Floods, Vulnerability and Indigenous Farming Systems in Northern Ghana: Implications for Livelihood Sustainability in the North Gonja District

Abstract

The North Gonja District is one of the districts in the newly created Savannah Region. The White Volta River cuts across the district and the periodic spillage of water from the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso into the White Volta River causes the river to overflow its banks into crop farms along the riverbanks, overwhelming the indigenous farming systems and eventually damaging crops and reducing crop yield in the district. The aim of the study was to examine the implication of floods on livelihood sustainability of farmers in the district. This was a case study research design using the qualitative approach. Three communities namely. Daboya, Lingbinsi and Disah and 150 respondents were purposively sampled for the study. The Snowball technique was also used to identify farmers who farm some species of crops. Qualitative data were collected from primary and secondary source as well as field observation. Descriptive summaries, logical qualitative methods were used for the analysis. The results show that floods have severe negative implication on household food security, human health, economic fortunes of the farmers and the indigenous coping mechanisms which were meant to sustain livelihood. A pocket of farmers adapted modern farming, with the remaining being vulnerable because of inadequate farmlands on the higher grounds, poverty and lack of formal education. The modern farming systems adopted by smaller number of farmers were still overwhelmed by huge volumes of water spilled from the Bagre Dam, whiles inadequate infrastructural development and late arrival of warning information also limited the ability of farmers to adapt to the floods. Institutions at the local level were weak and not effectively monitored by the central government. The flagship policies were also poorly implemented; whiles the district bylaws were also not effectively enforced. The study therefore recommends that in order to obtain sustainable food security, all activities leading to climate change must be ceased, and whiles doing so, a uniform variety of crop that can take at most three months to mature should be adopted for cultivation at the riverine areas. All farmer based NGOs should channel their efforts towards promotion of community-based initiative on flood mitigation measures. Surging prices of implements and agro-products must be controlled to encourage more farmers to adopt the modern farming technologies. Government of Ghana and that of Burkina Faso should have a stakeholder meeting to address the issues of the huge volumes of water spilled.