Irrigate or migrate? [Elektronische Ressource] : local livelihood adaptation in Northern Ghana in response to ecological changes and economic challenges / vorgelegt von Benjamin Schraven

Benjamin Schraven

Sujets

• Soziologie

Informations

• Publié par: rheinische_friedrich-wilhelms-universitat_bonn
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 19
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Irrigate or migrate?

Local livelihood adaptation in Northern Ghana in response to ecological changes and
economic challenges

Inaugural-Dissertation

zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde
der
Philosophischen Fakultät
der
Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität
zu Bonn

vorgelegt von

Benjamin Schraven

aus

Wissen

Bonn 2010






























Gedruckt mit der Genehmigung der Philosophischen Fakultät
der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn



Zusammensetzung der Prüfungskommission:

Prof. Dr. Jörg Blasius
(Vorsitzender)
Prof. Dr. Hans-Dieter Evers
(Betreuer und Gutachter)
Prof. Dr. Solvay Gerke
(Gutachterin)
Prof. Dr. Eckart Ehlers
(weiteres prüfungsberechtigtes Mitglied)




Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 29.09.2010

Acknowledgements
First of all, I have to thank Dr. Julia Schindler for providing me with her data and
survey sample. Without her assistance, the conduction of this study would not have
been possible in this form. To the same degree, I also have to thank Dr. Wofram Laube,
who ever was a knowledgeable and amicable tutor. His advices were (in nearly all
cases) very valuable for my work. A very big thank you also goes to Prof. Dr. Solvay
Gerke for providing me with a very adequate field research time period and - last, but
definitely not least - to Prof. Dr. Hans-Dieter Evers for his patient, excellent and
inspiring supervision of this thesis. The underlying research of this thesis was mainly
undertaken in the scope of the GLOWA Volta Project. This project is funded by the
German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). I am very grateful for
the support of the ministry, which it has granted me on behalf of the German taxpayers.
A special and very big thank you also goes to my (most beloved) wife Marijke Looman
and Felizitas Scholten for doing the hard but very conscionable job of doing the
proofreading of this thesis. I also thank the CGIAR Challenge Programme on Water and
Food ‘Contribution of informal shallow groundwater irrigation to livelihoods security
and poverty reduction in the White Volta Basin: current extent and future sustainability’
(CP 65) for its financial support of this thesis.
For their very trustful and enriching research cooperation with me, I have to cordially
thank John Amegashitsi and Martha Awo. Without their hard research work and in
particular without their important and interesting findings, this doctoral thesis would
definitely be lacking very important information. I wish you both all the best for your
academic and private future.
Furthermore, I am also very grateful to Jacob Afeliga for the great job he has done as a
research assistant and in particular for sharing his huge knowledge with me. I really
have enjoyed the field trips in North Ghana with him - even despite the terrible
temperatures at the end of the dry season. For their really good work as interviewers, I
also would like to thank Lambert Akanyapagra, James Atonga, Bennedict ‘Big Ben’
Baluah, Maxwell Abapoli, Isaac Apugi and Alice Atindema.
iA special thanks for their assistance as well as for a nice company in Ghana and/ or at
ZEF during my PhD phase also goes to the following persons: Jennifer Hauck, Salisu
Adams, Mustapha Sachibu, Emmanuel Amoah, Elli Sokpoli, Abuyama Bennedicta
Montrage - especially for providing me with cold drinks in the evening -, Ben
Heywood, Daniel Ofori, Dr. Boubacar Barry, Prof. Dr. Eckart Ehlers, Prof. Dr. Jörg
Blasius, Dr. Till Stellmacher, Dr. Irit Eguavoen, Cubura Laube-Adewuyi, Guido
Lüchters, Dr. Jens Liebe, Dr. Saravanan V.S., Chian-Woei Shyu, Dr. Gabi Waibel, Dr.
Günther Manske, Rosemarie Zabel, Dr. William Tsuma, Daniel Spalthoff, Prof. Dr.
Steve Tonah, Dr. Bao Le Quang, Nana Ato Arthur, Dr. Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Dr.
Fabian Scholtes, Kimberley Couvson, Emmanuel Derbile, Dr. Eva Youkhana and Dr.
Charles Rodgers. Please note that the sequence of mentioning does not correlate with
my personal degree of gratefulness towards the mentioned persons in any form.
Finally, I most notably have to thank my family. Particularly, I have to thank my mother
and my grandparents as well as my wife Marijke Looman. Without their assistance, I
even would not have been able to write this thesis at all.

Bonn, 19.10.2010 Benjamin Schraven


iiContent
List of Figures .......................................................................................................... v
List of Tables vi
List of Boxes vii
List of Photos ......................................................................................................... vii
Deutsche Kurzzusammenfassung ............................................................................ 1
I Introduction ........................................................................................................... 11
II Local livelihood adaptation: an analysis framework ............................................. 16
Chapter summary ................................................................................. 34
III Research design ..................................................................................................... 35
IV The study region .................................................................................................... 38
IV.1 Population and environmental pressure and its interference with the local
peasant agriculture ........................................................................................ 40
Excursus: environmental degradation versus ‘lie of the land’? ........... 40
Processes of environmental change and the local agriculture in the
study region ......................................................................................... 44
IV.2 Labour migration as a traditional coping strategy and its interference with
regional underdevelopment .......................................................................... 59
IV.3 The cultural meaning of labour migration in Northern Ghana ..................... 81
IV.4 Between continuity and change: social organisation and cooperation in
Northern Ghana in their historical context ................................................... 85
Chapter summary ................................................................................. 99
V Shallow groundwater irrigation farming as adaptive strategy ............................. 100
V.1 Shallow groundwater irrigation farming as an agricultural innovation
process ........................................................................................................ 101
The innovation- and risk-averse peasant? ......................................... 101
Who are the agricultural innovators and why do they innovate? ...... 105
Farmers learning from farmers - the moral economy of knowledge
sharing ............................................................................................... 116
V.2 The access to other relevant resources and marketing ............................... 122
Land and water .................................................................................. 122
Marketing .......................................................................................... 126
Labour ................................................................................................ 133
V.3 Limitations and constraints of growth ........................................................ 139
iiiV.4 Shallow groundwater irrigation farming and its adaptive effects ............... 147
Chapter summary ............................................................................... 151
VI The significance of seasonal migration ............................................................... 152
VI.1 Migration decision theories - from laws to cultures of migration .............. 152
VI.2 Seasonal migration among irrigation and non-irrigation households ......... 157
VI.3 Current migration risks and the changing face of seasonal migration ....... 163
Chapter summary 174
VII Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 175
References .................................................................................................................... 181
Appendix ...................................................................................................................... 197
Appendix 1 Questionnaire for the 2007 household survey ........................... 197
Appendix 2 Selected items for the wealth indicator ...................................... 212
Appendix 3 Classification table for regression analysis ................................ 213
Appendix 4 Weight factors for the plants used for the construction of the
2006 rainy season values added ................................................ 214

ivList of Figures
Figure II.1: A livelihood adaptation analysis fram