An Overview Of Our Solution
Land degradation in Northern Ghana has damaged ecosystem services, limited agricultural productivity, and reduced local biodiversity. Trax supports rural farming communities in Northern Ghana to establish sustainable agricultural practices which increase yields, improve nutrition, restore soil fertility, increase biodiversity, and support environmental conservation. Land degradation is caused by deforestation, overgrazing, poor land management, and easily-eroded soils. Trax supports farmers to practice agricultural methods which reverse these causes and restore the local environment. The Trax initiative has led to widespread community development through local ownership and governance of the program and resulting empowerment, agency and autonomy. The Trax program has lasting benefits for farming communities long after Trax has ceased supporting them.
Who is this solution impacting?
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: Africa
General Information
Organization type
Nonprofit
Ecosystem (select all that apply)
Forests
Population impacted
12,000
Challenge
Size of agricultural area
800 ha
Production quantity
19975 kilos
People employed
7
Solution
Describe your solution
Trax works with rural farming communities in four districts of Northern Ghana. Using participatory methods and community governance over project activities, we support farmers to adopt and adapt sustainable agricultural practices. We promote strategies for soil and water conservation, which reduces soil erosion from farmland. We work with communities to develop strategies to reduce deforestation and provide seedlings for afforestation. We support communities to protect and enhance biodiversity of local flora through preservation of bush ecosystems surrounding farmland. The agricultural practices we support farmers to adopt are organic and restore soil fertility. Recent soil analysis conducted by researchers at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, found soils farmed by those working with Trax to have higher nutrient content than soils on surrounding land for all primary nutrient types (unpublished internal report, 2014). The sustainable farming practices adopted by farmers supported by Trax go beyond reversing land degradation by also increasing yields, improving nutrition through diversified crops, restoring soil biodiversity, and increasing diversity of local flora. In addition, a recent study conducted by a researcher at University of Sussex found that the participatory and community-ownership of the solution at a local level has led to empowerment, increased autonomy and agency, and enhanced adaptive capacity and resilience to change.
Implementation
Describe your implementation
Trax support a farming community only following request from the community themselves. Trax begin support using participatory methods whereby the farmers identify and prioritize their needs. Through formation of farmer groups, Trax initiate collaborative governance of farming activities, resources, and group membership. This key feature of the Trax program instills a sense of ownership and an ethic of self-reliance among farmer groups and their wider communities. This creates enabling conditions for farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices.
Trax provide training on construction of stone bunds, compost production, preservation of trees, and rainwater harvesting. We provide seedlings for tree planting and distribute seeds for legumes which help restore soil fertility. Where appropriate, we provide additional infrastructure such as bullocks and ploughs, materials for dry season gardening, and support for supplementary livelihoods.
A key success factor of Trax’s initiative is the governance and ownership of the initiative by the farmers themselves. This has ensured a willingness to engage and a supportive environment. Critically, the Trax program is designed to establish a structure for self-reliance after a five-year project cycle. Recent external research found that farmer groups maintain their collaborative governance structures beyond Trax implementation, meaning the sustainable farming practices continue and the benefits increase. The research also found that empowerment, agency and autonomy of the farmer groups supported wider community development.
A significant obstacle in using sustainable agriculture is the extended dry season experienced in Northern Ghana. Trax overcame this by designing activities to support alternative livelihoods and dry season gardening, land preparation and bush fire prevention activities during the dry season.
Trax’s limited capacity means there is more demand for our services from farming communities than we can provide
External connections
The primary stakeholders engaged with Trax are farmers from rural communities in four districts of Northern Ghana. The primarily smallholder farmers engage at every stage and continue the sustainable agricultural practices long after working with Trax.
Trax collaborate with the Ghana Fire Service in providing training on prevention of bush fires. Fires have caused much loss of forest cover and resulted in soil erosion so prevention of fires is important. The Ghana Fire Service provide training to farmer groups supported by Trax to ensure bush fire prevention is done safely.
Trax collaborate with the Ghana Forestry Service for the tree planting program, who provide seedlings of native tree varieties and advise farmers on planting and care for seedlings. The Ghana Environment Protection Agency also collaborate on reforestation and tree protection as part of the Trax program by providing supplementary training and advice for farmers.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture partners with Trax to provide veterinary services to livestock. Trax support a crop-livestock system. The MOFA veterinary services will provide healthcare for farmers’ livestock and train Community Livestock Workers how to treat small ruminants in their communities.
Trax support farmer groups to register as Community-Based Organizations with the local governmental Assembly. Once registered, Trax support farmer groups to access financial institutions for banking, savings, and credit facilities.
Results
What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?
In the semi-arid north of Ghana, soils are of poor quality and degrade rapidly. Soil erosion in Northern Ghana has caused a loss of productive agricultural land, a loss of biodiversity of local flora and soil microbia, and has caused pollution of freshwater systems. Aniah et al (2013) cited that 600km2 of land was degraded between 1990 and 2004 in just two districts of Upper East Region of Ghana. Furthermore, 94% of their respondents cited a drop in crop yield as a result of land degradation (ibid). Soil erosion has caused sedimentation of standing water and increased particulate content in waterways. Abubakari (2014) found sedimentation of one reservoir in Upper East Region of Ghana to be at a rate of 1.62 X 105 m3 per year between 1991 and 2013. This has implications on access to clean water and irrigation capacity for agricultural production. Land degradation has been exacerbated by decades of deforestation and overgrazing, resulting in a loss of biodiversity of flora in the region
Describe the context in which you are operating
In Northern Ghana, up to 80% of the population earn their main livelihood from farming (Ghana Statistical Service, 2012). In addition, up to 63% of the population in Northern Ghana live below the international poverty line of US$2 per day (The World Bank, 2011). The World Food Programme (2012) found that 16% of all households in Northern Ghana are severely or moderately food insecure, totaling over 680,000 people. The Food and Agriculture Organization reported in 2013 that over 28% of children in Ghana are stunted and over 75% have Vitamin A deficiency, the third highest rate of Vitamin A deficiency in Africa after Sao Tome and Principe and Kenya (FAO, 2013). In Northern Ghana the population is ethnically diverse and there are strong social ties among kin and within communities. Although Ghana has been developing economically as a nation, to date this growth has primarily benefited the south of the country and the north remains economically and politically marginalized.
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
The environmental benefits achieved by Trax have come about through a combination of soil and water conservation, preservation of trees and bush vegetation, reforestation with local species, and increased soil fertility. Farmers engaged with the Trax program have adopted sustainable agricultural practices on their community and bush farms, resulting in beneficial environmental impacts on land over 800 hectares in size. Tree cover has increased due to planting of thousands of seedlings. Loss of flora species has been halted through bush fire prevention, reversed land degradation, and practicing of agroforestry. Soil erosion has ceased and the soil profile is being restored. Soil fertility on farms using these practices has been found to have 38% higher carbon content, 67% higher available phosphorous, and 51% higher potassium content than neighboring soils. Water retention in soils has increased due to the higher organic content, benefiting crops, growth of flora, and soil microbia.
Language(s)
English, Akuapem Twi, Asante Twi, Ewe, Dagaare, Dagbani, Dangme, Ga, Gonja, Kasem, Mfantse, Nzema
Water
Water retention of soils has increased, benefiting crop production and local flora and fauna. Soil erosion from farmland has reduced to an unobservable level, reducing sedimentation of waterways and particulate contamination of freshwater systems. Rainwater harvesting has provided a source of water for hand irrigation of vegetable crops, increasing income and nutritious food provision.
Food Security/Nutrition
Farmers are growing a higher diversity of crops, including orange-fleshed sweet potato and legumes which have particular nutritional benefits. This has improved nutrition of farming households. Farmers have increased yields by up to 166% for some crops. This has increased food security of farming households and shortened the hunger gap. External research has shown that organically-produced vegetables have a higher micronutrient content than non-organic, further benefitting nutrition.
Economic/Sustainable Development
Farmers have increased their incomes through higher yields, production of high value crops, and diversification of supplementary livelihood sources. Increased income has funded household costs, school fees and healthcare. Remaining funds have been invested back into farming and income-generation, creating a positive feedback. Community agency has supported development through obtaining additional infrastructure including access to grid electricity and construction of schools and health centers.
Climate
Agriculture is more resilient to drought due to improved soil fertility and water retention. The local microclimate around farms has improved due to soil water retention and agroforestry, increasing biodiversity. Diversification of crops and income sources acts as an adaptation strategy to an uncertain climate, while planting of trees helps to mitigate climate change. Farming communities have increased adaptive capacity to respond to change.
Sustainability
Trax as a non-governmental organization relies on grant funding in order to implement the program for sustainable agriculture. However, after completion of the five-year project cycle, farmers are self-reliant and continue to practice the solution to land degradation and sustainable agriculture without further financial input. Recent research by the University of Sussex found that farmers who engaged with Trax over 20 years ago are still practicing the sustainable methods, governing their activities, and supporting the local environment. Thus, after the initial five-year implementation from Trax, the solution is economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable.
Return on investment
Trax running costs are approximately US$43750 per year for 7 staff supporting up to 92 farmer groups, totaling 3000 farmers, in four districts of Northern Ghana. The return on investment is not a monetary one so cannot be quantified. However, results have gone beyond the areas Trax sought to support by benefiting wider social and community development as well as sustaining agricultural livelihoods and the local environment. Recent research found that the impacts of the Trax program are lasting, meaning short-term input of funds results in long-term benefits. This return on investment is a cost-effective strategy for agricultural and environmental sustainability in Northern Ghana.
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Replication and Scale
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
Due to the significant role of participatory methods and community ownership of the Trax initiative, the program could be adopted in other contexts and farmers will develop locally-appropriate strategies for governance of sustainable agricultural practices. Similar approaches have been used elsewhere, supporting thousands of smallholder farmers, but the Trax program appears to have greater sustainability than other efforts. Trax support thousands of farmers per year with only 7 staff, at a running cost of approximately US$43750. Funding required would relate to the scale at which this initiative was being replicated. We estimate that with two staff in management and administrative roles, one field officer can support up to 1000 farmers per year. Collaboration with respective veterinary and fire services for the area would be necessary. Training in sustainable agriculture practices would be required for implementing field staff, and core materials would be needed.