Mitigating Contemporary Climate Crisis: Lessons from Indigenous Food Systems in Ghana


Suleyman Demi, Algoma University

Food systems constitute “an interdependent web of activities that include the production, processing, distribution and disposal of food waste” (Sumner, 2012, p.327). In this study, Indigenous food systems refer to the original food systems of a specific location usually but not exclusively occupied by Indigenous people. Indigenous food systems in Africa are negatively impacted by climate change. Globally, Africa is expected to experience the most severe effects of climate change due to elevated temperatures, and frequent drought and crop yield is expected to decrease by half due to the vagaries of the weather (Boko et al 2007; Emrullahu, 2022). In Ghana, numerous studies have been conducted to assess the effects of climate change on food crop and livestock production (Adiku, 2013; Tetteh et al., 2022), but scanty information exists on how climate changes affect Indigenous food systems and smallholder farming households, a phenomenon this study seeks to investigate. Hence, the study addresses three questions: 1) what environmental challenges are facing smallholder farmers in Ghana? 2) How do the challenges affect Indigenous food systems in local communities? and 3) what sustainable practices do smallholders adopt to mitigate those challenges? The study is grounded in two theoretical frameworks: political ecology to provide critiques of unsustainable practices inherent in the industrial food system and Indigenous knowledge to provide an alternative food system. This multi-sited mixed methods study collected data using one-on-one in-depth interviews, focus group discussion, participant observation, workshops and secondary sources of information. The intent is to triangulate the varied perspectives. 56 smallholder farmers (26 women and 30 men) and 8 agriculture-related professionals were selected for an in-depth interview. Additionally, a total of 56 smallholders participated in focus group discussions out of which 17 were among smallholders engaged in in-depth interview. In sum, 103 individuals participated in the study drawn from twelve (12) communities. The criteria for selecting individual participants included: years of farming experience and knowledge of Indigenous Food Systems in Ghana. The data obtained from one-on-one interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation and workshops were transcribed verbatim and the hardcopy printed for coding. The qualitative data analysis was broadly categorized into three steps: 1) the reduction or compression of the data, 2) the exploration of the data, and 3) the integration of the exploration and interpretation of the data (Attride-Stirling, 2001). Preliminary results of the study show farmers face the following environmental challenges: drastic changes in rainfall patterns result in fewer rains, erratic rainfall, delay in onset of rain and unexpected excessive rainfall; frequent incidences of prolonged drought resulting in drying up of rivers and dams that serve as sources of drinking water for smallholder farming households; frequent bush fires due to dry condition created by prolonged drought. Consequences of the environmental challenges include: acute water shortages depriving smallholder farmers especially woman farmers of engaging in any income-generating activities, causing farmers to spend the bulk of their time hunting for water instead of engaging in farming activities, affecting children’s school attendance and performance, prevents sustainable farming practices such as composting and animal rearing. Due to fewer rains and prolonged droughts, farmers cultivate only crops that mature in less than three months leading to the extinction of Indigenous food crops (i.e., yam, millets, sorghum, African rice, Cajanos canja, cocoyam, taro, mushrooms, Indigenous leafy vegetables) affecting households’ food and nutritional security. Strategies farmers use to mitigate changes in the environment include the adoption of new varieties of crops which mature in three months and the diversion from yam as a cash crop to pepper. Also, smallholders plant crops at different times on the same or different field with the hope that one will coincide with the actual rainfall season, ploughing failed crops back into the soil, engaging in farm diversification by rearing livestock to serve as a buffer in an event of crop failure and use organic manure to improve the fertility of the soil.

This paper will be presented at the following session: