The prolonged dry spell experienced in the Upper West Region and other parts of the country has left thousands of farmers in Lambussie District and Nandom Municipality counting their losses.
Mr Nambie Nathaniel, the Lambussie District Director of Agriculture stated that the drought has had a catastrophic impact on farmlands across the district. He mentioned that farmers in the district cultivated over 250,000 hectares of different crops this year.
Maize, groundnut, soyabean, millet, rice and yam among others are the crops cultivated by farmers in the district. More than 10,000 hectares have been affected by the prolonged drought. According to Mr Nathaniel, most fields have been destroyed and could not record beyond 20 per cent germination.
He spoke at a press briefing organized by the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development (CIKOD), a non governmental organization based in Ghana working to build resilient communities in the Upper West Region and its partners on the impact of drought in the Upper West Region.
He noted that farmers recorded poor germination or the plants died because the rain did not start early this year coupled with a long period of drought. He observed that plants at the infantile stage needs to survive.
Mr Nathaniel mentioned that the district in 2023 projeted a total rain days of forty-five from January up to August but had thirty-one days of rain and eighteen dry spell days.
“In 2024, we had the same projection, and from January up to August, that is, by the middle of August, we had only recorded sixteen rain days and between June and August, 28 dry days. That is almost a month, and that tells you the effect because these farmers needed the rain within this period to plant. The rains were not there, and when the rain even comes, you go to plant, and that is all. The crop may emerge, but you won’t have further rains to be able to stabilize the situation, and these crops die off,” he added.
“This gives concern for all of us to be worried because the picture is gloomy and it tells us that there is danger of insecurity ahead of us because we can not be sure that even the few crops that are in the field will get rain up to the end of October.”
The situation is not different in the Nandom Municipality as farmers count their losses due to the prolonged dry spell. Mr Gaeten Baligi, the Nandom Municipal Director of Agriculture, lamented the impact of the drought in the municipality.
“The drought condition that we experienced in our district Nandom has been very, very severe and impacted gravely on Agriculture, affecting both crop yields and affecting animal production as well. The district has a total crop area as at the time of 21,040 hectares of which 58 per cent has been severely affected by the drought spell.
“This has resulted in a loss of crop amounting to 82 per cent which has reached their permanent wilting point and making recovery very, very unlikely. As we speak, only 18 per cent of the stressed crops are showing any sign of recovering from their wilting point,” Mr Baligi added.
Mr Baligi appealed for measures to be put in place to support farmers who have affected the by the drought.
Mr Daniel Banuoku, Deputy Director of CIKOD, said the indiscriminate burning of charcoal, bush burning and rosewood cutting have significantly contributed to the drought in the region.
“For decades the northern savannah ecological zone has been a charcoal production hub for the country meanwhile we have the most fragile ecosystem in the entire country. So, we need to have a deep conversation about these matters if we really want to address the issues of climate change moving foraward. 25 to 32 per cent of our land area is burnt in northern Ghana almost every year.”
He noted that in order to mitigate the impact of climate change, bold solutions are required.
“From where we sit I have always looked at agroecology as one of those bold solutions. Even the FAO have adapted agroecology as one of the bold solutions that can help address the adaption and long term mitigation impact of climate change.”
He also recommended tree planting and diversification of crops among others to mitigate the impact of climate change.
Meanwhile, the Finance Minister, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has announced that the government has set aside GH¢8 billion to provide relief and mitigative measures for farmers affected by the recent dry spell.
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