Assessing the sustainability of vegetable production practices in northern Ghana
Urban vegetable production is an intensive agricultural strategy through which urban dwellers secure income and improve their livelihoods. An ethnographic study was conducted in Tamale, Northern Ghana, to understand whether vegetable gardening was a sustainable form of intensification. The study use...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2017-05-01
|
| Series: | International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2017.1312796 |
| _version_ | 1797681258262691840 |
|---|---|
| author | Eileen Bogweh Nchanji Imogen Bellwood-Howard Nikolaus Schareika Takemore Chagomoka Johannes Schlesinger Drescher Axel Glaser Rüdiger |
| author_facet | Eileen Bogweh Nchanji Imogen Bellwood-Howard Nikolaus Schareika Takemore Chagomoka Johannes Schlesinger Drescher Axel Glaser Rüdiger |
| author_sort | Eileen Bogweh Nchanji |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Urban vegetable production is an intensive agricultural strategy through which urban dwellers secure income and improve their livelihoods. An ethnographic study was conducted in Tamale, Northern Ghana, to understand whether vegetable gardening was a sustainable form of intensification. The study used an updated version of the Food and Agricultural Organization’s International Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Land Management. Accordingly, qualitative data were collected on the security and access to land, political acceptability and human and environmental health implications of urban patch farming. Changes between 2008 and 2014 in the spatial area of the vegetable sites were measured. Cabbage farmer incomes were quantified. The study found that urbanization has prompted an increase in the cultivation of highly profitable vegetables like cabbage. However, they are irrigated with grey and waste water while eaten raw. This, and the use of pesticides in high dosages, poses health and environmental hazards. Industrial growth has reduced the area of open space urban agriculture by 8.7% between 2008 and 2014. Farmers cope with this by cultivating on interstitial spaces and moving to periurban fringes. There, farmers develop institutional liaisons to gain access to intensification technologies and commercialize their production. This production system is dynamic but not yet sustainable. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:41:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b7d7ebe2854644359b1a3c28f6f87c89 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1473-5903 1747-762X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:41:52Z |
| publishDate | 2017-05-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj.art-b7d7ebe2854644359b1a3c28f6f87c892023-09-19T15:22:19ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Agricultural Sustainability1473-59031747-762X2017-05-0115332133710.1080/14735903.2017.13127961312796Assessing the sustainability of vegetable production practices in northern GhanaEileen Bogweh Nchanji0Imogen Bellwood-Howard1Nikolaus Schareika2Takemore Chagomoka3Johannes Schlesinger4Drescher Axel5Glaser Rüdiger6Georg-August UniversitätGeorg-August UniversitätGeorg-August UniversitätUniversity of FreiburgUniversity of FreiburgUniversity of FreiburgUniversity of FreiburgUrban vegetable production is an intensive agricultural strategy through which urban dwellers secure income and improve their livelihoods. An ethnographic study was conducted in Tamale, Northern Ghana, to understand whether vegetable gardening was a sustainable form of intensification. The study used an updated version of the Food and Agricultural Organization’s International Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Land Management. Accordingly, qualitative data were collected on the security and access to land, political acceptability and human and environmental health implications of urban patch farming. Changes between 2008 and 2014 in the spatial area of the vegetable sites were measured. Cabbage farmer incomes were quantified. The study found that urbanization has prompted an increase in the cultivation of highly profitable vegetables like cabbage. However, they are irrigated with grey and waste water while eaten raw. This, and the use of pesticides in high dosages, poses health and environmental hazards. Industrial growth has reduced the area of open space urban agriculture by 8.7% between 2008 and 2014. Farmers cope with this by cultivating on interstitial spaces and moving to periurban fringes. There, farmers develop institutional liaisons to gain access to intensification technologies and commercialize their production. This production system is dynamic but not yet sustainable.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2017.1312796land use changesvegetable productionsustainable intensificationspatial changesnorthern ghana |
| spellingShingle | Eileen Bogweh Nchanji Imogen Bellwood-Howard Nikolaus Schareika Takemore Chagomoka Johannes Schlesinger Drescher Axel Glaser Rüdiger Assessing the sustainability of vegetable production practices in northern Ghana International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability land use changes vegetable production sustainable intensification spatial changes northern ghana |
| title | Assessing the sustainability of vegetable production practices in northern Ghana |
| title_full | Assessing the sustainability of vegetable production practices in northern Ghana |
| title_fullStr | Assessing the sustainability of vegetable production practices in northern Ghana |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the sustainability of vegetable production practices in northern Ghana |
| title_short | Assessing the sustainability of vegetable production practices in northern Ghana |
| title_sort | assessing the sustainability of vegetable production practices in northern ghana |
| topic | land use changes vegetable production sustainable intensification spatial changes northern ghana |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2017.1312796 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT eileenbogwehnchanji assessingthesustainabilityofvegetableproductionpracticesinnorthernghana AT imogenbellwoodhoward assessingthesustainabilityofvegetableproductionpracticesinnorthernghana AT nikolausschareika assessingthesustainabilityofvegetableproductionpracticesinnorthernghana AT takemorechagomoka assessingthesustainabilityofvegetableproductionpracticesinnorthernghana AT johannesschlesinger assessingthesustainabilityofvegetableproductionpracticesinnorthernghana AT drescheraxel assessingthesustainabilityofvegetableproductionpracticesinnorthernghana AT glaserrudiger assessingthesustainabilityofvegetableproductionpracticesinnorthernghana |