Integrated Soil Fertility Management and Gender in Northern Ghana

By A.L. Abdulai and S. Soeters

Study area: Tolon

The study was conducted in the Tolon District. The district is characterized by a mono-modal rainfall season, which starts in late April (with little rainfall), rises to its peak from July to August and declines sharply to a complete halt from October to November. The dry season runs from November to March. The area experiences occasional storms, which have implications for bare soil erosion depending on its frequency and intensity especially when they occur at the end of the dry season. The situation also influences staple crop farming that is already highly restricted by the short rainfall duration. The main vegetation is grassland, interspersed with guinea savannah woodland, characterized by drought-resistant economic trees such as sheanut, dawadawa, and mango, which form an integral part of the livelihood of the people. One undesirable characteristic feature of the district is the annual bush fires, which sweep across the savannah woodland and exacerbates the impact of both wind and water erosion. In 2010, about 92.4 % of the population of Tolon District was engaged in agriculture, with crop farming being the main agricultural activity. Those in livestock rearing account for 74.1 percent and tree planting 0.7 percent. In the rural localities, more than nine out of every ten (96.6%) of the households are agricultural households and 65.4% are in the urban localities. Poultry (chicken – 36.8%) is the dominant animal reared in the district. The success of agriculture, the main stay of the people of the Tolon district, depends largely on the quality of the soil.

 

Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM)

ISFM set of soil fertility management practices that necessarily include the use of improved germplasm, fertilizer, and organic inputs, combined with the knowledge on how to adapt these practices to local conditions, aiming to maximize agronomic use efficiency of the applied nutrients and improve crop productivity. The $160M Soil Health Program as from 2012, implemented by the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa with funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates and the Rockefeller Foundations, demonstrates the importance of ISFM in African agriculture. ISFM proves to be an effective means of adapting to climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa where low and declining soil fertility is a major cause of low productivity of the predominantly smallholder and rain-fed agricultural systems and the consequent persistent poverty and food insecurity. This is based on the appropriateness of ISFM for addressing poor soil fertility, increasing yields, and thereby, alleviating poverty, increasing the overall well-being, and improving the standards of living of farmers and rural communities in Ghana.

The Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), one of the 13 autonomous institutes under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and known in short as CSIR-SARI was a major collaborator in the promotion of Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) in Ghana. The conceptual framework for moving to full ISFM consists of using responsive land, improved genotypes or cultivars, application of both inorganic and organic fertilizers, and adapting all these to local conditions with the sole aim of enhancing agronomic efficiency. ISFM is important for CSIR-SARI for a number of reasons. First, the major goal of the institute is to improve the livelihoods of rural households through the development, identification, introduction, evaluation, promotion, and creation of enabling environment for the adoption of agricultural technologies to enhance the productivity of cereal-, legume-, and root and tuber-based systems in the interior Savannah zone of Ghana. Secondly, agricultural production systems in the mandate area of CSIR-SARI are highly sensitive and vulnerable because soils in this area are generally poor in fertility, heavily eroded, shallow, have low moisture holding capacities and/or infiltration rates, and are prone to run-off. Thirdly, both agricultural productivity and production in the interior Savannah zone of Ghana are low because irrigation coverage is very low (less than 5%), so food and cash crop cultivation is mainly rain-fed and therefore negatively affected by the low soil fertility and impacts of climate change. Fourthly, ISFM may not only improve soil fertility, but can double as a strategy for climate change adaptation. The CSIR-SARI beneficiary communities were taught how to combine manure, compost, or crop residue with chemical fertilizer and new varieties to increase yields,

Research Objectives

Whilst the scientific community unanimously regards ISFM as a scientific fact, and invests resources into its development, evaluation and promotion, very little knowledge exist on the gender dimensions of these processes and its potential for conflict. This research assessed the impact of ISFM practice on gender relations and conflict in the interior Savannah of Ghana, with focus on communities where CSIR-SARI implemented ISFM as a strategy for both increasing crop productivity and adaptation to climate change. The project team selected three communities within the Tolon district where CSIR-SARI has been promoting ISFM to assess the impacts of the intervention on gender dimensions on access to opportunities and or resources to increase productivity and production by enhancing agronomic efficiency. The research team entered three selected communities in January 2014.

Research Findings

  • The study has shown that the selection of beneficiaries of the ISFM as an intervention for adapting to climate change was not equitable in terms of gender. The intervention improved access to land, manure and improved seeds, however primarily for men. Women have difficulty in accessing manure and other forms of organic matter. This widened the gap between males and females concerning access to opportunities and resources to increase productivity through agronomic efficiency. The gender bias, in favour of males, in the access to land, manure, and improved seeds will synergize to widen the already huge gap between males and females regarding access to opportunities and resource.
  • Crop residue constitutes a resource with competitive alternative uses, most importantly using it either to fertilise farmland or for livestock to feed on during the dry season. Also women can use some of the residue for other incomes, such as basket and mat weaving. Therefore, crop residue can be a source of hierarchical conflicts if issues regarding its distribution and use are not planned in consultation with all the relevant stakeholders.
  • As ISFM requires crop residue, community members should establish woodlots to take care of the fuel wood needs of housewives and ensure an uncontested access to crop residue for incorporation.
  • Community members should integrate crop and livestock production systems in order to minimize competition for resources and reduce conflicts between crop and livestock enterprises.