Extensification of agriculture and deforestation: empirical evidence from Sudan
研究了苏丹农业粗放化(尤其是雨养机械化耕作)对森林砍伐的影响,利用东苏丹数据和面积响应模型,识别影响耕地扩张的关键因素,并揭示能源政策如何间接推动农业扩张。
Abstract Extensification of agriculture is one of the major factors contributing to the destruction of forests in Africa. In Sudan, such horizontal expansion comes at the expense of land devoted to trees and other vegetation, thereby inducing conditions that are inimical to sustainable agricultural production. Different factors have contributed to extensification. Although high economic returns from crop (mainly sorghum) production was an important factor encouraging extensification of rainfed mechanized farming, other factors outside agriculture have also contributed to that expansion. This paper uses data from eastern Sudan and an acreage response model, to identify the most important factors influencing acreage expansion. Different measures and forms of risk were used in the acreage response model. The paper shows how policies in the energy sector can indirectly influence acreage expansion in the agricultural sector.