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INTEGRATED FINAL REPORT OF PLEC WORK IN GHANA
INTEGRATED FINAL REPORT OF PLEC WORK IN GHANA
AUGUST 1992 - FEBRUARY 2002
Reported by
Edwin A. Gyasi
(Leader, southern Ghana PLEC group and Co-ordinating Leader, WAPLEC)
With assistance of
Felix Asante
(WAPLEC Administrative and Research Officer)
and
Yaa Asiedua Gyasi
(Ag. WAPLEC Secretary and Temporary Research Assistant)
University of Ghana, Legon
March 2002
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In Ghana PLEC work started in 1993 with a pilot study of environmental changes and farmers reactions to them with reference to sites within the southern sector of the semi-humid forest-savanna transition zone. The study resulted in:
· a technical report;
· a workshop;
· a published scientific paper;
· a book; and,
· creation of contacts with farmers and others for further work.
Subsequently, but most especially from 1997, work became more applied with a focus on agrodiversity conservation through a participatory approach led by farmers with support of scientists. A major output is establishment of five principal agrodiversity demonstration sites and two subsidiary ones. They are located in the three main agroecological zones (humid forest, dry savanna and semi-humid forest-savanna mosaic), and managed by over 1300 farmers who include experts in biodiversity conservation. PLEC has organized the farmers into associations that serve as a medium for:
· farmer - scientist interactions and collaborative work;
· farmer - to - farmer interactions including exchange of knowledge and germ-plasm;
· reaching out to farmers and sensitizing them to issues of conservation and development;
· mobilizing the latent knowledge, energy and other resources of farmers for the purpose of conservation and development;
· tapping or accessing external support for farmers;
· carrying out demonstrations; and,
· in general, empowering farmers politically, socially and economically.
Through the farmer associations PLEC interventions have achieved the following:
· by systematic assessment involving scientists and over 50 farmer expert ethno-botanists, scientific insights into plant-biodiversity;
· identification of over 12 traditional farm management practices that favour biodiversity;
· promotion of use of the practices identified as favouring biodiversity, and of other modes of conservation.
As a result of the conservation promotion drive, mulching with chopped vegetation in a practice called oprowka (or proka), which avoids ecologically destructive burning, is on the increase, as are the following practices:
· management of assorted yams within agroforestry systems;
· usage of forests conserved nearby for beekeeping, honey and wax, which has grown to involves over 70 households with great prospects for further expansion;
· establishment of woodlots and plant nurseries which yield poles, firewood and seedlings in commercial quantities;
· conservation and production of local varieties of rare domestic fowls and rice, Oryza glaberrima, on a commercial scale;
· management of medicinal plants within conserved forest or arboretum;
· growing of foodcrops among trees conserved in situ in farms;
· propagation of plantain and certain other crops through the split-corm technique; and,
· grafting and budding of plants.
Because of the commercial orientation of these and other conservation practices encouraged by PLEC, rural livelihoods and incomes are being improved. The process is encouraged by enthusiastic response of farmers to other value addition or income generating activities, notably the following, which are promoted by PLEC to motivate farmers to conserve:
· processing of cassava, a primary cash crop, into flour for bread and pastry, which involves a sizeable number of females;
· spinning and weaving of cotton, another important cash crop, into cloth by youthful women, which is helping to curb rural out-migration;
· raising of snails, a delicacy in some of the demonstration sites; and,
· piggery, introduced as the nucleus of a swine dispersal project.
Enrichment of biodiversity through PLEC interventions, above all those focused on promotion of agrodiversity and related activities, is manifested, among other things, by:
· an apparent increased plant pollination and utilization of nectar by bees kept in home gardens and forests conserved nearby;
· conservation and development of arboreta harboring various species of medicinal plants;
· production of rare types of yam, Dioscorea, within agroforestry systems;
· integration of citrus and oil palms into traditional systems of food cropping;
· development, by a local farmer, of an unique system of crop management based on a combination of traditional and modern practices that has become a model because of its biodiverse character and high productivity;
· regeneration of deforested areas;
· a revival of the traditional agroforestry practice of growing crops alongside trees conserved in situ within farms; and,
· increased number of biodiverse school gardens.
Against this background and recalling the enthusiasm of farmers and their children for PLEC work, the demonstrated commitment of scientists to the PLEC cause, the co-operation and support of government, and the capacity developed by PLEC for improvement of rural livelihoods through agrodiversity, we can confidently expect the PLEC initiative to be sustained.
INTEGRATED FINAL REPORT OF PLEC WORK IN GHANA
AUGUST 1992 -FEBRUARY 2002 (
Reported by Edwin A. Gyasi (Co-ordinating Leader, WAPLEC) with assistance of Felix Asante (WAPLEC Administrative and Research Officer) and Yaa Asiedua Gyasi (Ag. WAPLEC Secretary and Temporary Research Assistant)
1. HISTORICAL CONTEXT
1.1 Background
Many events occur by chance rather than by design. So it was with the start of PLEC work in Ghana and elsewhere in West Africa. It all is rooted in a chance encounter between Professor Edwin Gyasi and Emeritus Professor Harold Brookfield, which culminated in the participation of Gyasi in the maiden meeting of PLEC during the 27th International Geographical Congress (IGC) of the International Geographical Union (IGU) in August 1992 in Washington, D.C.
Following a request by Brookfield in subsequent correspondence, Gyasi assembled about 12 Ghanaian scientists for a meeting with Brookfield and Dr. Juha Uitto of the UNU (United Nations University) on the prospective research project, ‘Population, Land Management and Environmental Change (PLEC)’, during a UNU conference on the Sub-Sahara African environment in Accra, Ghana, in March 1993.
A major outcome was the commissioning of Edwin Gyasi by the UNU in the later part of 1993, to lead a team of scientists to carry out a pilot PLEC study on production pressures and environmental changes with special reference to the southern sector of Ghana’s forest-savanna transition zone. The study focused on three sites, Yensiso, Sekesua and Amanase, which are described in subsequent sections. It was carried out between August 1993 and January 1994 with a $5,000 UNU seed money. The under listed scientists from the University of Ghana were the principal researchers:
· Edwin A. Gyasi (Leader/Co-ordinator);
· Gotfried T. Agyepong;
· Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf;
· Lewis Enu-Kwesi;
· John S. Nabila; and,
· Emmanuel Owusu-Bennoah.
1.2. Progression of PLEC work in pre-GEF phase
Main outputs of the pilot study were:
a) the research study report, ‘Environmental Endangerment in the Forest-Savanna zone of Southern Ghana’ (Prepared for the UNU in January 1994 by E. A. Gyasi, G. T. Agyepong, E. Ardayfio-Schandorf, L. Enu-Kwesi, J. S. Nabila and E. Owusu-Bennoah with assistance of S. K. Kufogbe and technical advice by G. Benneh);
b) the workshop, ‘Environment, Biodiversity and Agricultural Change in West Africa’, which was hosted in October 1994 at the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, by the embryonic PLEC-Ghana with collaboration of UNU/INRA (United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa) and funding by the UNU and TWA (Third World Academy of Sciences);
c) the scientific paper, ‘Production pressure and environmental change in the forest -savanna zone of Southern Ghana’, (Authored by Edwin A. Gyasi, G. T. Agyepong, E. Ardayfio-Schandorf, L. Enu-Kwesi, J. S. Nabila, and E. Owusu-Bennoah for publication in 1995 in Global Environmental Change 5 (4), 355 - 366);
d) the book, ‘Environment, Biodiversity and Agricultural Change in West Africa: Perspectives from Ghana’, (Edited by Edwin A. Gyasi and Juha I. Uitto, and published by the United Nations University Press, Tokyo); and,
e) creation of contacts with farmers and other people at the grassroots for further PLEC work.
The following developments followed the initial pilot study phase:
· an extension of work from the sites in the semi humid forest-savanna zone of southern Ghana to include sites in the interior humid forest and semi-arid savanna zones located respectively in the central and northern sectors of the country (Fig. 1), and to other sites in the Republic of Guinea;
· systematic mapping of sites and their settlements;
· integration of more scientists from the University of Ghana, and of additional ones from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and University for Development Studies, both in Ghana, and the Université de Conakry in the Republic of Guinea; and,
· increased institutional collaboration, especially with:
· UNU/INRA, whose Director was appointed a PLEC-Ghana Technical Advisor;
· Ghana’s Ministries of Environment, Science and Technology, Food and Agriculture and Lands and Forestry, each of which came to be formally represented on PLEC-Ghana by an official nominated by the Ministry;
· Regional and District administrative authorities of the PLEC operational areas;
· Ghana’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; and,
· various NGOs, notably Ghana Rural Reconstruction Movement (Gh.R.R.M), and Ghana Association for the Conservation of Nature (GACON).
By the end of 1997, the following additional developments had occurred:
· an increase in the number of scientists involved in the basically investigative and information generating PLEC work, from the initial core of six concentrated in southern Ghana, to nearly 30 (including associates), with representation in all three sectors of the country namely, southern, central and northern (Table 1; also Tables 2 - 4);
· a growth in the number of farmers in all the three sectors (Table 1; also Tables 2 - 4); and,
· increase in financial support from the initial $5,000 to an average of $22,158 per annum, with the UNU as the principal source (Table 5).
From about 1997, work emphasis shifted on to:
· identification of those aspects of farmer land usage that appear to be particularly effective for conservation of agrodiversity (i.e. of biodiversity within agriculture); and,
· applied work that involves demonstration of sustainable management of agrodiversity at the study sites, in a process of their development into ‘demonstration sites’ to foster agrodiversity conservation, and analysis and dissemination.
Table 1: Time series representation of involvement of various categories of people in PLEC work in Ghana (1993 - 2001/2002)
Category of personnel
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998/99
1999/2000
2000/2001
2001/2002
SCIENTISTS
Core
6
10
12
(10M: 2F)
16
(14M: 2F)
17
(15M: 2F)
15
(13M: 2F)
27
23
(17M: 6F)
19
(14M: 5F)
Associates/collaborating
0
3
10
(9M: 1F)
14
13
14
(12M: 2F)
18
16
(15M: 1F)
25
(24M: 1F)
FARMERS
PLEC members
0
0
20
(18M: 2F)
203
390
770
897
952
>1,319
Associates/collaborating
10
15
3
(3M: 0F)
3
3
8
(6M: 2F)
>23
52
(35M: 17F)
62
(39M: 3F)
STUDENTS
Assistants
4
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
22
41
22
(19M: 3F)
48
(42M: 6F)
PLEC-supported/sponsored
0
0
0
0
0
3
(2M: 1F)
6
(5M: 1F)
2
(2M: 0F)
2
(2M: 0F)
OTHER SUPPORTING STAFF
Administrative
0
0
3
(3M: 0F)
2
(2M:0F)
2
(2M: 0F)
3
(2M: 1F)
3
(2M: 1F)
3
(2M: 1F)
3
(2M: 1F)
Technical & others
3
3
N/A
N/A
N/A
12
(12M: 0F)
13
(13M: 0F)
16
(15M: 1F)
16
(15M: 1F)
TOTAL
23
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
847
>1,028
1,086
>1,494
N/A: Not available
M : Male
Source: PLEC-Ghana records, University of Ghana, Legon
F: Female
Table 2: Time series representation of involvement of various categories of people in PLEC work in southern Ghana (1993 - 2001/2002)
Category of personnel
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998/99
1999/2000
2000/2001
2001/2002
SCIENTISTS
Core
6
10
8
(6M: 2F)
8
(6M: 2F)
7
(5M: 2F)
6
(4M: 2F)
7
(4M: 3F)
7
(4M: 3F)
7
(4M: 3F)
Associates/
collaborating
0
3
8
(7M: 1F)
8
(7M: 1F)
8
(7M: 1F)
8
(7M: 1F)
6
(6M: 0F)
6
(6M: 0F)
9
(9M: 0F)
FARMERS
PLEC members
0
0
20
(18M: 2F)
107
(75M: 2F)
247
(145M: 102F)
338
(185M: 153F)
355
(190M: 165F)
361
(180M: 181F)
>361
Associates/
collaborating
10
15
N/A
N/A
N/A
1
(1M: 0F)
7
(5M: 2F)
30
(25M: 5F)
30
(25M: 5F)
STUDENTS
Assistants
N/A
4
(3M: 1F)
4
(3M: 1F)
4
(3M: 1F)
3
(2M: 1F)
6
(5M: 1F)
6
(6M: 0F)
6
(6M: 0F)
PLEC-supported/
sponsored
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
(3M: 0F)
2
(2M: 0F)
2
(2M: 0F)
OTHER SUPPORTING STAFF
Administrative
0
0
3
(3M: 0F)
2
(2M: 0F)
2
(2M: 0F)
3
(2M: 1F)
3
(2M: 1F)
3
(2M: 1F)
3
(2M: 1F)
Technical &
others
3
3
4
(4M: 0F)
4
(4M: 0F)
4
(4M: 0F)
4
(4M: 0F)
5
(5M: 0F)
7
(6M: 1F)
8
(7M: 1F)
TOTAL
23
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
363
(205M: 158F)
392
(220M: 172F)
422
(231M: 191F)
>427
N/A: Not available
Source: PLEC-Ghana records, University of Ghana, Legon
Table 3: Time series representation of involvement of various categories of people in PLEC work in central Ghana (1993 - 2001/2002)
Category of personnel
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998/99
1999/2000
2000/2001
2001/2002
SCIENTISTS
Core
N/A
2
(2M: 0F)
2
(2M: 0F)
5
(5M: 0F)
5
(5M: 0F)
5
(5M: 0F)
15
12
(10M: 2F)
8
(7M: 1F)
Associates/
collaborating
N/A
N/A
1
(1M: 0F)
5
(5M: 0F)
3
(3M: 0F)
4
10
9
(7M: 2)
15
(14M: 1F)
FARMERS
PLEC members
N/A
N/A
N/A
95
(33M: 62F)
128
(43M: 85F)
182
(46M: 135F)
252
(54M: 198F)
400
(58M: 342F)
767
(79M: 688F)
Associates/
collaborating
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
4
(2M: 2F)
>6
4
(2M: 2F)
14
(6M: 8F)
STUDENTS
Assistants
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
16
33
11
(8M: 3F)
38
(32M: 6F)
PLEC-supported/
sponsored
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
3
(2M: 1F)
3
(2M: 1F)
0
0
OTHER SUPPORTING STAFF
Administrative
N/A
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Technical & others
N/A
0
0
N/A
N/A
3
(3M: 0F)
5
(5M: 0F)
7
(7M: 0F)
6
(6M: 0F)
TOTAL
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
217
>324
443
848
(144M: 704F)
N/A: Not available
Source: PLEC-Ghana records, University of Ghana, Legon
Table 4: Time series representation of involvement of various categories of people in PLEC work in northern Ghana (1993 - 2001/2002)
Category of personnel
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998/99
1999/2000
2000/2001
2001/2002
SCIENTISTS
Core
2
(2M: 0F)
3
(3M: 0F)
5
(5M: 0F)
4
(4M: 0F)
5
(4M: 1F)
4
(3M: 1F)
4
(3M: 1F)
Associates
/collaborating
1
(1M: 0F)
1
(1M: F)
2
(2M: 0F)
2
(2M: 0F)
2
(2M: 0F)
1
(1M: 0F)
1
(1M: 0F)
FARMERS
PLEC members
N/A
15
(8M: 7F)
15
(5M: 10F)
250
(150M: 100F)
290
(170M: 120F)
191
>191
Associates/
collaborating
3
(3M: 0F)
3
(3M: 0F)
N/A
3
(3M: 0F)
10
(5M: 5F)
18
(8M: 10F)
18
(8M: 10F)
STUDENTS
Assistants
N/A
N/A
N/A
3
(3M: 0F)
2
(2M: 0F)
5
(5M: 0F)
4
(4M: 0F)
PLEC-supported/
sponsored
N/A
N/A
N/A
0
0
0
0
OTHER SUPPORTING STAFF
Administrative
N/A
N/A
N/A
0
0
0
0
Technical & others
N/A
N/A
N/A
5
(5M: 0F)
3
(3M: 0F)
2
(2M: 0F)
2
(2M: 0F)
TOTAL
N/A
N/A
N/A
267
(167M: 100F)
312
(186M: 126F)
221
>220
N/A: Not available
Source: PLEC-Ghana records, University of Ghana, Legon
Table 5: Quantum and source of funding for PLEC work in Ghana since 19931
YEAR
AMOUNT ($)
SOURCE
1993
5,000
United Nations University
1994
2,500
15,680
3,700
1,000
United Nations University
Third World Academy of Sciences
United Nations University
-do-
1995
2,000
35,000
7,250
United Nations University
do-
-do-
1996
13,000
United Nations University
1997
8,500
United Nations University
1998/1999
188,590
United Nations University
1999/2000
130,088
13,626
United Nations University
-do-
2000/2001
139,000
2,365
United Nations University
-do-
2001/2002
85,000
18,339
United Nations University
-do-
1 Excludes funds channeled through Ghana for PLEC work in the Republic of Guinea.
1.3. Site selection
In Ghana the primary focal areas of PLEC work are:
· Gyamfiase-Adenya (originally named Yensiso site), Sekesua-Osonson (originally named Sekesua) and Amanase-Whanabenya (originally named Amanase), all located within the forest-savanna mosaic zone of southern Ghana;
· Jachie, which together with Tano-Odumasi, a subsidiary site, and the suspended sites, Nyameani, Boabeng-Fiema and Bofie, is located in the humid forest-zone in central Ghana; and,
· Bongnayili-Dugu-Song (originally named Dugu, then Dugu-Song), which together with a subsidiary site, Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre (originally a primary site named Bawku-Manga, but later redesignated a subsidiary site and given the current name, Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre is located in the interior savanna zone in northern Ghana (Fig. 1).
In southern Ghana the PLEC work has focused without change on the three pilot sites (Gyamfiase-Adenya, Sekesua-Osonson and Amanase-Whanabenya, all in the Eastern Region) since the inception stage in 1993. In central Ghana where fieldwork started in 1994, the original plan to proceed concurrently at four scattered sites (Jachie, Nyameani, Boabeng-Fiema, and Bofie, all in the Ashanti Region) quickly proved to be over-ambitious. Therefore effort was concentrated at the readily accessible Jachie and, later, extended to the equally readily accessible Tano-Odumasi. In northern Ghana as in central Ghana, the work started in 1994, initially with Bawku-Manga (redesignated Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre) in the Upper East Region as the only site. From about 1998/99, work there was de-emphasized in favour of the more readily accessible Bongnayili-Dugu-Song in the Northern region.
The focal sites are in various stages of development from study sites into demonstration sites under the management of farmers with the support of nearby scientists drawn principally from the following institutions:
· University of Ghana, Legon, Legon/Accra, in case of southern Ghana;
· Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in case of central Ghana; and,
· University for Development Studies, Tamale, in case of northern Ghana.
In accord with PLEC-Ghana’s operational definition of a ‘demonstration site’, each of the three sites in southern Ghana (Gyamfiase Adenya, Sekesua-Osonson and Amanase-Whanabenya) and the principal one in northern Ghana (Bongnayili-Dugu-Song) measures approximately 10x10 km. = 100 sq. km. Such an area is small enough to facilitate focused in-depth fieldwork, but large enough to show significant internal agroecological variations and to permit study by aerial photographs and satellite imagery. Because the boundaries of the rest (Jachie and the subsidiary site, Tano-Odumasi in central Ghana, and Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre the subsidiary site in northern Ghana) have not been established, their precise area coverage cannot be determined. However each is estimated to measure less than 100 sq. km.
Within each site lie sub-sites, the specific focal sites of demonstration activities. Mainly geographical proximity or accessibility and availability of researched knowledge of the agricultural landscape informed the choice of the eventual focal sites.
The first step in the process of demonstration site development is identification of the site for study as a potential demonstration site on the basis of the following parameters:
· richness of existing agricultural biological diversity;
· extent of threat to the diversity; and,
· level of documented knowledge about the site.
If the agro-bio-diversity is found to be rich, but under threat, then further studies of the agro-ecological conditions may proceed using as a starting point whatever documented information there might be.
In the initial, investigative studies, as in subsequent applied work, it is important to involve local people, especially chiefs and other leaders and those who possess good knowledge of the agro-environmental history and situation in general. These key personalities may later serve as facilitators in any applied work.
An important initial step is participatory mapping of settlements with involvement of local farmers to, among other things, serve as a basis for creation of geographical information system (GIS) towards standardized database for demonstration sites (Abdulai et al. 1999).
Investigative studies are followed by applied work that may involve any of the following:
· consolidation of local contacts, including formalization of selected local people as facilitators or expert farmers for demonstrations;
· dialogue through group discussion with farmers to determine relevant needs on a prioritized basis;
· organization of farmers and other local users or managers of the land resources into farmers associations to facilitate popular PLEC scientist-farmer interactions;
· promotion of farmer-led conservation measures; and,
· gradual collaboration with agricultural extension agents and other appropriate governmental and non-governmental agents.
Expert farmers i.e. smallholder farmers who successfully solve production problems by using biodiversity are “the keystone of the PLEC programme and the most fundamental resource in PLEC’s demonstration activities” (Pinedo-Vasquez et al. 2001: 12).
A discussion of PLEC activities and their outputs within the established demonstration sites is presented below and in three separate summary reports of PLEC in southern, central and northern Ghana with special reference to history, demonstration site development activities and achievements (Gyasi 2002a; Kranjac-Berisavljevic 2002; Oduro 2002).
1.4. Progress of PLEC work within the four GEF-PLEC years
The four-year period, 1998/99 - 2001/02 witnessed a phenomenal increase in PLEC activities especially in the demonstration sites. Mainly this positive trend was a result of substantial infusion of GEF funding. It averaged $144,252 per annum, compared to the average of $22,158 in the pre-GEF period (Table 5).
The mobilization of farmers for the PLEC cause, in line with the grassroots participatory approach, was a catalytic activity. It was facilitated by PLEC scientists and progressive local farmers and community leaders as elaborated upon in section 3 below. Identification of those local contacts was through close social interaction by regular visits.
In each site farmers, including experts (Tables 6 - 8), are organized into associations of PLEC farmers with elected executive to mediate PLEC work. Presently overall membership of the associations in Ghana is over 1,300, having increased from 20 in their initial formative years around 1996/97 in southern Ghana (Table 1). In Jachie, central Ghana, the membership has been almost exclusively female (Table 9). Elsewhere, there is a change from male dominated membership towards greater gender balance (Tables 10 and 11).
Through the farmer associations, and with the support of the increased numbers of PLEC scientists and their assistants including students and technicians (Tables 1 - 4) work at the sites progressed systematically from the initial focus on understanding baseline agroecological conditions and on establishing social contacts, through the following stages under GEF funding and logistical support:
· assessment of biodiversity and agrodiversity;
· identification of traditional, indigenous or local systems of managing and conserving biodiversity, especially in an agricultural context;
· conservation promotion; and,
· promotion of economic activities that motivate farmers to conserve, all in the general PLEC quest for models of conserving biodiversity.
Outputs from these activities are discussed in sections 3 and 4 below.
Table 6: Sample of expert farmers in southern Ghana
No.
GYAMFIASE-ADENYA
SEKESUA-OSONSON
AMANASE-WHANABENYA
1.
Mr. Amponsah Kissiedu
Mr. Emmanuel Nartey
Mr. S. Y. Freeman
2.
Mr. Yaw Apeti
Mr. Odorkor Agbo
Odikro Kwaku Fokuo
3.
Mr. Henry Darkey
Mr. Joseph Aye-Kene
Opanyin Kwame Tete
4.
Ex. Sgt. Kwabena Asiedu
Mr. Emmanuel Giantey
Opanyin B. A. Mfamfo
5.
Ex. Sgt. E. K. Nyame
Mr. Francis Agbuanor
Mr. Haruna Affoh
6.
Mad. Florence Akoto
Mr. Ogborjor Tetteychu
Mr. E. D. Koomson
7.
Mr. Dan Opoku
Mr. Sakitey Akor
Mr. Adjetey Kwabena
8.
Mad. Avume
Ex. Sgt. Osom Djeagbo
Mad. Gladys Donkie
9.
Mr. Bossman Kwapong
Mr. Rex Kwao
Mad. Rosamond Appiah
10.
Mad. Victoria Odum Asiedu
Mad. Mary Mangbi
Mr. Wisdom Adjei
Table 7: Sample of expert farmers in central Ghana
No.
JACHIE
TANO-ODUMASE
1.
Mad. Cecilia Osei
Mr. J. C. Oppong
2.
Mad. Ama Nyame
Mr. Otuo Acheampong
3.
Mad. Elizabeth Serwaa
Mad. Comfort Oppong
4.
Mad. Hannah Fofie
Nana Owusu
5.
Mad. Georgina Agyapong
Mr. Edward Frimpong
6.
Mad. Faustina Obimpeh
Mr. Nana Koduah
7.
Mad. Margaret Duah
8.
Mad. Gladys Osei
Table 8: Sample of expert farmers in demonstration sites in northern Ghana
No.
Bongnayili-Dugu-Song
Binguri-Nyorigu-Gonre
1.
Mr. Abdulai Sumani
Mad. Gifty Akparibo
2.
Mad. Senatu Seidu
Mr. Yusifu Daija
3.
Mr. Bakaria Kasim
Mr. Fureini Fuseini
4.
Mad. Samatu Ibrahim
Mr. Adam Yakubu
5.
Mad. Wumbei Alhassan
Mad. Apuzele Asaaba
Table 9: Membership of Jachie PLEC Women Farmers Association: 1996-2000/01
Year
1996
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
1999/00
2001/02
Gender
M
F
M
F
M
F
M
F
M
F
M
F
Total
1
44
1
60
1
91
1
142
1
268
0
600
Grand Totals
45
61
92
143
269
600
Source: From Jachie PLEC Women Farmers Association records
Table 10: Membership of Associations of PLEC Farmers in Gyamfiase-Adenya, Sekesua-Osonson and Amanase-Whanabenya: 1996-2000/01
Year
1996
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
1999/00
2001/02
Gender
M
F
M
F
M
F
M
F
M
F
M
F
Total
18
2
75
32
145
102
185
153
190
165
180
181
Grand Totals
20
107
247
338
355
361
Source: Figures supplied by the Associations
Table 11: Membership of Association of PLEC Farmers in Tano-Odumasi: 1996-2000/01
Year
1996
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
1999/00
2001/02
Gender
M
F
M
F
M
F
M
F
M
F
M
F
Total
32
18
42
25
45
45
53
56
57
74
79
88
Grand Totals
50
67
90
109
131
167
Source: Records of Tano-Odumase PLEC Farmers' Association
By engendering relevant ideas and empirical information, the meetings, fairs and farm visits (Table 12, Plates 1, 2 and 3) facilitate the process of developing optimal methods of managing biodiversity.
A major constraint on work is the inability of scientists to visit the field as frequently as necessary in order to sustain interactions with farmers. This constraint arises from of other work obligations. It may be overcome through a core of full-time PLEC scientists acting in collaboration with part-time associate scientists. A second constraint is long trekking distance to farmed areas. More personnel and logistical support may remove this. A third constraint is a lack of taxonomists, social anthropologists and experts in environmental economics. The solution lies in capacity enhancement through training and motivation. A fourth constraint is difficulty in convincing farmers to sacrifice short-term higher monetary gains expected from monocultures for the long-term security that agricultural diversification is assumed to offer. This constraint can only be removed sustainably by demonstrating the value of diversification. A constraint on data analysis and on reflections is excessive reporting demands by the UNU. An obvious possible solution is for the issue of the manner of reporting to be reviewed.
Other problems are associated with interpretation in local vernaculars of certain technical English expressions, such as ‘agro-bio-diversity’, 'sustainable development', and 'demonstration site'. A possible solution lies in intensified linguistic research in area of biodiversity management. Another problem is the frustration arising from the inability to meet the overly high farmer expectation of PLEC support to reduce the endemic economic poverty and to stimulate development of the rural poor. This problem might best be tackled by increased support for economic ventures that generate income while conserving biodiversity as PLEC is trying to achieve in all the sites.
Table 12: PLEC - related meetings in southern Ghana: 1993 - 2001/2002
Nature/type of meeting
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998/1999
1999/2000
2000/2001
2001/2002
WORKSHOP (National and Regional)
N/A
1
1
N/A
N/A
1
N/A
1
1
MEETINGS OF PLEC SCIENTISTS & GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES (Shown by no. of days)
N/A
N/A
N/A
1
1
6
9
6
4
MEETINGS WITH FARMERS (shown by no. of days)
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
23
14
11
12
FIELD DAYS (including fairs and demonstrations shown by no. of days)
N/A
N/A
N/A
1
N/A
56
49
62
54
There were similar meetings in central and northern Ghana, even though records of them are not available
N/A: Not available
Source: PLEC records, University of Ghana, Legon
2 THE SITES
2.1 General characteristics
A major characteristic of the sites is the considerable pressure exerted on biophysical resources by the predominantly agricultural population. In the southern Ghana sites densities range from an estimated 105 to over 180 per sq. km, compared to a national average of 70. In central Ghana the range is in the order of 145 to 165+ and 80 - 120+ sq. km respectively. Numbers of people per household average 7 in central Ghana, 9 in the south, and as much as 14.5 in the north. The exceptionally high figure for northern Ghana may be related to the fact that the living compound houses there often contain more than one household. In southern Ghana numbers of people below 18 years average 4 per household. In the central sector those below 14 years plus those aged more than 65 years comprise 39.3 per cent of the population. In the northern sector 42.1 per cent of the population is made up of those aged below 14 years and those above 60 years. All these household statistics indicate a high dependency ratio.
In northern Ghana, pressure on biophysical resources is exacerbated by large numbers of cattle, goats, sheep and other grazing livestock. In all the sites a major source of pressure on biophysical resources is demand for foodstuffs, fuelwood and other primary commodities from nearby urban centres (Tamale and Bawku in northern Ghana, Kumasi in the central sector, and Accra and other coastal towns in the south). In the past, much of the production pressure placed on the southern and central sectors originated from outside Ghana. It took the form of demand for mineral resources and primary agricultural and forest products, notably palm oil, cocoa and timber. The effects persist, especially in the form of deforestation, soil deterioration and changing agrodiversity.
2.2 The sites in southern Ghana
Additional characteristics of the sites in southern Ghana are shown in Appendices 1, 2, and 3, and in various reports by PLEC-Ghana to the UNU on population and biodiversity and its management within the sites and on their development into demonstration sites.
All the three sites are situated in the Eastern Region within the forest-savanna zone, which, like the rest of Ghana, is situated on a dissected ancient plateau of metamorphosed and sedimentary rocks. Gyamfiase-Adenya is located in the Akuapem North District, Sekesua-Osonson in Upper Manya Krobo District and Amanase-Whanabenya in Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar District (Figs. 2 - 4). They were founded in the early parts of the 20th century by migrant cocoa farmers.
Average annual rainfall ranges between 1200 and 1450 mm. It is bimodal. Soils are predominantly ochrosols. Natural vegetation is characterized by a mosaic of forest and savanna species. This represents a transition from the reported original thick semi-deciduous forest. The dominance of herbaceous species interspersed by few trees in an area reportedly covered by forest in the past, is a measure of the floristic change (Gyasi et al. 1995; Enu-Kwesi, 1997). Despite growing monocultures, there still is high agrodiversity. This reflects the transitional nature of the ecosystem, which permits cultivation of crops adapted to humid and dry conditions. It also reflects the great ethnic and cultural diversity resulting from migration (Gyasi, forthcoming).
Gyamfiase-Adenya (Fig. 2) is settled predominantly by the native Akuapem people and Ayigbe and Ewe migrant farmers on basis of a mosaic land holding pattern in Akuapem district, cradle of Ghana’s cocoa industry. In Sekesua-Osonson (Fig. 3) in Upper Manya Krobo district the inhabitants are predominantly offsprings of Krobo migrant cocoa farmers. They settled there on basis of their patrilineal linear huza land holding arrangement. Amanase-Whanabenya in Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar district (Fig. 4) is settled by a mix of offsprings of migrant Akuapem and Siade (or Shai) people and a growing component of more recent migrant Ayigbe settler farmers. They did so on basis of both the mosaic and linear land holding arrangement. Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar district forms part of the historic southern Akyem cocoa frontier. As in Akuapem, the inheritance system is both patrilineal and matrilineal.
Farming by smallholders is the main occupation. They grow mainly food crops, foremostly cassava, Manihot esculenta through the bush fallow system. Other crops include maize, plantain, cocoyam and oil palm. In a sample survey, the following field types or land use stages were the most frequently encountered:
· annual mixed cropping;
· agroforest;
· house/home garden; and,
· fallows, dominated by Chromolaena odorata, a notorious weed (Gyasi 2000b).
The farms are both owner-operated and tenant-operated. They rarely measure more than 2 ha per unit, and tend to be fragmented. Farmers commonly complain about declining soil fertility. This is associated principally with over cropping and soil erosion, especially in hilly areas. It is most pronounced in Sekesua-Osonson followed by Gyamfiase-Adenya.
Soils are regenerated mainly by bush fallowing or land rotation, use of household refuse and oprowka, a traditional method of mulching whereby vegetation cleared to make way for farming is chopped and left in-situ to decompose without burning.
In Gyamfiase-Adenya and Amanase-Whanabenya, the burden of farming is shared between the men and the women. It falls mainly on men in Sekesua-Osonson. Mainly the owner and his/her family operate farms. Other forms of labour include that hired, especially for land clearing and weeding. Also common is the nnoboa system whereby farmers work in each other's farms on a reciprocal basis. There is considerable division of labour. Mainly males clear land, whiles its preparation is mainly by females as are transportation of produce to home and the market. However the tasks of planting, weeding and harvesting are shared more or less equally among the males and females.
Trading, especially in farm produce and small manufactures by females is the second most important occupation. Other economic activities include cassava processing, distilling of akpeteshie, a local gin, and extraction of oil from the fruit and kernel of the oil palm.
In each of these three predominantly rural sites, overall population numbers are estimated to be in excess of 10,000. Females outnumber males in Amanase-Whanabenya and Gyamfiase-Adenya. The reverse is the case in Sekesua-Osonson. Based upon past reports and more recent field observations by PLEC scientists, the population appears to be highest in Amanase-Whanabenya, followed by Yensiso and then Sekesua-Osonson. Together with demand from Accra and other nearby urban towns for the food crops, charcoal, fuelwood and other primary produce, the fairly high population density exerts considerable pressure on the biophysical resources. This factor plus population migration underlies the dynamic character of agrodiversity, which involves both positive and negative changes in crops and ways of managing them.
Conservation of the natural biota is by bush fallow, intercropping among trees left in situ, sacred groves of forest, taboos, sanctions and reverance for certain species of plants.
2.3 Sites in central Ghana
A generalized characterization of the two sites, Jachie and Tano-Odumasi, in central Ghana is embodied in Appendices 4 and 5 and in reports to the UNU (Oduro 2002). Both sites are situated in the humid forest zone in Ashanti Region. Jachie, the principal site, is in the Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma District, and Tano-Odumasi, the subsidiary site, in the Afigya-Sekyere District (Fig. 1). Jachie is hilly, and Tano-Odumasi hilly-to-undulating. Soil erosion is a severe problem especially within Jachie town.
Climatic and biophysical characteristics are similar to those in southern Ghana. Average annual rainfall ranges between 1500 and 1600mm. It is bimodal. Soils are predominantly ochrosols and ochrosols-oxysols integrade. The natural vegetation is of the moist semi-deciduous type. Herbaceous species are expanding at expense of trees.
Over 90 per cent of the people are Asante (Ashanti), with the Asantehene (Ashanti King) as the overlord. They own the land on basis of a matrilineal system, wofade(. The rest of the population is made up of migrants, mostly settlers from northern Ghana. They have access to land mainly through leaseholds.
Farming of a small-scale nature engages about 90 per cent of the population. It involves both males and females who farm either on an individual basis or jointly as man and wife. In Jachie because of an exceptionally high out-migration of the males, 74 per cent of the farmers are females, which has important implications for farm management. As in southern Ghana sites, food crops, notably cassava and maize, have superseded cocoa as the leading cash crop. They are raised mainly through the bush fallow system. Land use is dominated by the following types:
· annual mixed cropping;
· fallow-shrub; and,
· home gardens.
An individual farm unit or plot rarely exceeds 1 ha. There are various methods of regenerating soil fertility. The leading ones are green manuring, use of poultry manure, mulching and land or bush fallow.
Where males are available, they clear and prepare the land for farming. Weeding, harvesting, and transportation are carried out by both males and females, as is marketing, which, elsewhere, is carried out principally by females.
Mainly access to farming land is achieved freely by those who own it, typically, on a group or extended family basis. Other modes are sharecropping, hiring, gift and purchase as in the southern Ghana sites.
Trading is the second most important occupation. It involves mainly selling of farm produce and items of food and drink prepared by the traders themselves, and peddling of other items bought. Dressmaking and hairdressing are also important, as are carving, carpentry, masonry and other artisanal work. These and other off-farm activities help to minimize the pressures on agricultural land, which are associated with growing population and rapid urbanization of Kumasi, the nearby second largest urban centre in Ghana.
Methods of conserving the biota are essentially the same as those described for southern Ghana.
2.4 Sites in northern Ghana
Appendices 6, 7 and 8 provide a summary of characteristics of Bongnayili-Dugu-Song and Benguri-Nyorigu-Gonre, respectively the primary and subsidiary sites in northern Ghana. More information is contained in the PLEC-Ghana reports to the UNU (Dittoh and Yakubu 2002).
Both sites are located in the dry interior savanna zone. Bongnayili-Dugu-Song is within the guinea savanna portions in Tolon-Kumbungu in western Dogomba area of the Northern Region (Fig. 5). Benguri-Nyorigu-Gonre is within the Sudan savanna portions in Bawku-East in the Upper East Region (Fig. 1).
A much drier climate characterizes the two sites, most especially in Benguri-Nyorigu-Gonre. The essentially single maximum (uni-modal) rainfall averages 800 mm in Benguri-Nyorigu-Gonre and 1092 mm in Bongnayili-Dugu-Song. Predominantly soils are savanna ochrosols and lixisols of the Tekyiman-Tampu association. They occur over a generally rolling/undulating - to - flat terrain. Though not particularly fertile because of humus deficiency, they nevertheless, are suitable for farming. The natural savanna vegetation is dominated by grass dotted by trees, most commonly sheabutter, Butyrospermum paradoxum, and dawadawa, Parkia clappertoniana. A major threat to the biota is bush fires. They are associated mostly with vegetation clearance by burning for farming, game and ceremonial purposes.
In Bongnayili-Dugu-Song the people are mostly patrilineal Dagbon. Their overall head is Ya-Na, the secular paramount chief, who together with sub-chiefs, control land with the Tindana, the spiritual head, who exercises only spiritual functions with respect
to land. This is in contrast to the situation in Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre where the Tindana plays a more central role in land control, and where the people are mostly Kusare, Busanga and Mossi. There are political conflicts and social tensions associated with chieftaincy.
Small-scale agriculture engages 62.5 per cent of those employed in Bongnayili-Dugu-Song, and 72.1 per cent in Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre. A diversity of crops is grown, typically intermixed. Foremost among them are maize, yam and millet in Bongnayili-Dugu-Song, and millet, rice and groundnut in Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre. Farms may be categorized into the following:
· intensive intercropped compound farms, which are adjacent to living compounds, sustained by household refuse, and best developed in Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre and other sectors of the Upper East Region;
· distant/bush farms that are located some distance away in the bush;
· lowland/irrigated farms; and,
· grazing lands.
In the dry ‘harmattan’ season, production of onions and other vegetable through irrigation in valley bottoms assumes special significance in Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre. In terms of the land use categorization recommended by PLEC's Biodiversity Advisory Group (BAG), annual cropping, native forests and fallow lands are the most important.
Based on a sample survey, the farms range in size from approximately 1.6 to 3.2 ha in Bongnayili-Dugu-Song and 0.33 to 2.2 ha in Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre. Total size of agricultural holdings per household is much larger than in sites in southern and central Ghana. Livestock farming involving grazing animals, notably cattle, goats and sheep, occupy far more space in the northern Ghana sites than in the southern ones. Similarly poultry farming features more significantly in the northern Ghana sites.
Severe land degradation is manifested by soil erosion, overgrazing, deforestation, declining soil fertility and low agricultural productivity, especially in Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre. It is associated with bush fires, overgrazing and human population pressure. Another factor is outmigration of the most able labour, predominantly youthful girls, who move out to serve mainly as kayayei, porters or carriers of load especially in Accra. In Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre, prospects of optimal land resources management are threatened by ethnic conflicts.
Farm work is shared in about equal proportions between men and women. However harvesting of the sheanut and dawadawa and their processing into sheabutter and food condiment respectively, are primary responsibility of women, as is the processing of groundnut/peanut into oil. Mainly male children are shepherds, whiles their female counterparts support their mothers in carrying out household chores. Trading and food preparation on a commercial basis are important as are processing of harvested rice and commercial production of rafters.
In both sites females outnumber males. But males dominate headship of households by a ratio of 20:1 in Bongnayili-Dugu-Song and 17:1 in Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre. There is a high dependent population. It is estimated at 44.5 per cent in Bongnayili-Dugu-Song, and 39.7 at Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre. Pressure of population is high. It is reflected by:
· the average household size, which is 17 persons in Bongnayili-Dugu-Song and 12 in Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre;
· the population density of 100 persons per sq. km. in Bongnayili-Dugu-Song and 120 in Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre; and,
· the annual population growth rate of 2.5 per cent in Bongnayili-Dugu-Song, and 3.02 per cent in Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre.
Besides its degradative effects on biophysical resources, the population pressure leads to the high out-migration especially in Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre.
3.ACTIVITIES AND EVALUATION OF OUTCOMES AT SITES
3.1 Growth of a population of participating farmers
Mobilization of farmers for conservation is a key PLEC activity. In this exercise the following categories played a leading role with the support of scientists in Ghana:
· chiefs and other community leaders, notably the late Nana Oduro Darko II of Gyamfiase-Adenya; and,
· expert, environmentally conscious farmers such as:
· George Amponsah Kissiedu, the pioneer PLEC farmer of Ghana who is resident in Gyamfiase-Adenya;
· Salathiel Yemotey Freeman, leader of the PLEC farmers in Amanase-Whanabenya;
· Emmanuel Kwadwo Nartey, a leading exponent of the PLEC cause in Sekesua-Osonson;
· Cecilia Osei, leader of the PLEC women's group in Jachie, and,
· Abdulai Sumani, leader of the PLEC farmers in Bongnayili-Dugu-Song (Gyasi 2001).
When the PLEC work started in 1993, the participating farmers were only collaborative, numbering 10, all concentrated in southern sites(Table 1; also Tables 2 - 4). Four years later, the figure had increased to nearly 400 in 1997, with representation in all the three sectors - southern, central and northern. This development largely reflects the cumulative effects of increased UNU financial support (Table 5) and of the commitment of scientists and of a core of visionary and exceptionally dedicated farmers of the likes of those noted in the preceding paragraph. Under the greater GEF support, and with the increased popular perception of PLEC as a medium for biophysical agricultural and general rural improvements, the numbers of participating farmers had, in the year 2001/02 increased to nearly 1,400 with the highest concentration in central Ghana, followed by southern and northern in that order (Tables 1 - 4). They included 1,319 registered members.
Associations of PLEC farmers, each having a constitution (either written or unwritten), an elected executive (Chairman, Secretary, Financial Secretary, Treasurer, Women’s Organizer, etc) and Patron, serve in the sites as the medium for:
· farmer-scientist interactions and collaborative work;
· farmer-to-farmer interactions including exchange of knowledge and germplasm;
· reaching out to farmers and sensitizing them to issues of conservation and development;
· mobilizing the latent knowledge, energy and other resources of farmers for the purpose of conservation and development;
· tapping or accessing external support for farmers;
· carrying out demonstrations; and,
· in general, empowering farmers politically, socially and economically.
In Jachie because of an unusually high out-migration of youthful males the association of PLEC farmers is made up entirely of females.
Generally female membership shows a rising trend. In sites of mixed male-female membership, female members are organized into sub-groups, such as the Gyamfiase-Adenya Bowohommoden Kuw, to address issues that primarily concern females.
3.2 Expert farmers and links with other organizations
Among the membership of the PLEC farmer associations are expert farmers. Tables 6 - 8 provide a sample of them. Expert farmers are identified or spotted by:
· seeking views of farmers as to whom they consider to be exceptionally knowledgeable in various areas of resource management, notably conservation of particular species of crops, soils management, and identification, utilization and conservation of medicinal plants;
· observing and monitoring how a farmer actually manages biophysical resources in the field; and,
· listening to a farmer's stories and impressions about natural conditions and how they relate to agriculture.
Capacity of the associations is strengthened by bank accounts opened by them with advice of PLEC, and by links developed with government as well as non- governmental organizations. In all the three geographical sectors (southern, central and northern) where PLEC operates in Ghana, the organizations include the following governmental ones:
· District Assemblies; and,
· Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines (MLFM) including its Savanna Resources Management Project (SRMP) component, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the Ministry of Environment and Science (MES), and the Ministry of Education.
There also is collaboration with schools, especially Junior Secondary Schools. They include those at:
· Adenya, Otwetiri, Amanase, Akatawia, Bormase and Sekesua in southern Ghana;
· Jachie and Tano-Odumasi in central Ghana; and,
· both sites in northern Ghana.
Collaboration with NGOs is growing. In southern Ghana the NGOs involved include the following:
· Ghana Rural Reconstruction Movement (GhRRM);
· Heifer Project International (HPI); and,
· Roman Catholic Church.
The Ghana Association for the Conservation of Nature (GACON) is the principal collaborating NGO in central Ghana. It is ILEIA-NGLWG (Information Centre for Low-External-Input and Sustainable Agriculture Working Group) in northern Ghana.
3.3 PLEC interventions through the farmer associations and outcomes
3.3.1 Developmental stages
It is recalled that under GEF funding the various PLEC field activities including interventions, have developed through the following stages through farmers, especially their associations, with support of scientists and government and non-government agents:
· assessment of biodiversity and agrodiversity;
· identification of traditional, indigenous or local systems of managing and conserving biodiversity, especially within an agricultural context;
· conservation promotion; and,
· promotion of economic activities that motivate farmers to conserve, all in the general PLEC quest for optimal ways of managing biodiversity.
Outcome of the activities are discussed next according to their four developmental stages, with special reference to the role of the farmer associations in generating those outputs:
3.3.2 Biodiversity and agrodiversity assessment
Assessment of biodiversity including the agrodiversity component has assumed various forms. They include the following:
· systematic inventorying of plants by their form, and local, English and Scientific names, as well as by their uses according to land use categories recommended by the PLEC Biodiversity Advisory Group (BAG; Zarin et al. 1999) as reported to the UNU by Enu-Kwesi and Vordzogbe (2002);
· systematic inventorying of specific crops, above all, yams, Dioscorea spp. according to their types (morphological characteristics), names, ways of managing them, etc, as reported to the UNU by Blay (2002; Plate 4), and Kranjac-Berisavljevic and Gandaa (2002);
· a Gyasi and Enu-Kwesi led survey of the spatial structure, floral composition, ownership and other characteristics of home gardens in southern Ghana whose results analysis is still awaiting completion (Gyasi and Enu-Kwesi 1998);
· studies by Gyasi on biodiversity and other aspects of biophysical status relative to resource tenure (1999, 2002c); and,
· a trees-and-food crops compatibility study by Asafo et al. (2002).
In all these, the following roles of the farmers associations were pivotal:
· popular sensitization of the purpose of the field surveys and studies;
· identification of the expert farmers having exceptional knowledge of characteristics uses and history of plants; and,
· encouraging involvement of the over 50 identified local ethno-botanist experts in the actual survey and verification of results.
Among the outcomes, as elaborated upon in section 4 below in accord with UNU reporting format, are the following:
· improved knowledge of diversity, quantum and uses of plants and of threat to them;
· increased self-esteem of farmers arising from explicit recognition of the value of their ethno-botanical knowledge by scholars;
· popular awareness of a need to conserve rare biotic species;
· bridging of the gap between systematic scientific knowledge and traditional knowledge; and,
· documented findings.
A further measure of impact is the integration into local vocabulary scientific terms such as 'transect', 'biodiverse', 'biodiversity', 'agrodiversity', 'value addition', and 'in situ'. In situ is a term used by children of farmers as a nickname for the Co-ordinating Leader, Edwin Gyasi.
3.3.3 Identification of traditional ways of conservation
In Ghana a major objective of PLEC work seeks to identify traditional ways of conserving biodiversity to serve as a basis for development of resource management models. Identification made over the past five years was by on-farm observations by scientists, by eliciting views of farmers, and by experiments (e.g. Asafo et al. 2002), all through farmer associations with expert farmers playing a central role. Outcomes are embodied in various papers and study reports (Anonymous 2002; Dittoh and Yakubu 2002; Gyasi 2001, 2002a, 2002b, 2002c; Kranjac-Berisavljevic 2002; Oduro 2002). They include the farm management practices identified as favouring biodiversity. These are summarized in Table 13 and highlighted below:
· minimal tillage and controlled use of fire;
· mixed cropping, crop rotation and mixed farming;
· traditional agroforestry;
· oprowka, a no-burn farming practice and method of mulching;
· bush fallow;
· home gardening;
· usage of household waste and manure to fertilize soils;
· use of livestakes;
· staggered harvesting of crops;
· storage of crops in situ in the soil for future harvesting.
Some of the identified management practices feature centrally in PLEC-sponsored conservation promotion.
Table 13: Identified traditional farm management practices/regimes that favour biodiversity
PRACTICE/REGIME
MAJOR ADVANTAGE
1. Minimal tillage and controlled use of fire for vegetation clearance
Minimal disturbance of soil and biota
2. Mixed cropping, crop rotation and mixed farming
Maximize soil nutrient usage; maintain crop biodiversity; spread risk of complete crop loss; enhance a diversity of food types and nutrition; favours soil regeneration
3. Traditional agroforestry: cultivating crops among trees left in situ
Conserves trees; regenerates soil fertility through biomass litter. Some trees add to productive capacity of soil by nitrogen fixation
4. Oprowka, a no-burn farming practice that involves mulching by leaving slashed vegetation to decompose in situ
Maintains soil fertility by conserving and stimulating microbes and by humus addition through the decomposing vegetation; conserves plant propagates including those in the soil by avoidance of fire
5. Bush fallow/land rotation
A means of regenerating soil fertility and conserving plants in the wild
6. Home gardening
Conserves a diversity of plants including medicinal ones and those used for food
7. Usage of household refuse and manure in home gardens and compound farms
Sustains soil fertility for a diversity of crops
8. Use of nyabatso, Neubouldia laevis as livestake for yams
The basically vertical rooting system of nyabatso favours expansion of yam tubers, while the canopy provides shade and the leaf litter mulch and humus. It also, is suspected that nyabatso fixes nitrogen
9. Staggered harvesting of crops
Ensures seed stock and food availability
10. Storage of crops notably yams, in situ, in the soil for future harvesting
Secures seed stock and enhances food security
Source: PLEC fieldwork since 1994
3.3.4 Conservation promotion
Among the major activities of PLEC-Ghana is support for expert farmers through their farmer associations to promote biodiversity conservation by demonstrations in relevant traditional as well as modern ways of management. Foremost among the management practices is oprowka.
By burning off vegetation, a primary source of soil nutrient and a habitat for pollinators and wildlife in general, indiscriminate use of fire for land preparation contributes significantly towards biodiversity erosion in periodically cropped areas. The practice of oprowka minimizes this problem. Oprowka (or its dialectal variation, proka) is an Akan - Twi word that literally translates 'add to by rotting'. It is used to describe the farming practice whereby the vegetation cleared in course of land preparation is left in place without burning, and the crops subsequently planted within it so that they may benefit from the moisture conserved and humus generated by the vegetation mulch (Table 13; Plate 5). It is practiced mainly in demonstration sites located within the semi-humid forest-savanna and humid forest zones of southern and central Ghana.
Recognizing that it favours biodiversity, but is dying out, through demonstrations by expert farmers (Plate 6), PLEC has sought to revive and encourage oprowka and other practices that conserve biodiversity, notably the following:
· management of yams within agroforestry systems - (southern Ghana; Plate 7);
· establishment of a plot for propagating yams and demonstrating their management - (northern Ghana);
· conservation and management of indigenous varieties of rice Oryza glaberrima - (northern Ghana; Anane-Sakyi and Dittoh 2001; Tanzubil and Dittoh 2002);
· management of medicinal plants within conserved forest or arboretum - (southern and central Ghana);
· management of trees within farms under food crops - (all sectors);
· management of woodlot -(central Ghana);
· regeneration of forest -(southern Ghana; Plate 8);
· the split-corm technique of propagating plantain and other crops - (southern Ghana; Plate 9);
· management of plants in nurseries - (all sectors);
· management of rare local breeds of the domestic fowl under semi-intensive conditions - (central Ghana);
· grafting and budding of plants - (all sectors);
· composting -(southern and northern Ghana); and,
management of citrus and oil palms - (southern Ghana).
At Jachie in central Ghana, women from the farmer association are organized into groups numbering 4 - 10, each for purposes of seedling production in the association's nursery. There, a principal benefit from the woodlot owned by the farmer association is a broadening of the income base. At Bongnayili-Dugu-Song in northern Ghana, by end of the year 2001, over 40 members of the farmer association had acquired proficiency in plant grafting and budding under a PLEC-sponsored training programme. At Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre, also located in northern Ghana, through the PLEC-sponsored female farmer-led demonstrations, growing of the rare local varieties of rice is spreading among farmers.
In the year 2001 in southern Ghana, demonstrations numbered over 30. They involved over 20 expert farmers including those sponsored by PLEC to receive training in modern farm management at the University of Ghana Agricultural Research Station at Okumaning. Extension agents of the Ministry of Agriculture and by representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency, Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines and Ministry of Education attended demonstrations, which often were accompanied by video shows. An indication of success is the substantial numbers of people who learnt directly from the demonstrations. They include over 1,000 farmers and school children in southern Ghana. A second indication is the subsequent demonstrations by beneficiaries of the original demonstrations for the benefit of others in a kind of spontaneous, informal farmer-to-farmer or trainee training potential-trainer arrangement. The demonstrations involve movement of expert farmers not only from one location to another within a demonstration site, but also between sites, notably, the regular movements between sites in southern Ghana, and the occasional ones between southern Ghana sites and Jachie in central Ghana. Movements often involve exchange of germplasm among farmers. A third indication of success is the claim that the farmer-led demonstrations are enhancing popular awareness and adoption of a diversity of farm management practices that hold promise of securing food and improving rural livelihoods by protecting the primary production base. This claim requires quantitative verification. However its credibility is enhanced by visible improvements in livelihoods and lifestyles of some of some of the PLEC farmers. A revealing case in point is George Amponsah Kissiedu, the pioneer PLEC-Ghana farmer resident at Adenya in Gyamfiase-Adenya. His highly biodiverse home garden developed on basis of PLEC-inspired traditional and modern management principles is not only a model of its kind, but, perhaps much more importantly, the garden has generated income enough to enable him to integrate cattle into his agricultural enterprise, and to support expansion and diversification of his wife’s food crop farm, and of another farm jointly owned and managed by the couple.
3.3.5 Promotion of activities that motivate biodiversity conservation
The PLEC purpose of biodiversity conservation can hardly be sustained unless farmers are motivated to pursue it. It is for this reason that, through the farmer associations, PLEC Ghana seeks to promote economic activities that generate more value from conserved biodiversity, or that generate income in some other ways that encourage conservation.
Table 14 summarizes the key PLEC sponsored value generating activities those that appear to have registered the greatest impact are:
· beekeeping in southern Ghana;
· woodlot operation, semi-intensive commercial raising of breeds of rare local domestic fowl and processing of cassava into flour in central Ghana; and,
· spinning and weaving of cotton in northern Ghana.
Table 14: PLEC-sponsored value generation activities carried out through farmer associations in Ghana
ACTIVITY
OWNERSHIP & OPERATION
LOCATION
OUTPUT/IMPACT STATUS
1. Plant nursery operation
Farmer Association
Privately by individuals
All sites
Started yielding income from selling of seedlings
Assorted seedlings raised contributes to floral diversity
2. Snails farming
-do-
southern & central Ghana
Expected commercial output yet to be attained
In a process of quantitatively enriching faunal diversity
3. Dry season vegetable gardening by irrigation
Farmer Association
Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre, northern Ghana
Off-farm season employment and income
Enhancement of crop-plant biodiversity
4. Woodlot operation
-do-
Jachie, central Ghana and Bongnayili-Dugu-Song
Generates income from selling of poles
Fodder for livestock
Time saved by avoiding need to fetch wood from far away
Demonstrates that impoverished soils can still be put to productive use
Raised popular esteem of PLEC
5. Piggery
Initially by Farmer Association
Eventually to involve private individuals
Gyamfiase-Adenya, southern Ghana
Popular income generation through planned nuclear 'swine dispersal' arrangement
Adds to faunal diversity
6. Sheep
Initially by Farmer Association
Eventually to involve private individuals
Amanase-Whanabenya, southern Ghana
Income generation through selling
Adds to faunal diversity
7. Semi-intensive commercial raising of rare local domestic fowl
Farmer Association
Privately by individuals
Jachie, central Ghana
Already income yielding
Adds to faunal diversity
8. Beekeeping
Privately by individuals
All demo. sites except Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre, northern Ghana
Already yielding honey
Honey will eventually yield wax
Pollination capacity increase
Value addition to conserved forest
9. Processing of cassava into flour for bread and pastry
-do-
-do-
Improved income
Value addition to cassava
Market for cassava, a major crop
10. Spinning and weaving of cotton
-do-
Bongnayili-Dugu-Song
Employment and income for young women
Market for cotton, a major cash crop
Source: PLEC records and field observations
Beekeeping has caught on the most at Sekesua-Osonson in southern Ghana. In the course of PLEC field work there, the attention of scientists was drawn to a practice whereby traditional beehives, made of earthen pots and modern ones made of hard wood, are used to attract bees for the purpose of honey production within a secondary forest conserved in the backyard and an agroforestry patch that was similarly located. PLEC sought to expand this enterprise on a commercial scale by supplying wooden hives (Plate 10) to replace the fragile earthen ones and to increase the numbers of wooden ones among a larger number of farmers. The purpose was to generate more value from the secondary forest and agroforestry patches located immediately behind many housing units. With PLEC financing, in the year 2000/01 25 wooden hives were constructed and distributed as follows: 15 for 6 households, and 10 for a pool managed by the farmer association itself. This was followed by provision of more support in the form of beekeeping training and equipment including boots, protective clothing and over 300 wooden hives by the NGO, Heifer Project International (HPI) which collaborates with PLEC. As a result of this development and further support by PLEC, beekeeping expanded to involve approximately 70 households. Reported initial harvest amount to 25 gallons valued at ¢1,250,000 (=$170 approximately). Since the pioneering effort in Sekesua-Osonson, beekeeping has spread to Amanase-Whanabenya, and the ground prepared for extension to Gyamfiase-Adenya, all in southern Ghana, with provision of training by pioneer beekeepers of Sekesua-Osonson.
Demonstration of beekeeping is among the activities carried out in the PLEC multipurpose plant nursery managed by the PLEC women association with the support of scientists at Jachie in central Ghana. Women are trained in beehive management and in harvesting and processing of honey and bee-wax. However information is lacking on the extent to which beekeeping is practiced there and at Bongnayili-Dugu-Song in northern Ghana, where PLEC similarly promotes this activity. In Jachie the woodlot of teak (Tectona grandis) and Cidrella, which was initiated by the association of female farmers in 1993, generates income principally from sales of poles. It generates other benefits as well. According to one report, “Today the woodlot has become one of the major breakthroughs for the [PLEC] project. Increased availability of adequate electric poles and fuel wood has established goodwill for the project in the eyes of the villagers, winning their trust…” (Oduro 2002:11).
Similarly the PLEC-supported project in breeding of local varieties of the domestic fowl generates income for the farmer association as well as for its individual female members, as does the PLEC-supported project focused on adding value to cassava, the main cash crop, through its processing into flour for bread and pastries.
In northern Ghana, a PLEC-sponsored programme aims at providing employment skills to stem out-migration of youthful females by training them in spinning and weaving. This activity draws on skills of experienced underemployed or basically idle elderly women. As at March 2001, 42 females from 4 communities had benefited from the scheme, which operates under the auspices of Dugu Suglo Mali Nyori Ginning Association, the women’s branch of the PLEC farmers’ association in Bongnayili-Dugu-Song.
In all the three sectors (southern, central and northern Ghana) plant nurseries owned on an individual private basis, and on a group basis by farmers associations yield income from sales of assorted seedlings. During one farming season at Gyamfiase-Adenya alone, sales of oil palm seedlings from a nursery operated privately by the farmer George Amponsah Kissiedu, fetched a reported profit of more than ¢1,000,000 ($140), whiles profit from sales of a mix of oil palm and other seedlings from a PLEC nursery operated by the farmer association amounted to over ¢2,000,000 ($280 approx.).
In Nyorigu-Benguri-Gonre in northern Ghana the female group obtained profit of an unknown amount from PLEC-supported dry season vegetable gardening initiated to supplement revenue from PLEC-assisted cultivation of rare varieties of local rice.
Other PLEC-supported income ventures managed by farmer associations have yet to yield. They include a piggery at Bewase, which is planned to serve as the nucleus of a ‘swine dispersal project’ for farmers in Gyamfiase-Adenya demonstration site in southern Ghana. One of the two initial stock of sows is pregnant. A sheep project at Aboabo aims at producing rams for public sale and parent stock for supply to PLEC farmers on a credit basis to stimulate the livestock industry as a supplementary activity to food farming. Soon expected is harvesting of rafters and firewood from the woodlot owned by the association of farmers at Bongnayili-Dugu-Song. Other relevant ventures involve snail, fish and mushroom farming, raising of the grasscutter and production of a mix of local and exotic/hybrid breeds of the domestic fowl.
A fair of a diversity of rare traditional dishes hosted in 1999 at Sekesua by the coalition of associations of PLEC farmers in southern Ghana was a successful demonstration of the value of agrodiversity and a motivation for conservation of rare crops used for vanishing local dishes (Plate 2; Gyasi 2000). It attracted over 1,000 visitors. They included local farmers and school children and the foreigners, Professor Michael Stocking, a PLEC Scientific Co-ordinator, and Mr. Liang Luohui, PLEC Managing Co-ordinator at UNU Headquarters, Tokyo.
4. EFFECT OF PLEC SPONSORED MANAGEMENT OF AGROBIODIVERSITY ON BIODIVERSITY
4.1. Assessment of biodiversity within agricultural landscapes
A major charge of PLEC scientists is assessment of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. In Ghana, the general approach involved a sample survey by questionnaire to determine characteristics of land-use and field types of households in the demonstration sites. A modified version of the land-use categories recommended by PLEC’s Biodiversity Advisory Group (Zarin et al. 1999) was used. This was followed by systematic inventorying of plants by quadrants within a sub-sample of the identified land-use types following methodologies recommended by PLEC’s BAG and STAT (Scientific and Technical Advisory Team). Additionally impressions were obtained through field inspections and conservations with farmers. By leading scientists to fields, identifying plants by their local names and uses and showing land boundaries, the farmers played a central role in the assessment. In southern and northern Ghana, because of their significance as a food item, yams, Dioscorea spp. received special attention.
Preliminary results of analysis of information generated are available mainly for southern Ghana. The most frequently encountered land-use types were:
· annual cropping;
· agroforest;
· house/home garden; and,
· fallow (Gyasi 2002b).
In terms of plant species richness, the following categories of land use were highest:
· shrub-dominated fallow;
· native forest; and,
· agroforestry, including the home garden type, which is most commonly found in Sekesua-Osonson (Enu-Kwesi and Vordzogbe 2002; Gyasi 2002b, forthcoming).
A pertinent question centres on the effects that PLEC-sponsored management practices might be registering on biodiversity within these and other land use types in terms of maintenance and enrichment?
4.2. Effects
4.2.1. Southern Ghana
Pilot PLEC studies in southern Ghana attribute both positive and negative changes in biophysical environment including biodiversity to impact of normal human activities most especially agriculture (Gyasi et al. 1995; Gyasi and Uitto 1997). Recent work confirms this view (Enu-Kwesi and Vordzogbe 2002; Gyasi, forthcoming). For example from their recent systematic survey of biodiversity and agrodiversity in PLEC demonstration sites in southern Ghana, Enu-Kwesi and Vordzogbe have reported that:
"Generally, conversion of native forest to/for other purposes e.g. agriculture, woodlot, orchard and plantation development results in a decrease or less of species richness. Although permitting/allowing repair/rehabilitation through regeneration appear to result in an increase in/of species as noted in the case of shrub-dominated fallow (176) and emerging agroforest (131)" Enu-Kwesi and Vordzogbe 2002: 2).
The point is underscored by their further report that:
"Though such conversions of native forest vegetation to other field types such as ones inventoried in this study result in relatively lower species richness… with the lowest numbers of species seen in the following field types: monocrop farm - maize/cassava (89); citrus orchard (85); woodlot (73) and grass-dominated fallow (67); implying that the reduction in species richness is due either wholly or partially to the conversion processe(s) [sic] and management" (Enu-Kwesi and Vordzogbe 2002: 3).
Even so, interventions through PLEC-sponsored management of agrodiversity seems to be registering some positive impact on biodiversity. In section 3.3.5 above, the story is told of the growing popularity of the PLEC-supported practice of using home gardens and forests conserved near houses to keep bees for honey and wax. Obviously this represents a significant development because it entails enrichment of biodiversity and a rise in its value by increased plant pollination and utilization of nectar by bees in home gardens and forests. Over 70 farmers and their families manage such home gardens and forests in Sekesua-Osonson and Amanase-Whanabenya. Prospects are promising for further expansion in those demonstration sites and elsewhere within other sites where PLEC is encouraging popular awareness of beekeeping as a means of livelihood, in addition to facilitating capacity enhancement for this activity.
An arboretum, a secondary forest of rich species of medicinal plants conserved by Ex. Army Sgt. Osom Djeagbo, a PLEC expert farmer at Bormase (Sekesua-Osonson demo. site), is one of the more significant land use types. It is a primary source of herbs for traditional medicine in the Bormase community and germplasm for conservationists there and elsewhere. Osom Djeagbo's resolve to conserve the arboretum is strengthened by PLEC's keen interest in it, by the explicit recognition of its value by PLEC scientists, by the increased numbers of visiting researchers and other visitors, and by token PLEC financial and material incentive through the Sekesua-Osonson PLEC Farmers Association. His model inspired a similar arboretum in development by the Amanase-Whanabenya PLEC Farmers Association on a parcel of land dedicated by Alex Asamoah Ampofo, a PLEC expert farmer at Whanabenya. Ghana's National Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine is collaborating in the development process.
Cultivation of assorted yams on basis of traditional agroforestry principles is highly developed among Krobo farmers of Sekesua-Osonson (Blay 2002). Henry Darkey draws inspiration from it. He is a tenant farmer who manages an agricultural holding within a grassy landscape formerly dominated by forest near Bewase in Gyamfiase-Adenya demonstration site. Under PLEC inspiration, he combines elements of the traditional Krobo agroforestry system with the oprowka mulching and no-burn practice to grow yams in a way that is apparently enriching soils and plant biodiversity in addition to the reported income improvement.
It is hoped that the experiences of Henry Darkey and the profound insights provided by Blay's study (Blay 2002) into types of yams and their management in Sekesua-Osonson, will serve as a basis for development of place-specific models of management that maximizes yam yield whiles conserving biodiversity on a sustainable basis.
As part of its farm income improvement programme through crop diversification, a major PLEC-Ghana activity is promotion of integration of citrus and oil palms into food cropping, a dominant land use type. In southern Ghana, focus of the initial effort, the programme is enhancing crop-biodiversity and prospects of farm incomes through four of such farms, which carry citrus plus a mix of traditional crops, and are owned by association of PLEC farmers in each of the three demonstration sites. Additional farms that carry citrus or oil palms or both, plus a mix of traditional crops, are owned privately by over 40 individual PLEC farmers.
To further help improve agrodiversity in a manner that enhances both biodiversity and farm incomes and also discourages monocultures, a Ghana PLEC strategy seeks to combine traditional intercropping practices with modern cropping practices including planting in rows. The foremost exponent of this strategy is George Amponsah Kissiedu, the pioneer PLEC farmer, who is resident at Adenya. His home garden developed on a traditional and modern management principles is a model of its kind in terms of crop productivity and contribution to biological diversity. Productivity is enhanced by row planting and balanced use of soil nutrients by the different crops. The diversity of crops ensures both food and economic security by spreading risk of production failure whiles, at the same time, enriching biodiversity. These then are the ingredients that make Amponsah's home garden a model that attracts other farmers including their school-going children. His model is inspiring similar gardens. They include those established by school children of Adenya and Otwetiri Junior Secondary Schools in Gyamfiase-Adenya demonstration site. Similarly, because of its apparent positive effects on soils and biodiversity, a secondary forest regenerated from a grassy patch within the agricultural holding of Ex-Police Sergeant Nyame at Duasin in Gyamfiase-Adenya serves as a model and attracts and inspires other people as does a similar forest of more mature character regenerated within an agricultural holding of S. Y. Freeman, a leading PLEC farmer at Whanabenya in Amanase-Whanabenya demonstration site.
Another major PLEC biodiversity enhancing intervention focuses on improving and propagating the threatened traditional agroforestry practice of growing a mix of food crops among tress left in situ in periodically cropped fields. The following are key elements of the effort:
· trees-and-food crops compatibility experiment, and studies on optimal spacing of crops relative to trees (Owusu-Bennoah and Enu-Kwesi 2000a; Asafo et al. 2002);
· a PLEC-sponsored model biodiverse farm of endemic and exotic species, which is managed along both traditional and modern principles by the Gyamfiase-Adenya PLEC Farmers' Association with support of PLEC scientists; and,
· campaigns through PLEC farmer associations urging farmers to practice agroforestry.
A result is increased adoption of agroforestry. It is exemplified by a conspicuous rise in numbers and varieties of trees in foodcrop farms along the Adenya-to-Gyamfiase road.
In southern Ghana as in central part, snails, a prized source of meat that occurs in the wild under humid conditions, have come under threat by overfarming and habitat destruction. To counter the threat, PLEC provides support for snail farming within homes and forests conserved nearby. With such support, Bossman Kwapong, a PLEC expert farmer, is enriching biodiversity and enhancing income prospects by raising snails on a semi-intensive basis under the shade of an uniquely huge tree in a secondary forest conserved within his land holding at Obom in Gyamfiase-Adenya demonstration site. Daniel Nuertey is doing similarly on a smaller scale at Sekesua in Sekesua-Osonson demonstration site, just as S. Y. Freeman aims at achieving by using his 'PLEC Forest' regenerated at Whanabenya in Amanase-Whanabenya. At Whanabenya a PLEC-supported intensive snail farm is in development within home of Alexander Asamoah Ampofo (Plate 11). Similar home-based snail farms are planned by other PLEC farmers.
4.2.2. Central and northern Ghana
Because of a relative lack of relevant information at this stage, it is difficult to evaluate comprehensively the impact of PLEC interventions on biodiversity in central and northern Ghana. The necessary agrodiversity information is still in analysis. However available information indicate a generally positive impact.
At Jachie demonstration site in central Ghana, the 10 hectares woodlot established by the PLEC female group has generated effects that bear positively on biodiversity. They include improvement of impoverished soils and spread of fast-growing species of the trees, Tectona grandis (teak) and Cidrella, which were hitherto uncommon or completely absent. Biodiversity is enriched by the collection of rare medicinal plants from the wild by PLEC female farmers for conservation in a food crops and medicinal plant arboretum established by the farmers at Jachie. At the same place, diversity of livestock is being improved through a PLEC-assisted programme focused on promoting rearing of local chickens, goats and sheep as well as rabbits, whiles a water pond rehabilitation programme is enhancing aquatic life forms. Tano-Odumasi, the subsidiary site in central Ghana, has experienced a reported 25 per cent increase in the number of biodiverse home gardens. In both sites (Jachie and Tano-Odumasi), watersheds, a fundamental basis of biodiversity, are being strengthened through the use by PLEC farmers of plants from their nurseries for rehabilitation of degraded portions. This is helping to enrich the flora through integration of new plants, and improve soils through increased biomass and a check on erosion by more trees.
In northern Ghana, the greatest impact appears to have been registered in the area of yams and rice biodiversity. At Bongnayili-Dugu-Song site, detailed morphological characterization of 23 types of