Abstract

In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), studies on land-use/cover (LUC) change have focused more on transformation from forest or woodland to other types of LUC. Few studies have addressed the dynamics in agricultural landscapes which could accompany impacts on the environment. This paper identified potential drivers of agricultural land-use/cover (ALUC) via household surveys and interviews of stakeholders, as well as information gathered from literature. Identified drivers were used to develop descriptive scenarios (what-if questions), and were presented to farmers during participatory scenario exploration exercises. The scenarios were used to view the farmers' ALUC options under changing climatic and socio-economic conditions. The parameters used include climate change resulting from rainfall, socioeconomic variables like availability of finance, and access to fertilizer and the price of seeds. Findings from this study showed that climate change (rainfall)-related scenarios influence the replacement of crop(s) from agricultural land (agricultural-land-conversion), while socio-economic scenarios influence the incorporation of crop(s) to an existing agricultural land (agricultural-land-modification). Farmers may change their ALUC under certain conditions/stressors, and this might have accompanied environmental impact. In this part of the world, in-depth and well documented impacts of ALUC on the environment are scant. Therefore, to effectively direct policy in this direction, it will be necessary to investigate more on the associated environmental trade-offs associated with diverse agricultural land-use/covers. In addition, minimizing the associated trade-offs should be our priority.