Beyond the green revolution: reviving time-tested resilient practices for enhanced food security in Ghana’s upper west region through traditional Authorities

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of locally enacted bylaws governing Autonomous Resilient Practices (ARP) on the food security of a sample of 700 smallholder farmers in Ghana’s Upper West Region. The research is grounded in the context of the Green Revolution’s inability to address food insecurity for large populations in Africa. The sequential mixed methods design employed in the study first identified eight prevalent coping strategies for food insecurity among farmers. A pairwise matrix ranking method was used for this task. Subsequently, Poisson regression models were employed to assess how often farmers resorted to these coping strategies when bylaws aimed at protecting the local ecology were enforced. The results reveal highly significant and inverse relationships between increased frequency of implementing local bylaws on ARP and farmers’ frequency of resorting to the eight identified coping strategies for food security. The results underscore the significance of grassroots-level solutions to the shortcomings of the current food system, which produces surplus food but fails to adequately nourish a substantial proportion of the global population

Keywords:

• Autonomous resilient practices
• Ghana
• food insecurity
• coping strategies
• pairwise ranking
• Green Revolution

Reviewing Editor:

• Manuel Tejada
• Universidad de Sevilla
• Spain

Subjects:

• Agriculture & Environmental Sciences
• Ecology - Environment Studies
• Environmental Policy

Authors’ contributions

Alexis Beyuo conceived the idea and collected data. Francis Dompae and Paul Domanban Bata conducted the statistical analysis. Alexis Beyuo wrote the manuscript in consultation with Francis Dompae and Paul DomanbanBata.

Ethics approval

Ethical approval for this study the University of Ghana’s Ethics Committee for the Humanities (Approval number: ECH 031/16-17).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained for respondents to publish their details in this article.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Notes

1 Instances in which older household members, particularly breastfeeding mothers, sacrifice their own food intake due to food shortages, ensuring that their children have enough to eat (Maxwell, 1996).

2 Situations in which, because to food shortage, older household members, and especially breastfeeding mothers, forego food in order that their children may have enough to eat (Maxwell, 1996).

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes on contributors

Alexis Beyuo

Alexis Beyuo has a PhD in Development Studies from the University of Ghana. He is a lecturer at the Simon Diedong University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Wa. His research interests centre on sustainable agriculture, grassroots participation in development and food security.

Francis Dompae

Francis Dompae holds a PhD in Development Studies and is currently a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research of the University of Ghana. He researches on issues of agricultural technology and development.

Paul Bata Domanban

Paul Bata Domanban PhD is a Senior Lecturer at the Simon Diedong University of Business and Integrated Development Studies.