INTERVENCION INDEPENDIENTE 1260 Manejo del Peso

This paper draws upon research in two savanna villages in Ghana’s Upper West Region (Figure 2.1). The Upper West has been one of Ghana’s poorest regions for several decades; infrastructure, standards of living, literacy levels, health and nutritional status are all very low and worse than in any other part of the country (Ghana Statistical Service, 2008). The region falls within the semi-arid, Guinea savanna agro-ecological zone. The vegetation is characterized by a layer of grasses of varying heights, alongside drought-resistant trees. The topography is marked by a relatively flat savanna plains devoted almost exclusively to the cultivation of different kinds of cereals and legumes.

Figure 2.2 Location of the Study Area

There is a unimodal rainy season lasting for approximately five months, from May to September. The rest of the year is characterized by a pronounced dry season with cold and hazy harmattan weather. The rainfall regime fluctuates considerably between years and within a season. The mean annual rainfall for the period 1953 to 2011 was 1,036 mm, with the range varying from a minimum of 523.7 mm in 1986, to a maximum of 1500 mm in 1963 (Figure 2.3). Dry spells are thus a recurring phenomenon. Rainfall tends to occur in heavy torrents and is concentrated in a few days, thereby resulting in heavy erosion, instead of soil moisture recharge (Van der Geest, 2002).

Figure 2.3 Rainfall Variability in Upper-West Region, Ghana

Data Source: Ghana Methodological Agency, Accra, Ghana

The two research villages (hereafter referred to as Village ‘A’ and Village ‘B’) are predominantly remote and poor. Table 2.1 is a summary of site-specific characteristics and differences between the two sites. Both villages have laterite soils with a moderate acidic content [pH 5.7-6.4] (Adjei-Agyapong and Asiamah, 2002), but Village ‘A’ also has narrow strips of alluvial soils in the floodplains of the Black Volta River. These alluvial soils are less acidic as compared to the laterites (pH 4.7-5.2), and are extensively used for flood recession farming. Smallholder farming and herding are the principal livelihood activities in the two villages. Production is typically more

oriented towards household consumption than for market sales. Most households’ livestock holdings include cattle, sheep and goats.

Table 2.1 Characteristics of the study villages

Study Village Village ‘A’ Village ‘B’

District Nadowli District Lawra District

Population (census 2000) 494 4,041

Total households (census 2000) 72 419

Total households (2012)5 272 704

Households studied 57% 35%

Total houses/farmsteads 158 305

Distance to nearest town 21 km (Nadawli) 3 km (Lawra)

Ethnic composition Dominated by Dagaabas (93%) Dominated by Dagaabas (95%)

Electricity Not available Available

Market Not available, 12 km to nearest market

Not available, 3 km to nearest market

Source: Compiled from Ghana Statistical Service, 2005a; Field notes, January to August, 2012.

Crops are planted in two types of agricultural fields: the compound field, which often surrounds the homestead, and the bush field, which may be several kilometres away from the village. Fields closest to compounds are intensively cultivated every year. Soil fertility is maintained with manure from livestock kraals and compound sweepings. Most households cultivate maize, often in addition to pearl millet, guinea corn, groundnuts and beans. Smallholder farming follows different types of multiple cropping patterns. It may include growing more than one crop on a field during the same farming season (intercropping), growing more than one crop after each other in a sequence (sequential cropping), or growing two or more crops with overlapping cultivation periods (relay cropping). Cereals are intercropped with, or succeeded by legumes, with vegetables cultivated in small patches within the field. This cropping system has a peak planting period from May to June.

Some household members might own individual farms, but a majority of households have a collective field to which junior members (age between 5 and 45

5 _{These are unofficial estimates from our 2012 household survey. A new national census was}

years) and active senior members (age between 46 and 75 years) are expected to contribute labour towards planting, weeding and harvesting. Our survey of time and labour allocation showed that women were more involved in farm operations after initial field preparation. Women’s workload usually revolved around weeding, harvesting and post-harvest work in grain processing. All households had at least one common granary for storing grains harvested from the collective field. At regular periods after harvests, male household heads parcel out grains among the women of the compound. Married women cook for themselves and their children; co-wives alternate the task of cooking for their husbands, although there are some exceptions (in some polygamous households, each co-wife sends a bowl of the evening meal to the husband).

Both villages have significant seasonal migrant populations, most of whom are male. In our surveyed households, about 48 percent of members in Village ‘A’ and 25 percent of members in Village ‘B’ were absent at the time of our survey. During periods after crop harvest and low agricultural labour demand, young men and women migrate to work as casual labourers in subsistence and cash crops farms within southern Ghana. These migrant farmers, however, return to their home villages at the beginning of each farming season. The historical root of migration is linked to British colonial policies that largely neglected the north, and post-colonial policies that have further entrenched regional inequality in Ghana (Shepherd et al., 2004). As a result of the large migrant population, food and cash remittances are significant in the local economy (Luginaah et al., 2009).