The role of socio-environmental networking in the sustainability of rain-fed agriculture in the coastal savanna of Ghana

Author: Campbell, Michael

Source: GeoJournal, Volume 61, Number 1, January 2005 , pp. 79-88(10)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Insufficient attention has been paid to the methods used by rain-fed farmers to achieve sustainability in their livelihoods in the dry coastal savanna of Ghana. Official accounts describe such activities as declining under increased drought. Such assessments have not been based on sufficient evidence. Using a methodology based on actor network theory (ANT), social surveys and meteorological data, the results of this paper give evidence of a complex system of socio-environmental networking (SEN), incorporating both the utilisation and re-negotiation of socio-environmental prescriptions. These facilitate both livelihood survival and enhancement. In contrast to official solutions based on technical injections such as irrigation, farmers have evolved SEN as an effective strategy. It is concluded that these networks, which may be effectively appraised using ANT, are important factors for the sustainability of rain-fed farming.

Keywords: actor network theory; coastal savanna; Ghana; rain-fed farming; socio-environmental networking

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10708-005-1212-x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Geography and Sociology, University of Strathclyde, Graham Hills Building, 50 Richmond Street, G1 1XN, Glasgow, Scotland, U.K., Email: ecol55@hotmail.com

Publication date: 2005-01-01