Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T03:00:46.315Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Agricultural carbon sequestration, poverty, and sustainability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2008

JOHN M. ANTLE  and
JETSE J. STOORVOGEL
JOHN M. ANTLE*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics, Montana State University, P.O. Box 172920, Bozeman, MT 59717-2920, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
JETSE J. STOORVOGEL
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected]
*
*Corresponding author.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper explores the potential impacts of payments for agricultural soil carbon sequestration on poverty of farm households and on the sustainability of agricultural systems, using economic theory combined with evidence from three case studies in Kenya, Peru, and Senegal. The case studies indicate that the likely impact of carbon contracts will be to raise rural incomes and reduce the rate of soil carbon loss. In some cases, carbon contracts may be able to stabilize soil carbon stocks at a higher level than would otherwise be economically feasible. These findings suggest that carbon payments could have a positive impact on the sustainability of production systems while also reducing poverty. The analysis indicates that payments for environmental services are most likely to have a positive impact when they are implemented in an enabling economic and institutional environment.

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 13 , Issue 3: Payment for ecosystem services , June 2008 , pp. 327 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antle, J.M. 2002, ‘Economic analysis of carbon sequestration in agricultural soils: an integrated assessment approach’, in A Soil Carbon Accounting and Management System for Emissions Trading, Special Publication SM CRSP 2002–04, Soil Management Collaborative Research Support Program, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, pp. 69–90. Available at http://www.tradeoffs.montana.edu.Google Scholar
Antle, J.M. and Capalbo, S.M. 2001, ‘Econometric-process models for integrated assessment of agricultural production systems’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 83: 389–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antle, J.M. and Diagana, B. 2003, ‘Creating incentives for the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices in developing countries: the role of soil carbon sequestration’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 85: 1178–1184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antle, J.M., Capalbo, S.M., Mooney, S., Elliott, E.T., and Paustian, K.H. 2003, ‘Spatial heterogeneity, contract design, and the efficiency of carbon sequestration policies for agriculture’, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 46: 231–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antle, J.M., Stoorvogel, J.J., and Valdivia, R.O. 2007, ‘Assessing the economic impacts of agricultural carbon sequestration: terraces and agroforestry in the Peruvian Andes’, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 122: 435–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antle, J.M., Meijerink, G.W., Jager, A., Stoorvogel, J.J., and Vallejo, A.M. 2005a, ‘Econometric-process models of semi-subsistence agricultural systems: an application of the nutrient monitoring data for Machakos, Kenya’, paper presented at the Ecoregional Fund Workshop, Nairobi, June. Available at http://www.tradeoffs.montana.edu.Google Scholar
Antle, J.M., Valdivia, R.O., Crissman, C.C., Stoorvogel, J.J., and Yanggen, D. 2005b, ‘Spatial heterogeneity and adoption of soil conservation investments: integrated assessment of slow formation terraces in the Andes’, Journal of International Agricultural Trade and Development 1: 29–53.Google Scholar
Blackman, A. 2001, ‘Why don't lenders finance high-return technological change in developing-country agriculture?’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 83: 1024–1035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Jager, A., Onduru, D., van Wijk, M.S., Vlaming, J., and Gachini, G.N. 2001, ‘Assessing sustainability of low-external-input farm management systems with the nutrient monitoring approach: a case study in Kenya’, Agricultural Systems 69: 99–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diagana, B., Antle, J.M., Stoorvogel, J.J., and Gray, K. 2007, ‘Economic potential for soil carbon sequestration in the Nioro Region of Senegal's Peanut Basin’, Agricultural Systems 94: 26–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, J., Greer, J., and Thorbecke, E. 1984, ‘A class of decomposable poverty measures’, Econometrica 52: 761–765.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gachimbi, L.N., Keulen, H., Thuranira, E.G., Karuku, A.M., Jager, A., Nguluu, S., Ikombo, B.M., Kinama, J.M., Itabari, J.K., and Nandwa, S.M. 2005, ‘Nutrient balances at farm level in Machakos (Kenya), using a participatory nutrient monitoring (NUTMON) approach’, Land Use Policy 22: 13–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gijsman, A.J., Hogeboom, G., Parton, W.J., and Kerridge, P.C. 2002, ‘Modifying DSSAT crop models for low-input agricultural systems using a soil organic matter-residue module from Century’, Agronomy Journal 94: 462–474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Government of Kenya 2003, Geographic Dimensions of Well-Being in Kenya: Where are the Poor? From Districts to Locations, Volume 1, Nairobi: Central Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Planning and National Development, 164 pp.Google Scholar
Interinstitutional Commission 2005, Estudio de Linea de Base de la Provincia de Cajamarca, Cajamarca, Peru: Los Andes de Cajamarca.Google Scholar
International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas R&D Program 2005, ‘Assessment of the Costs and Enhanced Potential for Carbon Sequestration in Soils’, Technical Report 4, IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, Glos, United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Kherallah, M., Delgado, C., Gabre-Madhin, E., Minot, N., and Johnson, M. 2002, Reforming Agricultural Markets in Africa, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press for the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), 224 pp.Google Scholar
Koning, N., Heering, N., and Kauffman, S. 2001, ‘Food insecurity, soil degradation and agricultural markets in West Africa: why current policy approaches fail’, Oxford Development Studies 29: 189–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lal, R., Kimble, L.M., Follett, R.F., and Cole, C.V. 1998, The Potential of US Cropland to Sequester Carbon and Mitigate the Greenhouse Effect, Chelsea, MI: Ann Arbor Press, 128 pp.Google Scholar
Lewandrowski, J., Peters, M., Jones, C., House, R., Sperow, M., Eve, M., and Paustian, K. 2004, ‘Economics of sequestering carbon in the US agricultural sector’, Technical Bulletin No. (TB1909), Economic Research Service, USDA, Washington, DC, March, 68 pp.Google Scholar
Lynam, J.K., Nandwa, S.M., and Smaling, E.M.A. 1998, ‘Nutrient balances as indicators of productivity and sustainability in Sub-Saharan African agriculture: introduction’, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 71: 1–4.Google Scholar
Mooney, S., Antle, J.M., Capalbo, S.M., and Paustian, K. 2004, ‘Design and costs of a measurement protocol for trades in soil carbon credits’, Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics 52: 257–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paustian, K., Antle, J., Sheehan, J., and Paul, E. 2006, Agriculture's Role in Greenhouse Gas Mitigation, Arlington, VA: Pew Center on Global Climate Change, 50 pp.Google Scholar
Romero, C. and Stroosnijder, L. 2001, ‘A multi-scale approach for erosion impact assessment in the Andes’, in Methodologies for Interdisciplinary Multiple Scale Perspectives, proceedings of the SAAD-III Third International Symposium on Systems Approaches for Agricultural Development, Lima, Peru, 8–10 November 1999.Google Scholar
Sanchez, P. 2002, ‘Soil fertility and hunger in Africa’, Science 295: 2019–2020.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scherr, S.J. 1999, ‘Soil degradation: a threat to developing-country food security by 2020?’, Food, Agriculture, and the Environment Discussion Paper 27, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Soil Management CRSP 2002, A Soil Carbon Accounting and Management System for Emissions Trading, Special Publication SM CRSP 2002–04, Soil Management Collaborative Research Support Program, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, 98 pp. Available at http://www.tradeoffs.montana.edu.Google Scholar
Stoorvogel, J.J., Antle, J.M., Crissman, C.C., and Bowen, W. 2001, The Tradeoff Analysis Model Version 3.1: A Policy Decision Support System for Agriculture – User Guide, Wageningen: Laboratory of Soil Science and Geology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, 93 pp.Google Scholar
Stoorvogel, J.J., Antle, J.M., Crissman, C.C., and Bowen, W. 2004, ‘The tradeoff analysis model: integrated bio-physical and economic modeling of agricultural production systems’, Agricultural Systems 80: 43–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sunding, D. and Zilberman, D. 2001, ‘The agricultural innovation process: research and technology adoption in a changing agricultural sector’, in Gardner, B.L. and Rausser, G.C. (eds), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, Volume 1A: Agricultural Production, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier, pp. 207–261.Google Scholar
Tiffen, M., Mortimore, M., and Gichuki, F. 1994, More People, Less Erosion: Environmental Recovery in Kenya, Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 326 pp.Google Scholar
Tsuji, G., Uehara, G., and Balas, S. 1994, DSSAT Version 3: A Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer, International Benchmark Sites Network for Agrotechnology Transfer, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii.Google Scholar
Valdivia, R.O. 1999, ‘Farm data collection in la Encañada, Cajamarca, Peru, to support analysis of tradeoffs in sustainable agriculture’, report to the Trade-offs in Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Andes: A Decision Support System for Policy Makers Project, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. Available at http://www.tradeoffs.montana.edu.Google Scholar
Valdivia, R.O. 2002, ‘The economics of terraces in the Peruvian Andes: an application of sensitivity analysis in an integrated assessment model’, Ms. Thesis, Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT.Google Scholar
Valdivia, R.O. and Antle, J.M. 2002, ‘La Encañada: Description of the Data Preparation Process for Use with the Tradeoff Analysis Model’, CD detailing the documentation, programs and databases used in the Tradeoff projects, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. Available at http://www.tradeoffs.montana.edu.Google Scholar
Zeller, M., Johannsen, J., and , G. Alcarez V. 2005, ‘Developing and testing poverty assessment tools: results from accuracy tests in Peru’, MicroReport, Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project, The IRIS Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Available at http://www.microfinancegateway.org.Google Scholar