A call for action to protect agricultural lands

Like in many developing economies, agriculture forms the mainstay of Ghana’s socioeconomic development, having contributed to gross domestic product, employment, foreign income as well as food security since independence. Despite competition from other sectors, particularly the service sector, in recent times, agriculture continues to play a crucial role in Ghana’s development. The country’s ability to halve hunger and tackle poverty under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has largely been attributed to robust interventions and development in agriculture. The sector is the main source of livelihoods among smallholder farmers and rural communities. Any threat to agriculture seriously jeopardises the food security of this population, which, while largely constituting the poor and vulnerable, nevertheless covers about 80 per cent of the products for the nation’s food security needs.

Yet the countries’ smallholder farmers, especially in urban and peri-urban areas and fast developing rural communities, face a threat which has received little attention by policy-makers, the media and activists so far, but can seriously hamper future food security, poverty eradication and rural development targets enshrined in national policies and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Many smallholder farmers are bearing the brunt of urban sprawl and development. Rapid urbanisation is directly or indirectly facilitating re-zoning of land for development purposes. In a conversation with some community members in Ofaakor, a suburb of Kasoa (one of the fastest growing communities in West Africa) in the Awutu Senya East Municipality in Ghana, I learned that the phenomenon is pushing vulnerable and poor farmers (especially those who have been living in cottages and practised agriculture in the area) into the hinterlands in search of land for their agricultural and livelihood activities. However, land there may not support agriculture, e.g. because of aridity, poor soil fertility and limited access to water. Fertile land is mostly forested. Farmers deforesting such areas add to carbon emissions.

The problem was also highlighted at a workshop held in the context of the INTER­FACES project in Tamale in Northern Ghana in August 2024 together with stakeholders from government institutions, civil society and farmer-based organisations, traditional authorities and academia. Here, it was stressed that many smallholder farmers in the Tamale Metropolis and its environs have been pushed far off from their agricultural lands. Often, vulnerable farmers are not even notified of the re-zoning of their lands. Pillars mounted on the land announce its having been re-zoned, and the farmers are evicted. Directly or indirectly, re-zoning of agricultural land implies a reduction in the total production area, translating into a significant loss of agricultural productivity and yields, and affecting food security in a country with considerable hunger and nutrition-related problems.

Agricultural land should be protected from being converted to other uses. 
Photo: Gerhard Petterson/ shutterstock.com
 

Inherently, the loss of agricultural lands to urbanisation is partly because of many development planners in Ghana’s metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) not recognising agriculture as an important aspect of spatial development. Most of them do not even include designated agricultural lands in their spatial development plans. This has to change. Dedicated and designated agricultural lands should be integrated into spatial development plans. Moreover, it must be ensured that such plans are readily available and accessible to local people who can then legitimise their desire to protect land from urban encroachment. Achieving this requires strong collaboration between MMDAs and traditional authorities, especially Chiefs and Queen mothers as well as clan and family heads who are recognised as custodians of lands in many parts of the country. The latter have to see to it that agricultural lands in their territories that support the livelihoods of their people are not forcefully converted into residential, commercial and industrial lands. This will compel and encourage MMDAs to champion agricultural lands as part of their spatial development plans. Additionally, tenancy agreements must be formalised between farmers and traditional authorities or land owners to ensure security of agricultural lands. This may not necessarily mean officially registering the land, which has been reported to be costly and characterised by excessive delays. Rather, written (official) agreements between farmers and land owners would suffice to secure agricultural land.

Also, state laws and policies are needed to protect agricultural land in fast developing communities across the country by granting them the status of protected agricultural lands – like in the case of protected forest lands, which are prohibited from being converted to other uses. This would secure and protect the livelihoods of poor and vulnerable farmers amidst urban sprawl and development. Designating agricultural lands can contribute to promoting green spaces, reducing carbon footprint and enhancing agricultural productivity generally.

Peter Asare-Nuamah holds a PhD in Governance and Regional Integration with specialisation in environment, climate change and agriculture, and is currently a Senior Researcher at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn in Germany. He works as a social learning and (gender-responsive) theory of change expert on the INTERFACES project under the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)-funded project on Sustainable Land Management in Africa.
Contact:  pasarenu@uni-bonn.de