Environmental and Livelihood Impacts of Agroforestry Carbon Credit Payments: Evidence from Smallholder Farmers in Tanzania

This study examines the impacts of agroforestry-based carbon benefit payments on improving agroforestry practices and livelihood outcomes among smallholder farmers in Kagera region of Tanzania. We focus on Acorn, a program that links smallholder farmers transitioning to agroforestry to voluntary carbon markets, where they receive payments for carbon credits generated by trees on their farms. Using a doubly robust DID estimator, we find that carbon payments are associated with increased tree planting and ownership of livestock and other productive assets. However, we do not find significant effects of payments on crop income and food security. Overall, our findings support the potential of incentive-based approaches to promote agroforestry expansion among smallholder farmers in the region while strengthening farming household wealth and resilience through ownership of productive assets.

The seminar series is organized by the Section Economics of Wageningen University (consisting of the groups Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy, Development Economics, Urban Economics, Environmental Economics and Natural Resources, and Economic and Environmental History).

The seminar is aiming to foster the exchange on recent topics in the field of economics. We consider contributions from all fields of economic research and invite speakers from Wageningen, the Netherlands and abroad.

The seminar is organized as a weekly lunch seminar taking place on campus. Meetings are between 12:00 and 13:00 hours. Lunch is served. 

All staff and students are welcome!