The Ebola outbreak in West Africa may have been the result of complex economic and agricultural policies developed by authorities in Guinea and Liberia, according to a new commentary in Environment and Planning A. Looking at the economic activities around villages where Ebola first emerged, the investigators analyzed a shift in land-use activities in Guinea's forested region, particularly an increase in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) cultivation.

The researchers write that this shift could be linked to governmental policy promoting "neoliberal structural adjustment" that opens domestic production to global markets. Using what they called "a palm oil hypothesis," they conclude that Ebola may have crossed from the environment into humans through a rise in palm oil plantations.

Agriculture in the region had been characterized by coffee, cocoa, the kola nut, and by slash-and-burn farming. Such farming involves planting maize and rice initially, followed by cassava and peanuts during the second year. But these agroforestry practices changed recently with the introduction of improved palm oil production. Beginning in 2007, the Guinean government began to export palm oil and planned to ramp up production to export 84,000 tons in 2015, more than half of which would come from forested Guinean plantations.

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