Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-05T09:44:15.286Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Agrarian change in Kusasi, north-east Ghana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Paul Webber
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This article examines the nature of agrarian change in the Kusasi area of north-east Ghana. In focusing upon the dynamic of population growth the study has relevance to the recently rejoined discussion concerning the relationship between population growth and agricultural change. The context in which population growth is proceeding in Kusasi is presented as significantly different from that of other parts of tropical Africa where population growth has been recognised as the dynamic bringing about more productive and sustainable systems. In Kusasi's peripheral and subsistence-oriented economy population growth has led to increased pressure on the biological resources of the region. The permanent compound farming system of the area is now increasingly unable to provide sufficient subsistence for household needs, and, although expansion of farmland into areas recently freed from onchocerciasis is taking place, this is interpreted as merely a temporary respite in the interrelated processes of continuing environmental degradation and declining productivity under the prevailing agricultural system. The article raises the question of how, in the absence of progressive change brought about by population growth, development for regions like Kusasi is to be envisaged. Current programmes of agricultural development are considered in the context of past initiatives.

Résumé

Cet article examine la nature du changement agraire dans l'endroit de Kusasi au nord-est du Ghana. En se concentrant sur la dynamique de la croissance de la population, cette étude se rapport à la discussion récemment reprise concernant le rapport entre la croissance de la population et les changements agricoles. Le contexte dans lequel la croissance de la population se produit à Kusasi est présenté comme étant très different de celui des autres parties de l'Afrique tropicale où la croissance de la population à été reconnue comme étant la dynamique qui amène des systèmes plus productifs et plus prolongés. Dans l'économie périphérique et orientée vers la subsistance de Kusasi, la croissance de la population a resulté à augmenter la pression sur les ressources biologiques de la région. Le système agricole d'enclos permanents du terrain est désormais de moins en moins capable de fournir assez de moyens de subsistance pour les besoins des ménages, et bien que l'expansion des terres cultivées dans des terrains récemment libérés d'onchocerciasis soit en train de se produire, ceci est interprété comme étant une relâche temporaire dans les processus intimement liés de la dégradation continue de l'environnement et dans la productivité en déclin dans le système agricole actuel. Cet article pose la question, quant à savoir comment dans l'absence de changements progressifs amenés par la croissance de la population, doit-on envisager le développement de régions telles que Kusasi. Des programmes actuels de développement agricole sont considérés dans le contexte d'initiatives qui ont été crées dans le passé.

Type
The family calculus
Information
Africa , Volume 66 , Issue 3 , July 1996 , pp. 437 - 457
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akwabi-Ameyaw, K. 1990. Land Settlement Review: settlement experiences and development strategies in the onchocerciasis control programme areas of West Africa. Country Case Study: Ghana. Binghampton, NY.: Institute for Development Anthropology.Google Scholar
Amanor, K., Denkabe, A., and Wellard, K. 1993. ‘Ghana: country overview’, in Wellard, K. and Copestake, J. G. (eds.), Non-governmental Organisations and the State in Africa, pp. 183–201. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Anthony, K. R. M., Johnston, B. F., Jones, W. O., and Uchendu, V. C. 1979. Agricultural Change in Tropical Africa. Ithaca, NY.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Benneh, G. 1972. ‘Systems of agriculture in tropical Africa’, Economic Geography 48, 244–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benneh, G. 1973. ‘Small-scale farming systems in Ghana’, Africa 43 (2), 134–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benneh, G. 1985. ‘Population, disease and rural development programmes in the Upper East Region of Ghana’, in Clarke, J. I., Khogali, M. and Kosinski, L. A. (eds.), Population and Development Projects in Africa, pp. 206–18. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, H. 1992. ‘Agrarian structures and change: sub-Saharan Africa’, in Bernstein, H., Crow, B. and Johnson, H. (eds.), Rural Livelihoods: crises and responses, pp. 65–82. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Berry, S. S. 1984. ‘The food crisis and agrarian change in Africa: a review essay’, African Studies Review 27 (2), 59–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaikie, P., and Brookfield, H. 1987. Land Degradation and Society. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Boserup, E. 1965. The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: the economics of agrarian change under population pressure. Chicago: Aldine.Google Scholar
Chambers, R. 1983. Rural Development: putting the last first. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
Chambers, R. 1993. ‘Sustainable small farm development: frontiers in participation’, in Hudson, N. and Cheatle, R. J., Working with Farmers for Better Land Husbandry, pp. 96–101. London: Intermediate Technology Publications.Google Scholar
Cheshire, P. J. 1977. Land Use, Agricultural Production, Land Tenure and Administration. Socio-economic and Land Use Project Component of the CSIR North East Ghana Savanna Research Project. Kumasi: Land Administration Research Centre, UST.Google Scholar
Chilalah, G. C. 1957. ‘Advances in agriculture in Kusasi, northern Ghana’, Ghana Farmer 1, 198–201.Google Scholar
Cleveland, D. A. 1980. ‘Demographic and Agricultural Change in North-east Ghana’.Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, 3–7 December, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Collins, W. 1960. ‘Extension work in Kusasi, 1932–59’, Ghana Farmer IV (2), 64–71.Google Scholar
CSIR/USAID. 1976. Proceedings of the First Seminar on the Joint CSIR/USAID North East Ghana Savannah Research Project. Kumasi: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.Google Scholar
Dickson, K. B. 1972. ‘Dynamics of agricultural innovation in northern Ghana’, Ghana Social Science Journal 2 (2), 10–18.Google Scholar
FAO/IFAD. 1989. Upper East Agricultural Intensification Project. Preparation Mission, 2 vols. 149/89, IF-GHA 26. Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
Ghana, , 1948. The Gold Coast Census of Population, 1948, Report and Tables. Accra: Gold Coast.Google Scholar
Ghana, , 1964. 1960 Population Census of Ghana, Atlas of Population Characteristics. Accra: Survey of Ghana and Census Office.Google Scholar
Ghana, , 1972. 1970 Population Census of Ghana II, Statistics of Localities and Enumeration Areas. Accra: Census Office.Google Scholar
Ghana, , 1984. 1984 Population Census of Ghana, Preliminary Report. Accra: Central Bureau of Statistics.Google Scholar
Gleave, M. B., and White, H. P. 1969. ‘Population density and agricultural systems in West Africa’, in Thomas, M. F. and Whittington, G. W. (eds.), Environment and Land Use in Africa. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Gold, Coast. 1956. Report on the Northern Territories, 1955. Tamale: Government Press.Google Scholar
Gould, W. T. S. 1990. ‘Structural adjustment, decentralization and educational planning in Ghana’, in Simon, D. (ed.), Third World Regional Development: a reappraisal, pp. 210–27. London: Chapman.Google Scholar
Harrison, P. 1987. The Greening of Africa. London: Paladin.Google Scholar
Hilton, T. E. 1959. ‘Land planning and resettlement in northern Ghana’, Geography 44 (4), 227–40.Google Scholar
Hilton, T. E. 1960. Ghana Population Atlas. Accra: Nelson.Google Scholar
Hunter, J. M. 1966. ‘River blindness in Nangodi, northern Ghana: a hypothesis of cyclical advance and retreat’, Geographical Review, 56, 398–416.Google Scholar
Hunter, J. M. 1967. ‘Seasonal hunger in a part of the West African savanna’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 41, 167–85.Google Scholar
Kolbilla, D., and Wellard, K. 1993. ‘Langbensi Agricultural Station: experiences of agricultural research’, in Wellard, K. and Copestake, J. G. (eds.), Non-governmental Organization and the State in Africa, pp. 202–9. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lynn, C. W. 1937. Agriculture in North Mamprusi. Bulletin 34, Accra: Department of Agriculture, Gold Coast.Google Scholar
Lynn, C. W. 1942. ‘Agriculture in north Mamprusi: a review of a decade's progress’, Farm and Forest 3, 78–83.Google Scholar
Lynn, C. W. 1946. ‘Land and planning in the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast’, Farm and Forest 7 (2), 81–3.Google Scholar
McMillan, D., Painter, T., and Scudder, T. 1990. Land Settlement Review: settlement experiences and development strategies in the onchocerciasis controlled areas of West Africa’. Final report. IDA Working Paper 68. Binghampton, NY.: Institute of Development Anthropology.Google Scholar
Morgan, W. B., and Pugh, J. C. 1969. West Africa. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Mortimore, M. 1989. Adapting to Drought: farmers, famines and desertification in West Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mortimore, M., and Tiffen, M. 1995. ‘Population and environment in time perspective: the Machakos story’, in Binns, T. (ed.), People and Environment in Africa, pp. 69–89. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Nagy, J. G., Sanders, J. H., and Ohm, H. W. 1988. ‘Cereal technology interventions for the West African semi-arid tropics’, Agricultural Economics 2, 197–208.Google Scholar
Patterson, K. D. 1978. ‘River blindness in northern Ghana, 1900–50’, in Hartwig, G. W. and Perrerson, K. D. (eds.), Disease in African History, pp. 88–117. Durham, NC.: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Raeburn, J. R. 1950. Report on a Preliminary Economic Survey of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast. Publication DS 42 702/1. Tamale: Ghana National Archives.Google Scholar
Reijntjes, C., Haverkort, B., and Waters-Bayer, A. 1992. Farming for the Future: an introduction to low-external-input and sustainable agriculture. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Richards, P. 1983. ‘Ecological change and the politics of African land use’, African Studies Review 26 (2), 1–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, P. 1985. Indigenous Agricultural Revolution: ecology and food production in West Africa. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Ruthenberg, H. 1980. Farming Systems in the Tropics. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sarris, A., and Shams, H. 1991. Ghana under Structural Adjustment: the impact on agriculture and the rural poor. IFAD Studies in Rural Poverty 2. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Shepherd, A. 1981. ‘Agrarian change in northern Ghana: public investment, capitalist farming and famine’, in Heyer, J., Roberts, P. and Williams, G. (eds.), Rural Development in Tropical Africa, pp. 168–92. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siddle, D., and Swindell, K. 1990. Rural Change in Tropical Africa. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Smith, R. 1941. Agriculture in Kusasi, Department of Agriculture, Accra. File C 456. Tamale: Ghana National Archives.Google Scholar
Tiffen, M., Mortimore, M., and Gichuki, G. 1994. More People, Less Erosion: environmental recovery in Kenya. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
UNDP/FAO. 1967. Land and Water Survey in the Upper and Northern Regions, Ghana I–IV. Rome: UNDP/FAO.Google Scholar
Watts, M. 1987. ‘Drought, environment and food security: some reflections on peasants, pastoralists and commoditization in dryland West Africa’, in Giants, M. H. (ed.), Drought and Hunger in Africa, pp. 171–211. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Webber, P. 1990. ‘Ecological Energetics in the West African Savanna: the flow of energy in a smallholder farming community in Kusasi, north-east Ghana’. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.Google Scholar
Webber, P. 1996. ‘News from the village: agrarian change in Ghana’, Geography Review 9 (3), 25–30.Google Scholar
Wiszniewski, T. M. 1955. ‘Dry season vegetable gardening in Kusasi’, Quarterly Newsletter IX (1), 3–5. Gold Coast: Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Woodhouse, P. 1992. ‘Social and environmental change in sub-Saharan Africa’, in Bernstein, H., Crow, B. and Johnson, H. (eds.), Rural Livelihoods: crises and responses, pp. 165–94. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar