The Role of Proximate and other Determinants in Ghana’s Fertility Transition.

Although studies have revealed some of the factors behind Ghana’s fertility transition, much effort is still needed to explain the contribution to the transition of social factors such as beliefs, practices, customs, etc. Most of the studies have used macro-level data (mainly the Demographic and Health Surveys), and have therefore been unable to unravel in fine details the reasons at the micro level. The objective of this paper is to examine the role of proximate and other (mainly customs and practices) determinants in Ghana’s fertility transition. Household data collected among 386 females aged between 15 and 49 years in March 2002 are used. Results show that certain cultural practices such as child fostering, and females perception of their husbands or male participating in a household chore (seen as the preserve of females in Ghana) i.e., cooking, among other factors, turn out to be significant predictors of children ever born. Further research is needed to ascertain the role of other factors, viz, females’ perception of washing and babysitting by men, and the effect of practices such as badudwan (a female rewards the husband with a ram upon giving birth to the tenth child) on fertility

Supply and utilisation of food crops in Ghana, 1960-2000.

Agriculture is the main economic activity of the majority of the population living in Ghana. It contributes over 40% of Gross Domestic Product and employs about half of Ghana’s labour force. Due to that much attention has been placed on sustainable management of agricultural resources in the country. About 13,628,179 hectares representing 57.1% of Ghana’s total land area of 23,853,900 hectares, is suitable for agriculture. However, total area under cultivation in 2000 was 5,808,600 hectares representing 42.6% of the agricultural area. Agriculture in Ghana is mainly on a smallholder basis, although there are some large farms and plantations, particularly for cocoa (1,200,000 ha); oil palm (285,000 ha); seed cotton (62,000 ha); tobacco (1,600 ha); and coconut, banana, kola, etc. (1,502,500 ha). The main system of farming is traditional with the use of hoe and cutlass. Even though there is little mechanised farming, subsistence farming is widespread, especially in northern Ghana. In the 1970s, Ghana was virtually selfsufficient in the production of maize, cocoyam, cassava, and plantain. In 1981-1983, the demand for all these crops except cassava exceeded production. From 1969 to 1983, annual total agricultural production declined by almost 1% while per capita production declined almost 4%. Food supply per person dropped almost 30%. Supply (import and export) and utilisation (for food, feed, seed, farm manure, waste and other uses) of food crops have consequences for food production in Ghana. Using data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture Census, this paper assesses production, supply and utilisation of food crops in Ghana from 1960 to 2000. It also assesses the trend and pattern of population growth for the same period. Multiple regression models are used to ascertain the statistically significant predictors of food crop (rice, maize, millet, sorghum, cassava, yam and plantain) production in five periods, namely 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. The analysis shows that wastage, food imports, growth in human population, the utilisation of certain food crops as feed, food and on farms as manure, significantly influenced the production of food crops in Ghana at one point in time or the other in the five decades.Keywords: Supply, Utilisation, Food crops, Ghana, Sub-Saharan Africa

Economic analysis of climate variability impact on malaria prevalence : the case of Ghana

By the end of the century, a marginal change in temperature and precipitation levels could lead to a significant change in the number of malaria cases for most countries in Africa. At the district level, humidity and total rainy days in a year appear to be predictors of malaria prevalence within the country. In contrast to expectation, districts with a higher proportion of middle income households, on average, had higher malaria prevalence. Research results suggest that malaria prevalence increases with rainfall, the proportion of middle income households, and the proportion of households with no formal education

Social consequences of planned relocation in response to sea level rise: impacts on anxiety, well-being, and perceived safety

Governments globally are adapting to sea level rise through a range of interventions to improve everyday lives of communities at risk. One prominent response is planned relocation, where people and communities are enabled to move from localities exposed to coastal erosion and inundation as a result of sea level rise. Managed retreat has significant social consequences including under-reported impacts on health, well-being and social identity. Here we adopt well-established measures of well-being and document the outcomes of planned relocation on well-being in the Volta Delta region of Ghana. Data from a bespoke survey for individuals (n = 505) in relocated and non-relocated communities demonstrate that planned relocation negatively impacts well-being and anxiety of those relocated when compared to a community that is equally exposed but has not moved. Individuals in the relocated community reported significantly lower levels of overall wellbeing, significantly higher levels of anxiety, and lower perceptions of safety, compared to non-relocated community members. These outcomes are explained as being related to the disruption of community connection, identities, and feelings of efficacy. Relocated community members reported significantly lower levels of attachment to the local area and home, significantly lower levels of community-based self-efficacy, and significantly lower levels of overall community-based identity. The results demonstrate that planned relocation to address sea level rise has multiple social consequences with outcomes for well-being that are not straightforwardly related to risk reduction

Perceived environmental risks and insecurity reduce future migration intentions in hazardous migration source areas

An analysis of perceptions of motivations for prior migration and migration intentions of households in four low-lying coastal areas in Asia and Africa finds that few households identified environmental risks as the primary driver for past migration decisions. The study examined the extent to which specific elements of perceptions of environment might influence migration intention. Social determinants such as larger households, households with ecosystem-based livelihoods, and those with migrant networks report potential future intentions to migrate that are 6%, 14%, and 90%, respectively higher than those that do not show these characteristics

Evaluating migration as successful adaptation to climate change: trade-offs in well-being, equity, and sustainability

The role of migration as one potential adaptation to climate change is increasingly recognized, but little is known about whether migration constitutes successful adaptation, under what conditions, and for whom. Based on a review of emerging migration science, we propose that migration is a successful adaptation to climate change if it increases well-being, reduces inequality, and promotes sustainability. Well-being, equity, and sustainability represent entry points for identifying trade-offs within and across different social and temporal scales that could potentially undermine the success of migration as adaptation. We show that assessment of success at various scales requires the incorporation of consequences such as loss of population in migration source areas, climate risk in migration destination, and material and non-material flows and economic synergies between source and destination. These dynamics and evaluation criteria can help make migration visible and tractable to policy as an effective adaptation option

Health and wellbeing implications of adaptation to flood risk

Adaptation strategies to ameliorate the impacts of climate change are increasing in scale and scope around the world, with interventions becoming a part of daily life for many people. Though the implications of climate impacts for health and wellbeing are well documented, to date, adaptations are largely evaluated by financial cost and their effectiveness in reducing risk. Looking across different forms of adaptation to floods, we use existing literature to develop a typology of key domains of impact arising from interventions that are likely to shape health and wellbeing. We suggest that this typology can be used to assess the health consequences of adaptation interventions more generally and argue that such forms of evaluation will better support the development of sustainable adaptation planning

Perceived stressors of climate vulnerability across scales in the Savannah zone of Ghana: a participatory approach

Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are confronted with climatic and non-climatic stressors. Research attention has focused on climatic stressors, such as rainfall variability, with few empirical studies exploring non-climatic stressors and how these interact with climatic stressors at multiple scales to affect food security and livelihoods. This focus on climatic factors restricts understanding of the combinations of stressors that exacerbate the vulnerability of farming households and hampers the development of holistic climate change adaptation policies. This study addresses this particular research gap by adopting a multi-scale approach to understand how climatic and non-climatic stressors vary, and interact, across three spatial scales (household, community and district levels) to influence livelihood vulnerability of smallholder farming households in the Savannah zone of northern Ghana. This study across three case study villages utilises a series of participatory tools including semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The incidence, importance, severity and overall risk indices for stressors are calculated at the household, community, and district levels. Results show that climatic and non-climatic stressors were perceived differently; yet, there were a number of common stressors including lack of money, high cost of farm inputs, erratic rainfall, cattle destruction of crops, limited access to markets and lack of agricultural equipment that crossed all scales. Results indicate that the gender of respondents influenced the perception and severity assessment of stressors on rural livelihoods at the community level. Findings suggest a mismatch between local and district level priorities that have implications for policy and development of agricultural and related livelihoods in rural communities. Ghana’s climate change adaptation policies need to take a more holistic approach that integrates both climatic and non-climatic factors to ensure policy coherence between national climate adaptation plans and District development plans

The Role of Proximate and other Determinants in Ghana's Fertility Transition.

Although studies have revealed some of the factors behind Ghana's fertility transition, much effort is still needed to explain the contribution to the transition of social factors such as beliefs, practices, customs, etc. Most of the studies have used macro-level data (mainly the Demographic and Health Surveys), and have therefore been unable to unravel in fine details the reasons at the micro level. The objective of this paper is to examine the role of proximate and other (mainly customs and practices) determinants in Ghana's fertility transition. Household data collected among 386 females aged between 15 and 49 years in March 2002 are used. Results show that certain cultural practices such as child fostering, and females perception of their husbands or male participating in a household chore (seen as the preserve of females in Ghana) i.e., cooking, among other factors, turn out to be significant predictors of children ever born. Further research is needed to ascertain the role of other factors, viz, females' perception of washing and babysitting by men, and the effect of practices such as badudwan (a female rewards the husband with a ram upon giving birth to the tenth child) on fertility

Cohort analysis of fertility change among females in two agro-ecological zones of Ghana

The Kassena-Nankana and Ejura-Sekyedumase districts are located in two contrasting agro-ecological zones of Ghana. While the Kassena-Nankana district is located in the dry savannah agro-ecological zone, the Ejura-Sekyedumase district on the other hand is located in the derived savannah agro-ecological zone, and this has implications for fertility. The main objective of this paper is to ascertain using cohort analysis and the district level as the unit of analysis, whether there have been changes in fertility amongst females aged 20-29 and 40-49 in two distinctive districts in Ghana. The study also aims at adding to the scanty literature on fertility change in Ghana. According to the analysis, cumulative births per female at age 29 shows a difference of 0.7 and 1.2 for the Kassena-Nankana and Ejura-Sekyedumase districts respectively, for the two age cohorts. This gives an indication that fertility has slightly decreased among the two cohorts in both geographical locations.Institute of African Studies: Research Review Vol. 20(2) 2004: 11-2