Natural resource degradation (deforestation) through tobacco farming

Introduction
Natural resource such as land is an essential tool for both survival and prosperity of

humanity, and for the maintenance of all terrestrial ecosystem (Allen, 2021). Land

use and land cover change (LULCC) describes the human-induced alteration of the

earth's surface and often occurs through degradation and deforestation of

woodlands and forest. This contributes to global climate change and influences

ecosystem service provision. In addition to causing a loss in biodiversity and

undermining the capacity of ecosystems to support agricultural output (Andrews &

Hills, 2020).

Tobacco farming is one of human activities that drives change in a natural

ecosystem, and it causes a change in the state land (Hugh, 2019). When a driver

unequivocally has an influence, it is described as a direct driver, and when they

underlie or lead to a direct driver, they are described as an indirect driver. Indirect

drivers can be classified into five categories (socio-political, religious, and cultural,

demographic, scientific and technological, and economic), which can influence direct

drivers (Williams & Whatson, 2015).

According to Campbell (2013) Tobacco farming require a cleared large piece of land

for cultivation, which means a lot of trees will have to be chopped down. Some trees

such as deciduous miombo woodlands covering an approximate of 500 hundred

thousand km2 of Zimbabwe contain numerous endemic and threatened species

(Makuvire, 2016). Miombo woodlands are dominated by tree species of the legume

subfamily Caesalpinioideae within three genera (Isabelline & Frost, 2017). They are

globally important owing to their capacity to store carbon and influence

are locally important due to provisioning ecosystem services including medicinal

plants, edible forest products, food for livestock, construction materials, and fuel

sources (Bwalya, & Hesseman, 2018). By 2050 Africa's population is predicted to

increase twofold leading to increasing pressure upon miombo woodland (Africa

Barometer, 2019). Sustainable management of miombo woodlands is therefore

needed, and they are receiving increasing global consideration. Presently, the

greatest research focus in the clearing of land and trees such as miombo woodland

for tobacco farming owing to their role in carbon storage, with limited understanding

of the drivers of land use change (Shirima & Wallis, 2011).

Regionally, several direct anthropogenic drivers of LULCC have been identified in

miombo systems, including overgrazing, agricultural expansion, charcoal, fuelwood,

and timber extraction, rising urbanisation, unmanaged fires, and excessive

exploitation of valuable animal and tree species (Fisher & Ryan, 2016). Natural

drivers of change that are likely to impact miombo woodlands include changes to

rainfall patterns and volumes, rising temperatures, and altered fire regimes (Andera

& van der Werf, 2014). General descriptions of drivers can provide information to

inform regional land management policy, yet they do not identify local-scale nuances

necessary for land use and management decisions. To provide effective, enduring

management solutions for miombo woodlands, it is necessary to understand both

direct and indirect drivers (MacMillan, 2018). This paper addresses this gap by

providing empirical data from a miombo woodland landscape in Southern Zimbabwe

region 1 zone, which is currently experiencing rapid land use change under tobacco

farming. The key anthropogenic drivers of land use change are identified through

integrative quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Case study

Miombo woodland represents 95% of forested area in Nkayi District (Ndlovu, 2017).

Between 1990 and 2017, it is estimated that 8% of Nkayi miombo woodland was lost

due to Tobacco farming activities. Current estimations of Nkayi woodland and forest

loss approximately ranges between 50 000 and 100,000 ha/year (Ncube & Mtisi,

2020). Fig 1 below showing Nkayi District.

Fig 1. Location of Zimbabwe in Southern Africa showing ground truth points in Nkayi

District in Zimbabwe where study was conducted.

Tobacco Farming is the dominant occupation for the estimated population of 66,752,

across 16 villages (ZIMSTAT, 2016). Within the division, village-level Participatory

Forest Management Committees oversee five reserves, and the District Forestry

Department governs three forest reserves. However, this study found that the

reserves are poorly managed owing to insufficient funding and limited capacity in

terms of personnel and transport. Access to woodland is therefore largely

unrestricted across both protected and unprotected areas. Average yearly

precipitation is 933 ± 36 mm (n = 28 years). Rains typically start in October and

occur frequently until May, with very little falling throughout the rest of the year. The

soils are shallow and sandy, and the landscape is predominantly flat.

Data collection

To identify the drivers of deforestation and degradation, a mixed methods approach

was taken, combining social and ecological surveys. This enabled a holistic

examination of the drivers of land use change by drawing upon a range of

complementary primary data sources (ZIMSTAT, 2010).

Ecological survey

Conwell & Ndlovu (2016), nine ecological survey sites were selected representing

low to high levels of human utilisation of the woodland. Within each survey site, five

transects were conducted to record land use type and utilisation levels. Transects

were 10 m wide and 1.5 km long and split into 20-m sections (Doggart, 2006),

sampling 75,000 m2 at each site. Within each section, all live, dead, and cut poles

and timbers were recorded, and the main land cover type documented. Evidence of
utilisation or removal of non-timber forest products and other disturbances was

noted, for example logging, tree bark removal, and beehives (ZIMSTAT, 2010).

Social survey

The social survey consisted of household questionnaires, village-level focus groups,

and semi-structured key informant interviews to obtain information on drivers of land

use change and agricultural methods. The five villages selected for involvement in

the social survey were in close proximity to ecological survey sites with medium and

low utilisation levels, allowing social and ecological survey data to be aligned by

comparing quantitative data with qualitative data, particularly in terms of agricultural

land cover. The four remaining ecological survey sites were not in close proximity to

any village and therefore not suitable for comparable study. Villages were situated

within three wards (“study” villages, Figure 1). A further village was selected for

piloting the research methods (“pilot” village, Figure 1). Fieldwork took place

February-September 2013, when the research team lived within the community, and

therefore, field observations were an additional data source. Government census

data were also used to determine demographic patterns within the district (ZIMSTAT,

2010).

Within each of the five villages, 10% of households (n = 196) were chosen at random

to engage in questionnaires (Maxwell & Zane, 2014). These were undertaken with

the head of the household, where a household was defined as containing people

who eat at least one meal together and sleep in the same accommodation, and the

head is the principal decision maker. Household farming activities were discussed.

Questionnaires were conducted in Nkayi District by experienced translators and

typically lasted approximately 30 min, including both closed and open questions.
Multiple focus group discussions took place in each village with identified sets of

people (e.g., villagers, livestock keepers, and crop producers) determined through

key informant interviews with village committee representatives (e.g., Participatory

Forest Management Committee and Social Welfare Committee). Focus group

discussions lasted for approximately 1 hr, with 2–8 people and an even number of

men and women, subject to availability. Overall, 28 focus groups were conducted.

The purpose of focus groups was to collect comprehensive qualitative information on

relevant issues and to explore key themes and questions that had arisen in

household questionnaires. A range of questions was presented, and all answers

were considered between group participants with facilitation (Ritchie & Lewis, 2013).

Each session was recorded, and the lead researcher took notes through translation.

Semi-structured interviews took place with 41 key informants at all governance levels

from village to regional. Key informants were either involved with a particular

programme or project or held extensive knowledge on a specific relevant topic

(Lawson, 2017). Snowball sampling was used to identify interviewees within the

public, private, and voluntary sectors. Interviews explored key themes of relevance

to everyone that had emerged through household questionnaires and focus groups.

Interviews and focus groups were coded and grouped into themes for analysis, with

direct and indirect drivers emerging from the data and subsequently undergoing

comparison with the other data sources to determine validity.

RESULTS

The main indirect drivers of LULCC were identified to be demographic (in-migration)

and economic (rising tobacco prices). Direct drivers include the clearing of land for
agriculture (tobacco), energy demand for curing tobacco leaves, extraction of wood

for household use and construction, and degradation and deforestation caused by

livestock and livestock keepers (ZIMSTAT, 2010).

Indirect drivers

Demographic: in-migration

Demographic data from household surveys demonstrate high rates of in-migration,

with 75% of respondents having migrated to Nkayi District from other regions of

Zimbabwe. The recorded population of Nkayi in 2014 was 66,752, having grown by

over 60% from 41,493 in 2000 (ZIMSTAT, 2010). Household surveys indicated that

the most likely reason to move to the area was to farm (62%), and of these 74% (67

households) said their main motivation was to cultivate tobacco. A further 27% of

household heads moved to join family members who had migrated previously. Other

reasons for in-migration included to improve quality of life and for work, mining,

education, and government relocation.

Economic: rising tobacco prices

Higher tobacco prices encourage in-migration as Jacobs (2019 pg., 105) explained:

“There is a lot of immigration for tobacco cultivation, when the price is high”.

Additionally, current residents may decide to cultivate tobacco or expand their

cultivated area in response to rising prices.

Direct drivers

Tobacco farming
In the six ecological survey sites that experienced high and medium levels of

woodland utilisation, transect data demonstrated that approximately 30% of land

cover was agricultural, 7% was regenerating miombo woodland, and 62% was

undisturbed vegetation. The two dominant cultivated crops were maize and tobacco.

Households on average grow maize over 1.2 ha (mode, n = 194, min = 0.2 ha, max

= 8 ha) and cultivate 0.8 ha of tobacco (mode, n = 167, min = 0.2 ha, max= 16 ha).

According to interviews with the two tobacco companies, there were more than 50

registered tobacco farmers in Nkayi District in 2016 and an estimated area of 8,639

ha under tobacco cultivation (Company 1: 6,088 ha; Company 2: 2,281 ha).

According to household surveys where undisturbed vegetation was cleared in the

years following original clearance to start the farm, non-tobacco farmers (n = 27)

clear 0.09 ± 0.03 ha (M ± SEM) of undisturbed vegetation per year, and tobacco

farmers (n = 157) clear 0.53 ± 0.05 ha/year, showing that tobacco farmers clear

significantly more woodland than non-tobacco farmers. A further five tobacco

farmers did not clear undisturbed vegetation but did clear regenerating woodland,

ranging from 0.8 to 1.6 ha annually, and two non-tobacco farmers cleared only

regenerating woodland (unspecified amount).

Tobacco cultivation and energy demand for curing

In the recent years, inputs (seeds, fertiliser, and pesticides) have been supplied by

two tobacco merchants and are distributed by a Primary Co-operative Society.

Seeds are distributed free of charge, and inputs including fertiliser and pesticides are

received on loan, which is repaid at the end of the season. The nature of tobacco

cultivation is described in the following quote:

to dry that tobacco another area of land is cleared. The following year the tobacco

will be planted on that cleared land, and another crop such as maize is planted on

the old land. Then more trees must be harvested to cure that harvest. The year after

that the farmer will grow tobacco on the first field. However, the farmer will still need

more wood to cure the tobacco, so each year they must remove some trees, even if

it is not always a larger block. If they wish to expand their farm, they must clear land.

Tobacco Company 1, 2013 (Hamilton, 2018, pp. 78)

To preserve the tobacco leaves, they need to be dried, or cured. In this area,

tobacco is flue cured, where the leaves are hung in burners and the flues are lit

below. This process has a high-energy demand, for which wood is used. Farmers

tend to build their tobacco burners at the tobacco/woodland interface, where they

can be used for at least 2 years. Focus groups identified a key driver of land use

change as the curing of tobacco leaves. Harvesting trees for curing contributes to the

preparation of land for tobacco in following years, and therefore, harvesting is not

selective. Whole trunks are used in the burners and cannot be carried far. Smaller

branches are often used as household fuelwood. Each year, farmers must harvest

trees to cure tobacco, but whether they choose to clear a larger area to expand their

cultivated land is optional. Increases in the number of tobacco farmers result in more

land being cleared in this way. Farmers who do not grow tobacco may also clear

vegetation to expand their farms, or to find more fertile land.

Discussion.

This study identified three direct drivers of land use change: agriculture (particularly

tobacco cultivation), wood extraction (for tobacco curing, domestic use, sale, and
fuelwood), and livestock keeping. Two main indirect and interlinking drivers were

identified, which underlie the three direct drivers: in-migration and the incentive of

rising tobacco prices.

According to ZIMSTAT (2010) tobacco cultivation in Zimbabwe began in the early

1950s, where production was approximately 3,000 t/year (~5,500 ha, yield 513

kg/ha; FAO, 2016). Production increased throughout the 1970s and 1980s and

fluctuated around 30,000 t/year throughout the 1990s. In 2002, production was

27,423 t/year, cropped on 32,000 ha with a yield of 807 kg/ha. In 10 years (2012),

production had more than quadrupled to 120,000 t/year, cultivated on 155,527 ha,

with a yield of 771 kg/ha (FAO, 2016). This rapid increase in production without an

increase in yield, and a corresponding fivefold increase in cultivated land,

demonstrates that rapid land use change has taken place. This matches our

findings, which indicate increasing migration into Nkayi District since 2000, and

corresponding increases in the number of households cultivating tobacco. Rapid

land use change resulting from tobacco cultivation has precedence in Zimbabwe,

where tobacco cultivation rapidly expanded, leading to fuelwood shortages and

environmental changes including drought, irregular rains, and whirlwinds due to land

use change by the 1990s (Manyenyeni, 2017). Similar impacts have also been seen

in other miombo regions, such as Malawi and Zambia (Dougal, & Vinay, 2013).

Conclusion

Land use change in Nkayi District results from increases in tobacco cultivation driven

by rising prices and in-migration to cultivate the crop. This has led to an increase in

population, which drives further direct land use change through the extraction of
wood resources to provide housing and firewood, in addition to clearance and

degradation of woodland for cultivation and livestock keeping. Given that tobacco

cultivation is linked to the majority of LULCC changes, it is the main driver of land

use change leading to woodland degradation. Due to the Zimbabwean government's

current positive support for tobacco production, it is probable that tobacco cultivation

will continue to increase, driving further woodland degradation and deforestation.

Action is required to avoid these impacts. Tobacco companies and government

forestry and livestock departments have policies in place (e.g., “modern” burners,

woodlots, livestock movement, and logging restrictions), but there is little evidence of

their implementation. This must be addressed, in addition to the development of land

management strategies that regulate woodland utilisation and alternative methods

for drying the tobacco crop. Encouraging the development of diverse livelihood

approaches and limiting the top price of tobacco could reduce the incentive to

cultivate tobacco and limit further degradation of the miombo woodland system.

Definition of key terms

Degradation

Land

Farming

References.