The Role of Translocal Practices in a Natural Climate Solution in Ghana
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Socioecological Systems
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Study Area
3.2. Data
4. Results
4.1. Human–Forest Relationship
make the application in the name of the community but you can also send an individual application or form a group of 10 or 20 people and apply. When we apply in the name of the community or in a group and we are allocated an area, we then share it according to our number and cultivate our crops and plant the trees.[Research participant, Dadetsunya, 2023]
My grandfather bought about 20 acres of land and when he died, it was shared evenly between his two sons, my father and my uncle. My father was not able to buy additional land and after he died, what he inherited was divided equally among me and my three brothers. How many acres of land do you think each of us has received? I hope you can imagine the size of land each of my two sons will inherit when I die. So, our lands have become smaller.[Research participant, Besebuom, 2023]
We are engaged in sharecropping here and the land is taken over by the cocoa. You see, we started with plantain cultivation and we interplanted cocoa. So, over time, the cocoa grew to overshadow the plantain. So, we are now mainly involved in cocoa farming. With the forestland, the arrangement is not sharecropping, whatever farm produce we get, we do not share with anyone so we earn more income from taungya.[the MTS] [Research participant, Olantan, 2023]
We have seen that there are portions of the forest that were degraded and as farmland is also becoming scarce for us, we applied to the forest commission and the forest guards came and demarcated the land to us. We need the land to farm crops and that is the main reason why we applied to be considered for the MTS.[Focus group discussion, Olantan, 2023]
4.2. The Role of Translocal Practices of Visits and Remittances on the MTS
Last two years [2021], we released land to 72 people in Dadetsunya community who applied to do the MTS. We realized that some were lazy and could not plant enough trees and weed their farms. So, I suggested to my madam [his superior technical officer] that we engage only a few people for the MTS in the next batch. She agreed so, last year, we released land to only 22 people who were able to plant and protect the trees as required.[FPG, Begoro, 2023]
- Interviewer:
- Do you use the money your children send to you to do the MTS?
- Research participant, Feyiase (RPF):
- Yes, but if what they send is not enough for my farming activities, I have to add up. We use the remittance for other things as well not only for farming.
- Interviewer:
- if they were not able to send you any money, what would have happened to your farming activities?
- RPF:
- I wouldn’t have been able to cultivate 4 acres of farm under [the MTS].
- Interviewer:
- Why?
- RPF:
- Farm inputs and labour are expensive. So, before I got involved [in the MTS], I called and asked them if they would be able to send me more money when the faming season starts. They assured me they would help and they have kept their promise. You see, unlike our own lands where we can use weedicides whenever we like, the forest officials do not permit us to use weedicides after we have planted the saplings. We have to weed the farm often either by ourselves or hire farm labourers and that is why it is expensive to do taungya [the MTS].
- Interviewer:
- If you did not receive cash remittances from your children, how many acres do you think you would have been able to do with your own strength?
- RPF:
- I would have managed 2 acres of farm under [the MTS]. That is, an acre each year since this current batch of [the MTS] started [Research participant, Feyiase, 2023].
Yes, money definitely plays a role in farming but the lack of it is not the only reason why some people could not maintain their farms. For instance, I didn’t hire labourers to work on my farm. I use my own strength. So, I think it also depends on strength and determination.[Research participant, Dadetsunya, 2023]
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Community | Number of Households | Selected Households | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Migrant | Non-Migrant | Migrant | Non-Migrant | |
Dadetsunya | 102 | 48 | 36 | 17 |
Besebuom | 124 | 35 | 45 | 10 |
Feyiase | 129 | 31 | 41 | 12 |
Frimponso | 71 | 41 | 40 | 18 |
Olantan | 79 | 18 | 55 | 12 |
Total | 505 | 173 | 217 | 69 |
Resources | 1st Rank | 2nd Rank | 3rd Rank | 4th Rank | 5th Rank | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Timber | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
Firewood | 221 | 34 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 259 |
Mushroom/bushmeat/snails | 52 | 120 | 41 | 26 | 0 | 239 |
Herbs | 6 | 48 | 108 | 29 | 0 | 191 |
Fruits | 3 | 59 | 56 | 28 | 1 | 147 |
Total | 285 | 267 | 210 | 84 | 2 | 848 |
Amount | Frequency | Percent |
---|---|---|
<100 | 10 | 2.0 |
101–250 | 21 | 4.3 |
251–500 | 66 | 13.5 |
501–1000 | 36 | 7.4 |
1001–2500 | 25 | 5.1 |
2501–5000 | 14 | 2.9 |
>5000 | 8 | 1.6 |
Refused | 5 | 1.0 |
Do not know | 78 | 16.0 |
Total | 263 | 53.9 |
Missing System | 225 | 46.1 |
Total | 488 | 100.0 |
Use of Remittances | 1st Rank | 2nd Rank | 3rd Rank | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
Basic food | 24 | 5 | 1 | 30 |
Education | 6 | 6 | 1 | 13 |
Health Care | 11 | 13 | 3 | 27 |
Marriage/Funeral | 4 | 7 | 5 | 16 |
Energy/petrol/gas/fire wood/char coal | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Agricultural investment | 2 | 7 | 8 | 17 |
Hiring Labour | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
Total | 49 | 40 | 22 | 111 |
Uses of Remittances | Ranks | Total | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st Rank | 2nd Rank | 3rd Rank | 4th Rank | 5th Rank | ||
Basic food | 156 | 45 | 24 | 2 | 2 | 229 |
Education | 14 | 42 | 20 | 9 | 0 | 85 |
Health Care | 29 | 56 | 42 | 20 | 4 | 151 |
Agricultural investment | 28 | 29 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 81 |
Hiring Labour | 32 | 17 | 20 | 15 | 7 | 91 |
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Narh, J.; Wehner, S.; Ungruhe, C.; Eberth, A. The Role of Translocal Practices in a Natural Climate Solution in Ghana. Climate 2023, 11, 216. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli11110216
Narh J, Wehner S, Ungruhe C, Eberth A. The Role of Translocal Practices in a Natural Climate Solution in Ghana. Climate. 2023; 11(11):216. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli11110216
Chicago/Turabian StyleNarh, John, Stefanie Wehner, Christian Ungruhe, and Andreas Eberth. 2023. "The Role of Translocal Practices in a Natural Climate Solution in Ghana" Climate 11, no. 11: 216. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli11110216
APA StyleNarh, J., Wehner, S., Ungruhe, C., & Eberth, A. (2023). The Role of Translocal Practices in a Natural Climate Solution in Ghana. Climate, 11(11), 216. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli11110216