Environmental and socio-economic characteristics of the Kpene catchment in Northern Ghana: implications for soil and water conservation

Abstract: A detailed agro-ecosystem characterization was carried out in the Kpene catchment of the Jolo-Kwaha watershed in Northern Ghana at a scale of 1:5000. The objective was to examine the environmental and socio-economic characteristics of the Kpene area and identify the constraints on sustainable agricultural production, especially soil and water management. Environmental data, particularly land use and soil types were obtained through transect surveys while socio-economic data through participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques. The area falls within the Guinea Savanna agro-ecological zone of Ghana with a unimodal rainfall regime. With a Land Use Ratio (LUR) of almost 100%, land use is very intense and fallow is almost non-existent the farming system. The uplands have mainly deep, well -drained and nonconcretionary Lixisols, and the lowlands, deep and imperfectly to poorly drained Planosols and Gleysols. The Kpene community has an average of 40 persons per household, with majority (45%) being between 15-45 years of age. The major occupation is farming with land ownership being entirely through inheritance. Major crops grown are maize, yam, rice and groundnuts. In soil fertility management, 70% apply mineral fertilisers, especially to rice. Some constraints on agricultural production are erratic and unreliable rainfall, low soil fertility and poor water management. Levelling for proper water conservation in the valley bottoms and water harvesting can enhance agricultural production

Gendered and generational tensions in increased land commercialisation: rural livelihood diversification, changing land use, and food security in Ghana’s Brong-Ahafo region

Many smallholder farmers in Jaman North District, Brong‐Ahafo Region, Ghana are shifting from food crop production to increased cultivation of cashew, an export cash crop. This paper examines gendered and generational tensions in increased commercialisation of land, livelihood diversification, and household food security in the context of globalisation and environmental change. Using qualitative, participatory research with 60 middle‐generation men and women, young people and key stakeholders, the research found that community members valued the additional income stream. Young people and women, however, were apprehensive about the long‐term consequences for food security of allocating so much land to cashew plantations. Young, middle, and older generations were concerned about their weak bargaining position in negotiating fair prices with export companies and intermediaries. Greater integration into the global economy exposed rural actors to multiple risks and inequalities, such as the uneven effects of economic globalisation, rises in food prices, hunger and food insecurity, growing competition for land, youth outmigration and climate change. The shift towards cashew cultivation appears to be exacerbating gender and generational inequalities in access to land and food insecurity and leading to exploitation within the global agri‐food supply chain among already vulnerable rural communities in the global South. With stronger farmer associations and cooperatives, however, cashew farmers stand the chance of benefitting from greater integration into the global economy, through strengthened bargaining positions. Greater understanding is needed about the complex interactions between sustainable food systems, changing land use and gender and generational inequalities in rural spaces