Enhancing healthy ecosystems in northern Ghana through eco-friendly farm-based practices: insights from irrigation scheme-types

Abstract

Background Farming practices vary from farmer to farmer and from place to place depending on a number of factors including the agroclimatic condition, infrastructure (e.g. irrigation facilities) and management mechanisms (private versus state management). These together affect the functioning and sustainability of the ecosystems. For the sustainability of ecosystems, farmers need to employ ecosystem-based farm practices. This paper examines the ecosystem-based farm management practices (EBFMPs) in private and state-managed irrigation schemes. It also analyses the drivers of farmers’ willingness to pay for EBFMPs sustainability. The study employed mixed methods design, using both qualitative and quantitative techniques of data collection through key informant interviews, focus group discussions and semi-structured questionnaires administered to 300 households. The various EBFMPs adopted by farmers were examined and descriptively presented. The Chi-square automatic interaction detector (CHAID) and multiple linear regression were used to assess the predictors of farmers’ willingness to pay for EBFMPs to enhance the health of agroecosystems. Compost application, conservative tilling, conservation of vegetation, mulching, crop rotation, intercropping with legumes, efficient drainage systems and bunding were the EBFMPs captured in this paper. Results Farmers in privately-managed irrigation schemes (PIS) more often apply EBFMPs compared with those in state-managed irrigation schemes (SIS). The paper also found that farmers’ willingness to pay to sustain EBFMPs for healthy ecosystems is significantly determined by the type of irrigation scheme they cultivate in (that is, PIS or SIS), their level of education, marital status and perception of soil fertility. Conclusions Policy makers, implementers, and other stakeholders need to consider the capacity building of irrigation farmers, especially those in SIS in northern Ghana by educating them on agricultural production and ecosystem nexus to enhance the level of usage and willingness to pay for EBFMPs sustainability.

Cost-benefit analysis of prioritized climate-smart agricultural practices among smallholder farmers: evidence from selected value chains across sub-Saharan Africa

“…For example, practices under Sustainable Land and Water Management include but are not limited to; minimum or no-tillage practices, construction of terraces, soil bunds, stone or vegetation bunds, Half-moons 1 , and Zai pits 2 , mulching, on-farm storage facilities, irrigation, System of Rice Intensification (SRI), and alternate wetting and drying in rice production (Cai et al, 2019;Oremo et al, 2020). Practices aimed at pest and weed management include the use of pesticides, new crop varieties or cultivars that are pest and disease resistant, adoption of push-pull technology, and crop diversification through intercropping or crop rotation (Agula et al, 2019). Other practices include agroforestry and cover cropping, changing of planting dates, index-based insurance, and use of organic manure among others.…”

The Livelihoods Impacts of Irrigation in Western Africa: The Ghana Experience

“…The provision of irrigation facilities in strategic locations in rural areas, especially in northern Ghana, is expected to help promote livelihoods in those areas [4][5][6][7]. This is because it has been established in the empirical literature that access to irrigation has positive impacts on agricultural production and the reduction of poverty levels of farmers [8].…”

Understanding the potential of sustainability turn in farming: review of sociotechnical adoption factors of agri-environmental cropping practices

“…At the same time, other studies in Uganda [34] and in Nigeria [4] found the oppositethat larger households featured higher adoption intensity. Concerning marital status, explored in studies in Africa, it was found that in Nigeria single farmers were more likely to adopt organic farming technology than married farmers [3], but in Ghana married farmers were willing to pay more for sustaining ecosystem-based farm management practices than those not married [7].…”

“…Farmers' assessment of plot characteristics in terms of fertility, slope, and depth was found to be among the factors influencing adoption of sustainable intensification practices in Kenya [35], Malawi [11], Thailand [51], Ethiopia [2], USA [27], Malaysia [48], and China [47]. In Ghana [6,7] farmers who considered their farmlands to be fertile were willing to pay more to sustain ecosystem-based farm management practices than those who considered their lands to be less fertile. At the same time, a study in the USA [18] focusing on cover crops and no-till/reduced tillage found that the physical features of the farmland, such as soil types, drainage, and/or topography, were only slightly limiting their adoption.…”