Exploring Plantation Development and Land Cover Changes in the Meme-Mungo Corridor of Cameroon

There is an apparent nexus between the development of plantations and changes in landcover. The Meme-Mungo Corridor is an example par excellence of a tropical plantation corridor in Cameroon which has witnessed significant expansion in tropical plantations of cocoa, banana, rubber and oil palm, among others. This paper analyzes the connection between land cover changes and plantation development over a 42-year period (1960 and 2012). A total of 100 households were sampled using the systematic sampling technique. Furthermore, multispectral data, obtained from the Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF, 2005) were used in the classification of the study area. These images were processed using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) software and further compiled into a GIS database using ESRI ArcGIS software. The results showed that between 1960 and 2012, a more than 50% increase in the surface area of plantation crops was registered, leadingto a corresponding change in the land cover situation. Based on this, the study probed into the implications of further plantation development on land cover; further land cover changes could be attributed to the extension of plantations. This paperrecommends among others, the need for intensive agriculture to be encouraged so as to ensure an increase in agricultural output against the backdrop of a decline in agricultural space. Furthermore, augmenting agro-product value chains will stem the loss of agro-produce due to perishability. This will contribute to regulate extensive plantation development in the area.

Nitrogen Pools in Tropical Plantations of N2-Fixing and Non-N2-Fixing Legume Trees under Different Tree Stand Densities

We investigated the nitrogen pools in monocultures of legume species widely used in reforestation in Brazil that have contrasting growth and nitrogen acquisition strategies. The plantations were established with the slow-growing and N2-fixing tree Anadenanthera peregrina var. peregrina, and the fast-growing and non-fixing tree Schizolobium parahyba var. amazonicum. The measurements of N pools in the tree biomass and the soil followed standard methods and were carried out on 54 experimental plots. The N2 fixation pools were evaluated by abundance natural of 15N and the N accretion methods. The soil N content was of similar magnitude between species and stand densities. The species showed similar amounts of N in the biomass, but divergent patterns of N accumulation, as well as the 15N signature on the leaves. S. parahyba accumulated most N in the stem, while A. peregrina accumulated N in the roots and leaves. However, the N accumulation in biomass of A. peregrina stand was less constrained by environment than in S. parahyba stands. The percentage of N derived from N2 fixation in A. peregrina stands decreased with the increase of stand density. The biological N2 fixation estimates depended on the method and the response of tree species to environment.

Ganoderma philippii (red root rot).

G. philippii was described as a root pathogen that is particularly destructive to tropical plantation crops, especially rubber (Steyaert, 1975a). It occurs on many woody and non-woody plant hosts in South-East Asia through Indonesia to Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia (UK CAB International, 1993). Acacia trees are considered as invasive species and as an economic crop (Koutika and Richardson, 2019) and the significance of the disease is from both aspects. A similar situation exists for other trees such as Eucalyptus (Deus et al., 2019). These trees are being considered to combat climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide and consequently disease is extremely important. Red root rot is a significant disease of tropical plantations in South-East Asia. In severely infected areas in Malaysia, root rot caused more than 40% mortality of Acacia trees aged between 9 and 14 years. In Indonesia, the disease can kill up to 28% of trees in second-rotation A. mangium plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Second rotation A. mangium and A. crassicarpa plantations trees as young as 6 months old may be killed by red root disease (Gafur et al., 2015).

Ganoderma philippii (red root rot).

G. philippii was described as a root pathogen that is particularly destructive to tropical plantation crops, especially rubber (Steyaert, 1975a). It occurs on many woody and non-woody plant hosts in South-East Asia through Indonesia to Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia (UK CAB International, 1993). Acacia trees are considered as invasive species and as an economic crop (Koutika and Richardson, 2019) and the significance of the disease is from both aspects. A similar situation exists for other trees such as Eucalyptus (Deus et al., 2019). These trees are being considered to combat climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide and consequently disease is extremely important. Red root rot is a significant disease of tropical plantations in South-East Asia. In severely infected areas in Malaysia, root rot caused more than 40% mortality of Acacia trees aged between 9 and 14 years. In Indonesia, the disease can kill up to 28% of trees in second-rotation A. mangium plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Second rotation A. mangium and A. crassicarpa plantations trees as young as 6 months old may be killed by red root disease (Gafur et al., 2015).

Dieffenbachia seguine (dumb cane).

Dieffenbachia seguine, commonly called dumb cane, is a herbaceous plant native from the Caribbean and South America that is widely cultivated as an ornamental. It has invaded intact forest ecosystems in Samoa and become widely naturalized where planted as an ornamental. Plants are considered weeds in some tropical plantations within and outside the plant's native range. The species can spread via seed and vegetatively from discarded garden waste. All parts of the plant are highly toxic to people and pets.

The Price of Un/Freedom: Indonesia's Colonial and Contemporary Plantation Labor Regimes

Although often associated with colonial times, tropical plantations growing industrial crops such as rubber, sugar, and oil palm are once again expanding. They employ hundreds of thousands of workers, who still use remarkably basic tools. Flagging colonial continuities, labor activists campaign against the reemergence of unfree labor and “modern forms of slavery.” Paradoxically, labor activists also highlight the opposite problem: the casualization of plantation work, as workers are hired daily and fired at will. Recognizing that both “free” and unfree labor regimes have a long history in Indonesia, and plantations have pivoted between these modes more than once, my study compares plantation labor regimes in the colonial, New Order, and “reform” periods (post-1998) to answer three questions. First, given that employers always want to access disciplined labor at the lowest possible price, what were the conditions that led employers to rely on unfree labor in some cases, and “free” labor in others? Second, to what extent was unfreedom imposed as a response to excessive freedom among workers and peasants? Third, how were the costs of social reproduction distributed between workers and employers, and what pressures from workers or regulators (state, colonial, transnational) affected this distribution? In addition to published sources, I draw on my ethnographic research in West Kalimantan (2010–2015) to explore contemporary experiences of un/freedom among workers on state and private oil palm plantations.