New study on impacts of large-scale forestry investments on neighboring small-scale agriculture in northern Mozambique

(Photo: C. Chiarella, 2021)

It is great to be able to share our just published study on the impacts of large-scale forestry investments on neighboring small-scale agriculture in northern Mozambique, under Cristina’s leadership.

(Author’s free access version here)

We build on the EO forestry plantations dataset developed by Adia, linking with household surveys using a difference-in-difference approach.

We find that households exposed to forestry plantations after 2007 increased their planted areas but did not change hired farm employment, which was accompanied by a decrease in crop yields. Forestry investments also motivated a shift of economic activities, where the local population was less likely to be employed as salaried workers, more likely to be self-employed, and less likely to work in agriculture, which could either mean a shift toward employment in the nonfarm sector, unemployment or inactivity.