The study aimed at determining whether cashew trees have higher capacity to store carbon than forest trees. Thirty cashew plots 25 m x 25 m size were selected in three cashew growing communities and ten plots from the natural forest reserve. Carbon stocks were estimated from the individual diameter at breast height(dbh) measurement and soil organic carbon. All forest trees and other food crop trees with diameter-breast-height (DBH) ?5 cm at 1.3m above the ground level were individually identified and their DBH measured. Above ground biomass of forest trees was estimated using the allometric model which estimates tree biomass as Y= 0.30 × d 2.31. Cashew tree biomass was estimated by adopting the allometric model str= Exp (0.7399+0.3137*LnD2 H). Aboveground biomass of Musa sp was estimated using the empirical model 0.03 × d2.13. Forest tree carbon stocks clearly decreases from the cashew plantations across the different cashew farming communities. Soil organic carbon significantly decreased in the cashew farmlands. Although cashew plantations recorded the least carbon stocks, it has the potential of sequestering some amount of carbon and thereby can help mitigate global climate change.

Keywords: Carbon, biomass, cashew, soil, plantation, Ghana