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Generally, no cash crops such as cocoa are allowed to be integrated with the timber trees, only food crops can be inter-planted, with the exception of cassava. According to Insaidoo et al. (submitted) the ban on planting cassava in MTS farms is motivated by the fear that it will compete with timber seedlings. Such a ban does, however, prejudice farmers’ livelihood portfolio, as cassava is their staple crop.
In order to strengthen the MTS groups, the FC, in consultation with some key forest stakeholders from the local communities, university, civil society and other government institutions, drafted a constitution that must be adopted by each MTS group to guide the governing of the groups. The constitution includes sections that outline: (i) the name of the MTS group, (ii) objectives, (iii) members, (iv) structure, (v) details about the dis- bursement of the 40% benefit share, (vi) sanctions, and (vii) transfer of ownership of benefits, dissolutions and amendment of the constitution.
The transfer of ownership of benefits, which is meant to minimise potential inheri- tance conflicts states that:
‘A group member may transfer his/her share of right, after the entire group agrees to it, when:
1. Any member may bequeath his/her right at any time if s/he so desires and s/he should be of clear and sound mind.
2. Any group member in his own free will wants to transfer the plantation to his next of kin. If any member dies, the executives shall in consultation with the deceased family, accept the next of kin to replace the deceased and to collect his part of the benefits’ (FC 2010). Article (8) of the drafted MTS constitution also states that:
‘A collective agreement shall be signed between each community MTS group and the FC. The group will be represented by the Chairman and an ordinary member elected by the group member who will be a witness’.
The constitution refers to a disbursement procedure of the 40% benefits among the farmers and their involvement in the negotiation of price and sale of the trees at final harvest (FC 2010).
Based on the institutional arrangement outlined above and in Figure 8.3, rather than a co-management arrangement in the narrow sense (i.e. between the FC and local com- munities), the MTS is a partnership involving both state and non-state actors as well as the international community (i.e. development partners). In practice, the district FSD allocates degraded portions of the forest to interested farmer groups in the communities. Prior to that, the taungya leader and the taungya committee members are elected. This local management committee is responsible for the further allocation of the MTS plots to the farmers, who are commonly known as the ‘taungya farmers’. These farmers are those who actually establish the plantations with supervisory and technical assistance from the FSD.
At national level, the FC is responsible for the generation and management of the op- erational funds, which come from its own budget as well as the Forest Plantation De- velopment Fund established in 2000 under Act 583 (amended Act 623 of 2002). Simi- larly, some key international institutions have supported the scheme, such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) (through the Community Forestry Management Project. In 2009 and 2010, a local non-governmental organisation, the Rural Development Youth Association (RUDEYA), in partnership with the Interna- tional Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which also supported the registration of about 600 modified taungya farmers who are holders of about 50 ha of timber planta-
tions in the Tano-Offin Forest Reserve. In order to make the arrangement more robust, the National Forestry Facility (NFF) of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Or- ganisation (FAO) provided funds in 2010 through the Resource Management Support Centre (RMSC) of the FC to support the registration process which givers legal recogni- tion to the farmers in the partnership (see Figure 8.3).