1 April 2021 – by Benjamin St. Laurent
A recent study has examined the plight of rural migrant farmers in Ghana who continue to face the realities of climate change. For decades, Ghanaian farmers have left their homes in the Upper West Region for the prospect of better agricultural conditions in the Brong-Ahafo Region. They have made this journey hundreds of miles south due to worsening soil conditions and declining rainfall volume and frequency which has led to a lack of food security. The 5th Assessment Report of the IPCC predicts, with high confidence, that mean precipitation will decline in mid-latitude subtropical dry regions such as Ghana’s Northern semi-arid climate.
The Brong-Ahafo Region is a hub for agricultural production in Ghana and has historically provided migrants with employment opportunities. But climate change has led to declining agricultural conditions in this region as well. As in many developing countries, agriculture has shifted from staple crops to cash crops that can be exported, such as Cocoa. According to the MIT Observatory of Economic Complexity, between 2014 and 2019 Cocoa exports declined 20.5% ($664M USD) while precious metal, gem, and mineral exports increased significantly.
Baada, Baruah, and Luginaah discussed the realities these migrant farmers faced in Brong Ahafo through interviews and focus group discussions and reported that “premigration hopes of improving their lives in the middle-belt had not been matched by the postmigration realities”. Migrant farmers, especially women, often lack access to farming resources, land, and social capital when they arrive. While seemingly bleak, the authors of this study identify a number of potential solutions including providing migrants with equitable access to land tenure and farming resources, as well as creating alternative employment opportunities in the Upper West Region, where farming has already become increasingly difficult.
Sources
Baada, J., Baruah, B., & Luginaah, I. (2020). Looming crisis – changing climatic conditions in Ghana’s breadbasket: the experiences of agrarian migrants. Development In Practice, 1-14. doi: 10.1080/09614524.2020.1854184 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2020.1854184
IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, p. 60. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/syr/
OEC. (2021). Ghana (GHA) Exports, Imports, and Trade Partners. Retrieved 30 March 2021, from https://oec.world/en/profile/country/gha/
Baada, J., Baruah, B., & Luginaah, I. (2021). Climate change is affecting agrarian migrant livelihoods in Ghana. This is how. Retrieved 29 March 2021, from https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-affecting-agrarian-migrant-livelihoods-in-ghana-this-is-how-156212
