Introducing the Problem of Desertification and Poverty in Ghana

Introducing the problem of desertification and poverty in Ghana

Ghana is a tropical country in West Africa. Ghana covers an area of 238,000 square kilometres making it very similar in size to the UK (244,000 square kilometres). Whilst all parts of Ghana have a hot tropical climate, the amount of rainfall varies significantly from north to south. Northern Ghana is the driest part of the country with a dry season that can last up to 8 months of the year. The natural vegetation in this dry zone is grassland and savanna woodland. In recent years huge numbers of trees from these environments have been felled to increase the size of farms or to use as firewood. Most rural people cook using wood or charcoal on open stoves. People in the cities buy wood from the countryside for cooking too. As a consequenceof this damage to the vegetation soil erosion has become a serious issue. Deforestation may even be contributing to local climate change by reducing the amount of water that can return back into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration.

Figure 1 Annual rainfall totals Ghana

Jan / Feb / Mar / Apr / May / Jun / Jul / Aug / Sep / Oct / Nov / Dec
Tamale / 3 / 3 / 53 / 69 / 104 / 142 / 125 / 196 / 226 / 99 / 10 / 5
Kumasi / 61 / 291 / 479 / 560 / 546 / 598 / 302 / 311 / 390 / 361 / 89 / 42

Figure 2 Arable farming and the risk of soil erosion

Is poor land management the cause of desertification in Ghana?

Farming in the savanna region of Ghana is a mixture of crop growing and animal grazing. Farmers keep goats and cattle for both their milk and meat. Crops are grown using a traditional bush fallow system. Scrub vegetation is removed by slashing and burning. Crops such as maize, root crops and vegetables are then grown for between 1 and 3 years. The land is then abandoned for between 8 and 15 years. This is known as the fallow period. During this fallow period the natural shrubs grow back. Leaves from the shrubs decompose in the soil, replacing organic fibre and nutrients that have been taken out by farming. This system is sustainable as long as the fallow period remains long enough. However, in some villages the fallow period is now only 2 to 3 years. This does not give soil enough time to recover. It loses its organic content and its structure becomes dusty. This means that the soil is at risk of erosion from both wind and rainfall.

Figure 3 What farmers noticed about Ghana’s changing environment over a 20 year period

Signs of desertification / % of people in survey
Poor rainfall / 27
Less trees in the landscape / 22
Less shade from trees and shrubs for animals / 20
Poor harvest / 16
Drying up of streams and ponds / 2

Is commercial farming to blame for desertification and food shortages?

In recent years many European Trans National Companies (TNCs) have either bought or leased land in Africa to grow crops. This means that land is converted from the traditional bush fallow system by large agricultural businesses (known as agri-businesses) that usually grow a single crop in very large fields. Some agri-businesses grow bio-fuel crops ie crops that are then processed for their natural oils. These oils are then used in bio-fuels that replace diesel in European cars. One such crop is jatropha. A large number of foreign TNCs, including Agroils (Italy) and ScanFuel (Norway) have been buying or leasing land in Ghana over the last 10 years. It is estimated that 5 million hectares (an area the size of Denmark) is now used for commercial farming by foreign agri-businesses in this way and that as much as 37% of all of Ghana’s cropland is now used to grow jatropha.

Some see this as an important way for Ghana to earn foreign income. In the past Ghana earned most of its income from the export of tropical timbers. This led to a rapid loss of tropical rainforest during the period 1950 – 1980. Growing commercial crops such as jatrophashould be more sustainable.

Figure 4 Stakeholder views on the growth of jatropha in Ghana

The European Union needs to tackle climate change. One way to achieve this is to reduce our use of petrol and diesel in Europe. We have, therefore, set a target of 10 per cent of transport fuels to come from renewable sources by 2020. There isn’t enough space in Europe to grow all of the biofuels we need, so some has to be grown in Africa.
An EU spokesperson
Small farmers like me, especially women farmers, are being pushed from our communal land by large commercial farms who are growing jatropha. I used to sell the fruit and nuts from my shea nut and dawadawa trees in the local market. But all of these different trees have been cleared away to make space for fields of jatropha. What will local people eat if we stop growing our own food?
A female Ghanaian farmer
Too much land is being grabbed by foreign companies to supply Europe with biofuels. The situation is out of control. Jatropha is not a wonder crop. It uses valuable water resources and needs expensive pesticides. In some regions food crops have been cleared to plant jatropha so local farmers have no source of food.
A spokesperson for Friends of the Earth
I think that growing large fields of crops like jatropha puts too much strain on land that is at risk of desertification. The bush fallow system allows the soil to recover between crops. Commercial farms use the land more intensively. Some scientists believe that, without careful management, the soils will become worn out by commercial farming and then be at risk of erosion.
Soil scientist

How should Ghana solve the problem of desertification?

Option 1 Prevent any further sale / lease of land for bio-fuel crops

The national government could pass legislation preventing the sale/lease of any more land to foreign agri-businesses that want to grow bio-fuels.

This option would be unpopular with the European governments who trade with Ghana. It might also be unpopular with rural communities in Northern Ghana who haven’t yet made a deal with a foreign company.

Option 2Could better wood burning stoves be the answer?

Most cooking in both the rural and urban areas of the Sahel is done on traditional open fires or simple wood burning stoves. These stoves are very inefficient. They use a lot of fuel and produce a lot of smoke that, when breathed in over many years, can cause very serious health issues.

Practical Action is a charity that works with local communities in developing countries to produce appropriate technologies that are efficient and affordable for poorer families. One of their initiatives has been the design of the Upesi stove in Kenya. Women potters make the stoves using clay collected from local riverbanks. The clay is moulded into shape and then fired in a kiln. The stoves are affordable, costing about the same as a chicken. Perhaps a similar scheme, making and selling efficient stoves, could be used in northern Ghana.

Option 3 Is planting trees the solution?

Agroforestry is the farm production of forest products. Vegetable, cash crops or fodder (crops for cattle to eat) are planted alongside a variety of species of tree. The trees provide valuable products such as fruit, building poles and fuelwood (wood for cooking). Trees are planted in dense hedgerows, in between crops, or in small plantations on farms. Agroforestry has helped to reverse the impact of both deforestation and desertification in many regions of Africa.

Agroforestry has a number of advantages to the farmer:

• products, such as poles for building, can be used by the farmer (therefore reducing household expenses), or sold to provide income for the farm;
• rows of trees provide shade for crops and a wind break;
• different trees attract different insects which are valuable for pollination of crops;
• some trees attract insects that act as a biological pest control for crops;
• leaves and clippings are used as a mulch to improve the soil. Trees can help to:
• keep moisture in the soil
• prevent soil erosion and landslides
• fix nitrogen in the soil
• recycle nutrients
• improve soil structure by adding organic materials

Option 4 Self-help: is soil conservation the answer?

Self-help projects, where communities help each other to find a solution, have been used in Sahel countries to conserve soil. One of the major problems of desertification is soil erosion. Long periods of hot, dry weather are followed by sudden, heavy rain storms. Top soil is easily washed away. This problem can be reduced by terracing steep fields and by building bunds in gently sloping fields. The bunds are simple lines of stones placed along the contours. These lines of stone trap soil and prevent erosion. This solution has been used in countries like Burkina Faso and Kenya. It’s a lot of work, so it works best where communities work together to help one another.

Your task

You must decide how Ghana should best tackle the growing problem of desertification.

Using the resource booklet you must weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of each of four possible options:

Option 1: The national government of Ghana could prevent the sale / lease of any more land to foreign companies who want to plant bio-fuel crops.

Option 2: A non-government organisation (NGO) could help fund a project for local people to make, sell and use efficient wood burning stoves.

Option 3: Farmers could be encouraged to plant trees. The national government could provide grants and education/training for farmers to encourage more agro-forestry.

Option 4: Local communities could work together to conserve soil by building terraces / bunds to help trap top soil.

Structuring your report

This exercise is all about showing off your skills as a decision maker. So, don’t leave the decision to the very last paragraph of your report. Make it clear from the outset why a decision needs to be made. Spend time weighing up each option and considering its advantages and disadvantages. You should also comment on whether you think each option is sustainable ie whether it has long lasting benefits for both local people and the environment. If possible, put the options into rank order and then state which option is your favourite, giving clear reasons for your decision.

Helping you to make a decision

Weighing up the options, making a decision and then justifying it (saying why you think one option is best) is key to doing well in your controlled assessment. So, you must make sure that you show off your decision making skills. There are a number of ways you could do this and some are suggested here:

1 SWOT analysis

1 Make a large copy of the table above. Complete it by adding the statements below to what you consider to be the appropriate cell.

•There are low levels of literacy in rural Ghana

•Poor communication in rural areas (eg lack of telephone or internet services)

•High levels of under-employment, especially amongst women

•High cost of wood fuel in urban areas of northern Ghana

•Lack of electricity in rural areas

•Success of similar projects in Kenya

•High levels of expertise of local NGO staff

•Support of the Ghanaian government

2 Use your table to explain whether you think Option 3 is achievable or not.

2 Diamond ranking

Diamond ranking, or diamond nine, is a useful technique to use when you have been asked to make a decision. Sometimes it’s not easy to try to rank or prioritise ideas when there is no obvious answer. Use this technique to group ideas, putting your favourite ideas near the top, and the ones you think are less convincing at the bottom of the diamond.

What are the benefits of the Upesi stove?

Less the stoves have lower CO2 emissions than a traditional stove
Women spend less time collecting firewood
Women have fewer injuries to their back and neck
Women and children have a reduced health risk
Cooking is faster and cleaner, producing less harmful smoke
The clay used to make the stoves is collected locally
Using less firewood means trees have longer to recover
The women who make the stoves learn new skills and earn respect
Women earn an income from making and selling the stoves

3 Weighing up stakeholder views

It’s important to consider how and why stakeholders might view each option. Make a large copy of the table below and complete it using information in Figure 4 and your own research. One of the boxes has been done for you.

When you have finished writing in column 2 and 3 you need to decide whether, based on this evidence, the stakeholder would support the option or not. Give a score* between -5 (for a view that is totally opposed to the plan) to +5 (for a view that is fully supportive of the plan).

Stakeholder views on banning the future sale / lease of land for bio-fuels

Stakeholder / Why they might support the plan / Why they might oppose the plan / score*
EU spokesperson / The EU has set ambitious targets for reducing CO2 emissions. We need more people in Europe to use bio-fuels so we need more crop land to be used for growing bio-fuels. There just isn’t enough crop land available in Europe.
Female Ghanaian farmer
Friends of the Earth
Soil scientist
Ghanaian government

Show off your geographical skills

It’s important to show that you can use a range of geographical skills such as:

• Annotating a map or photograph
• Drawing a graph
• Researching and analysing information

For example, you could:

• Select an appropriate technique to represent the data in figure 3.
• Use figure 1 to draw climate graphs for Tamale and Kumasi and compare the seasonal pattern shown on the two graphs
• You could annotate the graphs to highlight the differences and predict when you expect soil erosion to be a problem
• Or, you could locate your two climate graphs on an outline map of Ghana
• Research, select and annotate a map showing other areas at risk of desertification in West Africa.

Show you understand the relationship between people and sustainable environments

Annotate a diagram of a tree to show how planting more trees affects natural processes in the savanna such as:

Evaporation ratestranspirationlocal rainfall patterns

soil structurenutrient cyclesmovement of soil moisture

Useful websites for further research:

is the website of Practical Action who use technology to challenge poverty.

is a GIS atlas which allows the user to investigate maps of crop production in a number of countries, including Ghana.