Towards a Model of Sustainable Urban Agriculture: A Case Study of Ashaiman, Accra

MSc Environment & Sustainable Development DPU Field Work 2009

TOWARDS A MODEL OF SUSTAINABLE URBAN AGRICULTURE: A CASE STUDY OF ASHAIMAN, GHANA 1 June 2009


REPORT BY ‐ ASHAIMAN GROUP:

SARAH ADAMS SHANILA ATHULATHMUDALI ERIKA BREYER CATHERINE BURGESS ABIGAIL BURRIDGE BASMA GABER SHAILEAN HARDY DANIEL ODEKINA JENNY PERRY ELISE ROTSZTAIN RIEKO SUZUKI TRAVIS WOODWARD


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TABLE OF CONTENTS i ABBREVIATIONS ii PREFACE iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1 PURPOSE OF STUDY 1 BACKGROUND: THE STUDY AREAS 1 Ashaiman‐Tema 1 GIDA 3 Roman Down

3 DEFINITION OF SUA AND CRITERIA 4 ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK

5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

6 Limitations

6 FINDINGS, DIAGNOSIS AND STRATEGIES 7 Waste 11 Water 14 Gender 17 Linking Farmers Together 21 Opening a Dialogue

22 ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS 22 CONCLUSIONS: INSTITUTIONALISING SUSTAINABLE URBAN AGRICULTURE 25 REFERENCES 27 APPENDIX 1: SUSTAINABLE URBAN AGRICULTURE THEMES AND CRITERIA 29 APPENDIX 2: SEMI‐STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRES (FARMERS EXAMPLE) 32 APPENDIX 3: FOCUS GROUP METHODOLOGY 35 APPENDIX 4: SCHEDULE OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 37 APPENDIX 5: DATA COMPILATION AND ANALYSIS 39 APPENDIX 6: IRRIGATION WATER SOURCES 40 APPENDIX 7: WATER STRATEGIES


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LIST OF FIGURES 2 Figure 1: Map of Study Areas 4 Figure 2: Food Security & Urban Agriculture 7 Figure 3: Farmers using chemical fertilisers 8 Figure 4: Example of community composting facility 8 Figure 5: Zoom Lion, the private company who has an agreement with the AshMA to collect waste 11 Figure 6: GIDA site irrigation system 12 Figure 7: GIDA Ashaiman Dam Water Flows 13 Figure 8: Encroaching residential developments built adjacent to the reservoir 13 Figure 9: RD Farmer Emmanuel demonstrating the pumping system that the farmers use to extract water 23 Figure 10: Strategies for SUA in Ashaiman ‐ A Framework for Strategic Collective Action 24 Figure 11: Ashaiman Stakeholder Analysis with Influence of SUA Strategies at the National and Local Levels

LIST OF TABLES 9 Table 1: Proposed Waste Strategies 10 Table 2: Monitoring and Impact Assessment for Waste 15 Table 3: Proposed Water Strategies 16 Table 4: Monitoring and Impact Assessment for Water 18 Table 5: Proposed Gender Strategies 19 Table 6: Monitoring and Impact Assessment for Gender 20 Table 7: Proposed Cooperative Strategies 20 Table 8: Monitoring and Impact Assessment for Cooperatives 21 Table 9: Proposed Strategy to Open Dialogue 22 Table 10: Monitoring and Impact Assessment for Opening Dialogue


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ABBREVIATIONS AMA Accra Metropolitan Assembly AshMA Ashaiman Municipal Assembly AWGUPA Accra Working Group on Urban and Peri‐Urban Agriculture EPA Environmental Protection Agency GAMA Greater Accra Metropolitan Area GIDA Ghana Irrigation Development Authority IWMI International Water Management Institute JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency MoFA Ministry of Food and Agriculture NDPC National Development Planning Commission RD Roman Down RUAF Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security SUA Sustainable Urban Agriculture TCPD Town and Country Planning Department TDC Tema Development Corporation ToR Terms of Reference UA Urban Agriculture WMD Waste Management Department


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PREFACE The Ashaiman Group would like to thank the many lecturers, experts, and organisations who supported us before, during and after our expedition to Ghana. We would especially like to thank IWMI for hosting us, Mrs Memuna Mattah, our excellent facilitator and translator, Mr Nii Ofoe Hansen, the Scheme Manager at the Irrigation Development Site, Mr Sam Nukpor, Director of the Ashaiman Municipal Directorate of Food and Agriculture, and all of the farmers who extended their hospitality to us and generously offered so much of their time for our research. We would also like to express our appreciation to the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly and the Ashaiman Stool for so graciously receiving us and to Joyce Decutt from MoFA for keeping us informed about the positive developments that are taking place as a result of our presence in Ashaiman. The group feels privileged to have helped catalyse change that will assist the farmers at Roman Down. The spirit of the farmers and those that support them was inspiring. We would also like to thank the DPU staff for their on‐going support, especially Adriana Allen, Hannah Griffiths and Alex Frediani.


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY It is estimated that over 50% of the world’s population now lives in cities (Deelstra and Girardet 2000, Mougeot 2006). A growing urban population requires a growing volume of food, and whilst it is assumed that this food will be transported into the city either from rural areas or from overseas, this raises significant sustainability issues. Food grown within a city provides opportunities for the city to feed itself. The City of Accra in Ghana has been growing at an average of 4% per year since the 1970s (Ghana Ministry of Local Government 1992). Today, 24% of households in Accra are considered ‘food insecure’, meaning that these households lack basic calories and spend a high proportion of their income on food. Forty per cent are considered vulnerable, in that they have enough food for now, but still spend a high proportion of income of food, making them vulnerable to seasonal and price changes, or other global food supply issues (Maxwell et al 2000, 80). Growing food in cities, or Urban Agriculture (UA), has wide benefits for the economy, society and the environment. For example, UA enables lower income groups to grow food for subsistence, provides employment and income opportunities, reducing poverty and increasing city productivity. The group was tasked with investigating UA in the Municipality of Ashaiman, to establish whether it was sustainable, and if not, to propose interventions that would take Ashaiman on the path to Sustainable Urban Agriculture (SUA). During the team’s five month investigation into SUA in Ashaiman, Ghana, the team discovered:

How the problem of managing an increasing volume of waste created by an increasing urban population is polluting and threatening existing UA

How water is essential for the survival of UA, but that its use as a means to dispose of waste can threaten the safety of food in the city, and ultimately food security

How important women are, in terms of providing nutrition to the family, in taking a progressive role in farming, in scaling up networks of farmers and in the trading of food

How cooperation between farming groups is necessary to ensure a future for UA

How UA can open a dialogue between key decision makers

How UA can be catalyzed into SUA through using a framework for strategic collective action

As a result, the Team has made strategic recommendations to address waste management, to improve water quality, to promote the role of women in urban farming, to enable collaboration between farming associations and to formalize the opening of dialogue and strategic collective action for SUA in Ashaiman.


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PURPOSE OF STUDY The purpose of this study is to examine UA in Greater Accra, focusing on the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) and Roman Down (RD) farming sites in Ashaiman, in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA). The team’s objectives, addressing the Terms of Reference (ToR) are to:

1. Understand the current system of urban agriculture in Tema and wider Accra; 2. Assess the sustainability of current agricultural practices; 3. Assess existing strategies (if any) that promote sustainable urban agriculture; 4. Diagnose possible implementation policies to promote sustainable urban agriculture; 5. Determine how the team’s diagnosis would lead to sustainable urban agriculture in Ashaiman.

BACKGROUND: THE STUDY AREAS The location of the chosen study areas presents a unique research opportunity. The sites are located in the only planned region in the GAMA: Ashaiman‐Tema and are also associated with the government agency GIDA. The fact that these sites have been planned and are connected to a government body allows for laboratory‐like conditions in which to examine UA in Accra compared to other sites. Ashaiman‐Tema The Tema port area was built 25 km east of Accra in 1962 as an export processing zone, which relieved some of the population pressure from the ever‐expanding city. The land to develop the town was compulsory purchased by the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) from its traditional customary owners. In contrast to the haphazardly developed Accra, Tema was designed with a Master Plan and a portion of its land was specifically designated for UA. In the 1980s the district received many migrants who were unemployed and impoverished as a result of the country’s Structural Adjustment Programmes. Many turned to farming when they could not find other work (Boakye 2008, Grant and Yankson 2003). In 2008 a township with a large informal settlement in Tema, Ashaiman, was made an autonomous district and given its own municipal government, the AshMA, in keeping with Ghana’s decentralisation policies (Ghana Districts 2008, Larbi 1996). GIDA In the early 1960s GIDA purchased 79 hectares of the land next to a reservoir designated for agriculture from the TDC. In 1968 construction of a dam was completed and land was parceled out to farmers who could access the dam water (see Figure 1). Unlike many other urban agriculture sites,


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these farmers currently have land security and pay six month renewable leases to GIDA (Boakye 2008). Food grown on the site includes traditional crops such as maize and okra, as well as fish farms and rice paddies.


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Roman Down The other site, RD, is just outside of the GIDA Scheme and is cultivated by farmers who have an informal agreement with GIDA to use the land (see Figure 1). Most of the farmers inherited their plots from their fathers who started farming around the same time the GIDA dam was built. There are approximately 60 farmers on the site, half of whom belong to the Roman Down Cooperative Farmers Society. There are nearly 20 female farmers who farm with their husbands, in contrast to the independent GIDA female farmers.

DEFINITION OF SUA AND CRITERIA To address the ToR, the team formulated a definition for sustainable urban agriculture (SUA): “SUA is a resilient process of the production of crops for subsistence or commercial consumption in urban and peri‐urban areas where it is: equitable; protects and enhances the environment, health, personal and social well‐being, which is embedded in national and local governance; supports local jobs and income opportunities and incorporates traditional knowledge systems”. From this definition eight themes were established:

For each theme, criteria were specified to assess the sustainability of UA as it is currently practiced at GIDA and RD sites (see Appendix 1). Reviewing these criteria enabled the team to identify existing avenues of support for UA and analyze areas that require intervention. They have helped the team delve further to formulate interventions that promote sustainable urban agriculture.


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ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK To refine the concept of SUA further, the case study sites and interventions were analysed through the lens of ‘food security’. WHO explains: “food security exists when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life” (World Health Organization, 2009). This includes having physical, economic and social access to food that meets peoples’ dietary needs as well as their food preferences. Illustrated in Figure 2, food security is built on three pillars: food availability, food access, and food use. There are four main issues that contribute to food security: sustainable economic development and trade, environment, health and agriculture.

In order to accommodate urban population growth, it is important for a city to be able to feed itself. In Accra, UA is already feeding the city. According to the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), 90% of Accra’s fresh vegetables are grown within the city. If vegetables were not produced within the city it would cost Ghana US$14 million annually to import vegetables from neighbouring countries (Drechsel et al 2006). From the research and fieldwork, however, the team concluded that


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current UA practices in Accra are not sustainable. This was an entry point for the team to take it one step further and examine how to promote a form of SUA that is embedded in local and national institutional frameworks.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Prior to the fieldwork component of the research, an extensive literature review was undertaken to understand the field of UA, the contextual factors shaping its practice in Accra, and the particularities of the Ashaiman municipality in which the study sites are located. This was supplemented by seminars from experts in these subjects. The fieldwork on which this paper is based was carried out over a two‐week period in May 2009. At both sites, a number of methods were used to gain insight about farming practices, challenges the farmers face, and their perceptions of the proposed interventions. As a means of direct observation, transect walks were led by the farmers from which a perception map (Figure 1) was compiled. Informal conversations were had at this time with farmers, including representatives of their cooperatives, and officials from MoFA and GIDA. Group interviews using semi‐structured questionnaires were held with farmers (see Appendix 2 for questionnaires). Daily activity focus group discussions were held with farmers as well, separated by gender to differentiate between male and female roles. Finally, seasonal analysis focus group discussions were held with male farmers to understand farming practices year‐round, instead of a snapshot of the rainy season when the fieldwork was conducted (see Appendix 3 for focus group methodology). A total of approximately 100 farmers were interviewed, of which approximately 35 were female and 65 were male. Semi‐structured interviews were also conducted with local stakeholders specific to the study areas including residents of the Ashaiman community, female traders at the Ashaiman Market, residents of the encroachment, members of the AshMA, the traditional landowners, and the Ashaiman Stool. Further seminars and question and answer sessions were attended over the course of the fieldwork to obtain a more holistic picture of UA in Accra from different stakeholders. These included the IWMI, the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly, the Accra Waste Management Department (WMD) and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), among others. Appendix 4 sets out a complete schedule of research methods and institution interviews, and Appendix 5 a description of data compilation and analysis.


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Limitations In order to ensure transparency of the process and the findings, the Team noted their limitations in the execution of the research. These limitations included the short period of time available for the research and the field trip, which also reduced the timeframe within which other actors and academics could be engaged, and a lack of data specific to Ashaiman and Tema for analysis. There is also the added constraint of a language barrier. Although the respondents were enthusiastic about the research, there are inevitably elements of understanding lost in translation between the researchers, interpreters and respondents, particularly as the interpreters and respondents were occasionally from different regions with different dialects. It also must be noted that the team are not experts in agriculture, irrigation, waste management or wastewater treatment technology, but found that expectations upon arriving in Ghana were that the team consisted of such experts, and so this may have influenced expectations of outcomes of the research. There are also a number of biases present in the research. The Team, although from 9 different countries with very different backgrounds, are all interested in environment and sustainable development, and so interpret the information through this critical lens. The Team also brings its own assumptions on environmental problems and UA and how this relates to sustainability. The respondents: farmers, officials, NGOs and academics, also frequently had an agenda that they were pursuing to improve access to land or the quality of water, for example, and so these kinds of issues were inevitably highlighted over others in the research.

FINDINGS, DIAGNOSIS AND STRATEGIES The following section diagnoses the findings from the study and recommends strategies for improving the prospects for SUA on the GIDA and RD sites. Each intervention is summarised in a table that sets out the strategy, who should be involved, the timeframe for the intervention, why the intervention is being proposed, and how the intervention could be implemented. A secondary table relates each intervention to the criteria for achieving SUA and proposes indicators and a monitoring regime. The interventions are proposed in three phases: immediate to short term, medium term and long term. Immediate to short term interventions are designed to immediately minimise risk or provide benefit, medium term are intermediary interventions to adapt to risk or provide a step change to improvement, and long term interventions are those to be initiated immediately, but with a long life span, and focus on mitigating the problem, eliminating it at source or providing institutional changes.


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Waste Insufficient collection of solid waste in Ashaiman has resulted in the dumping and accumulation of waste in the waterways upon which local farmers depend to irrigate their crops. The quality of the water used to irrigate crops on both sites has been diminished, and the safety of the crops being grown on the RD site has been affected. However, according to the WMD, 60% of waste generated in GAMA is organic, so the current waste problem in Ashaiman could be turned into an opportunity to provide farmers with an abundant supply of organic fertilisers through the use of compost. However, there are obstacles preventing the adoption of such organic fertilisers. Currently, farmers use predominantly chemical fertilisers (Figure 3), and the seasonal analysis focus groups revealed that, although farmers are aware that organic fertilisers such as compost are better for the soil, they still perceive chemical fertilisers as providing faster crop growth and more abundant yields in the short term. In addition, MoFA provides fertiliser subsidies in the form of monthly coupons, whereby one coupon reduces the price of one unit of chemical fertiliser by 50%. Therefore, the decision to switch to organic inputs is difficult for farmers who are trying to cut costs, as subsidised chemical fertilisers are less costly than compost, which must also be stored and transported. At the same time, farmers noted increasing salinity of the soil and worries over lower soil fertility. A 2008 UN report on organic agriculture and food security (UNEP 2008) showed that while organic conversion in tropical Africa is associated with an initial, short‐term yield reduction, yields actually increase in the long term. The use of chemicals is unsustainable in the long term, as petro‐chemical inputs deplete soil nutrients over time. (Ananthakrishnan 1978). Moreover, the subsidies provided by MoFA are apparently temporary, and even at their current levels, they are not sufficient to cover all of the farmers’ fertiliser needs. Therefore, high quality, locally available compost could become an attractive alternative to chemical inputs if farmers were also aware of the long‐term benefits of switching.


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In this context, a community‐based composting scheme (Figure 4) could provide a viable organic alternative to chemical fertilisers if the subsidies provided by MoFA could be reallocated to compost production and the construction of a local community composting facility. Since the productionprocess would be coordinated within and by the community, the cost of the compost and transport to the farmers’ site would be lower than more centralised schemes. In addition, the AshMA mentioned in an interview with the research team that they were currently in negotiations with a private Italian

waste management company to provide waste collection, separation and recycling in Ashaiman. This would indicate that there are economic incentives in setting up a scheme for waste collection and separation, and the point of contention may be whether a private company or the community retains the profits of such an arrangement. Since managing waste at the community level involves many stakeholders as well as changes in attitude toward waste, a multi‐tiered approach to introduce the composting scheme and improve overall waste management in Ashaiman is proposed in Tables 1‐2.


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Water A significant finding was the actual locations of the two farm sites and their water sources (see Figure 1). On the GIDA site, the farmers on the left bank have free access to water as part of their lease. This water is flows onto their farms via reinforced irrigation channels and sluices, assisted by gravitational forces. This reinforced irrigation system was funded and implemented by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2001 in conjunction with an aid project that also rehabilitated some of the dam and built a research and training centre called the Irrigation Development Centre (Figure 6).

However, the farmers on the right bank have to pump their water from the GIDA drain, which collects the water after it has flowed across the left bank (Figure 7). It is likely that this water is contaminated by the artificial fertilisers and pesticides used by farmers on the left bank. The right bank farmers pay lower rent to compensate for the expense of maintenance and fuel for the pumps.


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An issue of great concern to GIDA is the development of middle‐income residential properties that are encroaching near the reservoir (Figure 8). The residents of these properties are suspected of dumping waste directly into the water. This area is on the flood plain and when flooding occurs, the water deposits the waste from this community into the dam, polluting the water and causing the dam to silt up. It was not possible to confirm how these houses were granted permission to the land; residents claimed it was through the Ashaiman stool, other sources claimed it was through the AshMA or GIDA, whilst the Ashaiman stool, AshMA and GIDA themselves all claimed the developments were illegal, demonstrating the complexity of land issues in GAMA.


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The source of water for irrigation for RD is the Ashaiman city drain, from which the farmers pump water in the dry season. This water source would have been clean 50 years ago but is now contaminated with waste from the growing township (see Appendix 6). The GIDA scheme, originally intended to include RD, was unable to be extended because it was not possible to take water from the dam across the river that is now the city drain.

The RD farmers use furrow irrigation, which reduces the risk of crop contamination as the water does not splash onto the vegetables. In the rainy season, when wastewater irrigation is not necessary, crops grown include peppers and tomatoes, which are eaten raw. In the dry season, these types of crops are


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discouraged and crops that are cooked, such as maize and okra are grown. Although the farmers on RD do not pay for the land, they estimate that the cost of using pumps to extract water is more expensive than even the left bank farmers’ leases (Figure 9).

Farmers from both sites stated that they have access to an adequate supply of water all year, but that it is the quality of the water that is of concern as a result of pollution from the Ashaiman Township and the encroaching developments near the dam. This pollution is exacerbated by the damming of the river by right bank farmers to flood their fields with water. This causes polluted water to back‐flow into the GIDA drain, polluting this site. To address this, short term strategies to train famers on selecting crops less vulnerable to contamination are recommended. There is a risk that this could negatively affect the income opportunities of the farmers, but RD farmers stated that very few grow vulnerable crops and that some training has already taken place on this issue. GIDA and IWMI supported technical interventions to adapt the existing infrastructure to reduce the pollution of the water sources feeding the two farm sites, and also to supply more water to the right bank farmers on the GIDA site. As such, a settlement pond, decanter digester and anaerobic filter system (Bodard 1996), and spillways have been recommended (see Appendix 7 for more information). Such technical interventions require capital investment, and land would need to be set aside for such purposes. See Tables 3‐4. Gender The farmer’s cooperatives (at RD and GIDA) have both male and female members. At RD there are approximately 60 farmers, 30 of whom (22 men and 8 women) are current members of the cooperative, and on the GIDA site the cooperative is comprised of 93 farmers, 76 men and 17 women. On the GIDA site, 14 of the 17 women farm independently on their own plots. In contrast to this, the RD women farmers have no formal rights to the land they use, and so depend upon male family members to set aside a portion for use. Both male and female farmers on both sites noted that GIDA was unique in its provision of land directly to women. This reflects the findings by Danso et al (2004), which depict that customary law has historically made no provision for women to acquire access to land independently from men. The majority of women on the GIDA site are widowed or unmarried which, the team hypothesised, was a key factor in their ability to seek land tenure in a culture that has not traditionally accepted women’s association with land. In addition, there is a women’s representative in the GIDA farmer’s cooperative, although all cooperative leadership positions on both sites are held exclusively by men. This led the team to conclude that, while women receive a number of training and extension services through the cooperatives, they are not necessarily able to influence how the cooperatives are run.


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Additional barriers to entry into farming as a profession were related to women being able to reconcile their roles as mothers and wives with laborious farm tasks. Through constructing daily activity timelines with both men and women in focus groups, the team found that the burden of work for women on both sites is higher than that of men. For example, women typically start work earlier in the morning to prepare breakfast and get the children ready for school, while men head straight for the farm. Women also have to return home from the fields earlier in the day to tend to household chores, cook the evening meal, conduct petty trading from their homes and attend to the children after school. Even with these barriers, all of the women farmers on both sites noted the importance of farming as a family tradition. The GIDA site women farmers are mostly migrants from rural areas and find the GIDA scheme a way for them to continue the farming they had practiced before moving to the city. Even though most farming in greater Accra is for cash cropping (Obuobie et al 2004), the women farmers that were interviewed on both sites highlighted that farming provides a way for them to feed their families, even in times of economic hardship. The GIDA representative noted that even with a heavier workload, the women farmers on the GIDA site were the best performers in terms of production and loan repayment and tended to take on less debt in general. Therefore, farming can be a significant way to promote food security at the household level by complementing women’s current roles as farmers and household food providers. To promote gender equity as an integral part of a system of SUA, the strategies and processes for monitoring and evaluation in Tables 5‐6 are proposed.

Linking Farmers Together The farmers’ cooperatives in Ashaiman act as organised support networks, where issues are discussed and problems shared. Farmers on both sites receive training on farming methods, which is well received, but an interest was expressed in broadening training to marketing. Even though the farmers have formed cooperatives, they are locked into their relationship with the female traders, who sell their produce at the local market. Since the farmers only earn income at harvest time, they supplement their purchase of agricultural inputs by borrowing from the traders, who have a steady cash flow. They are therefore beholden to the traders and often must accept reduced prices for their crops. The farmers’ cooperatives on both of the sites have agreements that they will not sell below a certain price, but the traders are more organised with a monopoly on the markets. They take advantage of the fact that farmers need to sell before their crops spoil and that the traders have many other customers. The aforementioned women’s savings group could help to address the power struggle that farmers currently face in terms of borrowing small loans from market women, whilst harnessing the female farmers’ strength, that of managing money.


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The farmers from the study sites in Ashaiman do not currently take part in forms of collective action (in terms of mobilizing their resources) beyond their cooperatives. Linking farmer’s cooperatives would provide farmers with a platform on which to share knowledge, resources and ideas, and capitalize on their collective power as providers of food for Ashaiman, the city of Accra and its surrounding communities. Following the Team’s visit to the RD site, the secretary of the RD farmers association provided the team with a list of farmers wanting to join the co operative. The list showed an additional 11 female farmers and 8 male farmers wanting to join, and these applications appeared to be because the farmers saw the Team’s visit as a sign that there was momentum for change. As a starting point, it is proposed that a list of all cooperatives be obtained from the registrar, whilst MoFA extension officers act as facilitators and organisers of regular round table meetings. The medium term proposal is to extend the ‘cooperative network’ beyond those farmers in the cooperatives, linking ‘communities’ of farmers regardless of their current membership status. This strategy is built upon the values of social inclusion and decentralization in order to establish a grassroots organisation or network of farmers. Empowerment (of the farmers) would be the central goal, and communication would be key to fostering an environment in which resources can be collectively mobilized in order to influence a degree of authority and power. See Tables 7‐8.


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Opening a Dialogue The team discovered that there had been no dialogue between key land and UA stakeholders in Ashaiman. The team met the Ashaiman stool accompanied by a representative from GIDA and MoFA, which was the first time that these organisations had met. The linking of these actors together enabled the history and claims to the site and possible solutions to be shared in a productive and open way. At this meeting, the future of the RD farmers was called into question, with the stool claiming the land. The stool stated that they were willing to consider supporting the farmers on the site if an arrangement could be set up that mutually benefited the community, such as donating a portion of the produce. The representative from GIDA, Hansen, made clear that he would act as an advocate for the farmers, and would liaise between the farmers and the chieftaincy to create an open dialogue. Since returning home from Accra, the team has been notified that MoFA, the Council of Elders in Ashaiman, and some executives of the RD farmers, have met and discussed the situation, which has led to the quit order to be withdrawn. This indicates that such a dialogue could continue into the future to secure land for UA in Ashaiman.

Based on the experiences of the other teams, it is apparent that not all chieftaincies are as open to dialogue and setting aside land for UA as the Ashaiman stool. Land scarcity is still a critical issue for the future of UA and the team recommends that wherever possible, multi‐stakeholder dialogue takes place to discuss land use planning before opinions are formed and decisions are made. See Tables 9‐10.


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ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS Whilst the Team feels that the strategies proposed in this study are feasible, other large scale strategies were proposed by stakeholders and members of the team that could provide contribute towards promoting UA and achieving SUA. However, these strategies require significant investment, and as such, are considered to be outside the scope of this study, but could offer opportunities for additional research by other organisations. These large‐scale strategies include:

Increasing the dam capacity, rehabilitating the right bank and dredging the dam of silt deposits

The development of an anaerobic digestion system to manage waste

Enhancing infrastructure within Ashaiman so wastewater from households can be disposed of appropriately

A more immediate and achievable opportunity for the institutionalisation of UA in Ashaiman is in the development of their by‐laws. As a newly formed Municipal Assembly (formed in February 2008), the AshMA has the responsibility of forming new local by‐laws, that incorporate national priorities but that are appropriate to the local level. There are a range of opportunities relating to the by‐laws. These are:

Formation of by‐laws in an inclusive and participatory manner

By‐laws that secure UA as a priority for Ashaiman, such as securing land for UA

By‐laws that do not impede the practise UA

CONCLUSIONS: INSTITUTIONALISING SUSTAINABLE URBAN AGRICULTURE In proposing strategies, it was important to consider how addressing the waste, water, land tenure and gender equity issues at the Ashaiman sites would fit into a larger framework for promoting SUA at the


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city and national level. Using Levy’s (2007) framework for strategic collective action, which is illustrated in Figure 10, the team sought to ensure that (1) stakeholders had the opportunity to come together to understand their common problems and opportunities and determine a collective intent for action, (2) both farmers and the surrounding communities would be part of organisations that would build collective capacity to address waste, water and land issues at the grassroots level, (3) the farmers and communities would be linked to institutions who could advocate for their interests to the AshMA and central government, and create linkages for dialogue on key issues affecting farmers and surrounding communities, and (4) the surrounding communities, the local government and the wider city population could see their role in managing local water and waste issues and come to support UA as contributing to the health of the city. The final key element is to point to the GIDA site as a laboratory for testing innovative strategies. Having a site which could demonstrate the success of new agricultural techniques, cooperative structures and savings strategies could serve to set positive new precedents for action on a city‐wide level through learning exchanges and inviting city officials to publicly share in successes. See Levy (2007) and Boonyabancha (2005) for case studies that illustrate the power of learning exchanges and precedent setting in urban interventions.


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It is also important that local action is complemented and supplemented by national policies that respect the rights of farmers and convey their importance in terms of feeding the city. The team wishes to emphasise that UA needs to be officially recognised and granted its place in the national policies of Ghana. Urban agriculture feeding the city could be a driver for social change and environmental protection. It is a source of affordable food for the urban population and therefore plays a crucial role in terms of food security and urban livelihoods. The team recommends that AshMA, as the local level of government in Ashaiman, opinion leaders and any other stakeholders pool resources for the institutionalization and mainstreaming of UA, as set out in Figure 11. The team particularly advocate the inclusion of UA in the development initiatives proposed by the National Development and Commission of Ghana.


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REFERENCES Ananthakrishnan, S. (1978). “Agriculture and development strategy: a case for organic fertilisers”. In Harle, Vliho (ed.) The Political Economy of Food. Westmead: Saxon House. Boakye, Samuel (2008). “Sustaining urban farming: Explaining why farmers make investment in the absence of secure tenure with new evidence from Ghana”, DSA Conference, September 2008. Boonyabancha, Somsook (2005). “Baan Mankong: going to scale with ‘slum’ and squatter upgrading in Thailand”, Environment & Urbanization, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 21‐46. Bodard, P. (1996) A Agua e saneamento no Nordeste do Brasil: Estudos de Casol. GRET Urbano Brasil. PSEou, France, pp. 21‐22. Danso G., Cofie, O., Annang, L., Obuobie, E., and B. Keraita (2004). “Gender and Urban Agriculture: The case of Accra, Ghana”. Paper presented at the RUAF/IWMI/ Urban Harvest Woman Feeding Cities Workshop on Gender Mainstreaming in Urban Food Production and Food Security. 20‐23 September, 2004. Accra, Ghana. Deelstra, T. And Girardet, H. (2000). “Urban agriculture and sustainable cities”, in: Bakker, N.; Dubbeling, M.; Guendel, S.; Sabel‐Koschella, U.; Zeeuw, H. (eds). Growing Cities, Growing Food: Urban Agriculture on the Policy Agenda. Feldafing (Germany): DSE, pp.43‐65. Drechsel, Pay, Sophie Graefe, Moise Sonou, and Olufunke O. Cofie (2006). “Informal Irrigation in Urban West Africa: An Overview”, IWMI Research Report 102. Ghana Districts (2008). “Ashaiman municipal”, [Online] Available at: http://www.ghanadistricts.com/districts/?news&r=1&_=171, (Accessed 24 May 2009). Ghana Ministry of Local Government (1992). “Strategic plan for the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area”, Volume 1, Context report, Accra: Department of Town and Country Planning. Grant, R. and P. Yankson (2003). “City Profile: Accra”, Cities, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 65–74.

Larbi, W. Odami (1996). “Spatial planning and urban fragmentation in Accra”, Third World Planning Review, Vol. 18, pp. 193‐214.


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Levy, C. (2007). “Defining Collective Strategic Action led by Civil Society Organisations: The case of CLIFF, India”. 8th N‐AERUS Conference, London: DPU‐UCL. Maxwell, Daniel, Carol Levin, Margaret Armar‐Klemesu, Marie Ruel, Saul Morris and Clement Ahiadeke (2000). Urban Livelihoods and Food and Nutrition Security in Greater Accra, Ghana. Washington DC: IFPRI, [Online] Available at: http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/WHO_multicountry_%20study_Ghana.pdf, (Accessed 29 May 2009). Mougeot, L. (2006). Growing Better Cities: Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Development. Ontario, Canada: International Development Research Centre. Obuobie, E., P. Drechsel and G. Danso (2004). “Gender in open‐space irrigated urban vegetable farming in Accra”, Urban Agriculture Magazine, No. 12, pp. 13‐15. United Nations Environment Program (2008). “Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa”, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, New York: United Nations, pp. 1‐47. World Health Organization (2009). “Trade, foreign policy, diplomacy, and health: Food security”, [Online] Available at: http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story028/en/, (Accessed 24 May 2009).


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APPENDIX 1: SUSTAINABLE URBAN AGRICULTURE THEMES AND CRITERIA Theme Criteria

Resilience

Sufficient crops are produced to feed local people and eliminate dependency on overseas imports.

A diversity of crops and crop species are produced to safe‐guard food supply against disease.

Households are able to produce their own food for consumption, reducing their vulnerability to market/price/ income shocks

Locally available, safe, organic inputs are used, reducing dependency on external supplies

Equity Equitable access and transfer of knowledge, opportunities, training, resources and equipment for sustainable urban agriculture.

Equal access to sufficient and affordable food to enable the people of Tema to be healthy.

Equal income generating opportunities are available for men and women.

Environment

The use of organic, safe, good quality fertilizers to increase and sustain the productivity of the land.

The use of a natural predatory system and natural agricultural systems to manage pests

The existence of local composting schemes that are accessible, affordable and appropriate for the needs of local farmers.

The use of a low input agricultural system that does not use / minimises the use of fossil fuels at any stage, from production to consumption.

The use of wastewater for irrigation where it is used in a safe manner and the complementary use of rainwater harvesting for irrigation and vegetable washing to reduce water extraction and food contamination.

Health and Safety

Farming practices and food practices use water that is safe or made safe in irrigation practices to prevent contamination that is detrimental to health.

Farmers are aware of the occupational and consumer health risks associated with their profession and who act on this awareness to reduce and eliminate the risks.

The organic fertilisers used in farming practices are mature and uncontaminated by chemicals.

Sufficient quantity and diversity of foods are available to support adequate nutrition at the household and city levels.

Personal and Social Well‐being

The practice of urban agriculture that has benefits to the entire local community, beyond those directly involved in its application.

The practice of urban agriculture that provides wider personal benefits beyond employment and food such as self‐development, access to groups and networks and other support structures


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Theme Criteria

Governance Local authorities have the capacity to sustainably manage land, water and waste.

The land used for urban agriculture is secure either through land tenure or secure land agreements.

Political, financial and institutional support by the state, both nationally and locally, and local decision makers for urban agriculture.

Local decision makers recognise, support and incorporate urban agriculture into their plans, policies and programmes.

Grassroots organisations are recognised and can influence policy and interventions.

Subsistence and Income Opportunities

There are income opportunities from agriculture in an urban environment.

There are peripheral income opportunities that serve to support sustainable farming practices, such as composting facilities.

Export of food crops is not at the expense of local food supply and income opportunities.

Vulnerable groups are able to access opportunities to engage in urban agriculture.

Knowledge systems

Farmers have easy access to education and training on safe farming techniques.

Farming practices incorporate both effective traditional farming systems and new farming practices that are sustainable.


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APPENDIX 2: SEMI‐STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRES (FARMERS EXAMPLE)


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APPENDIX 3: FOCUS GROUP METHODOLOGY In addition to semi‐structured interviews, the research team conducted 6 focus groups among women and men farmers. Two separate activities were undertaken in the focus groups: a daily activity timeline and a seasonal analysis of food, water, inputs and income availability. In total, 4 groups of farmers completed the daily activity timeline (1 male and 1 female group per site), and 2 groups of farmers completed the seasonal analysis activity (1 male group from each site). The daily activity timeline consisted of asking farmers to map out a typical Monday of farm work in the rainy season. The research team provided a basic layout of day and evening hours as well as some typical working and household activity cards that might apply. Additional blank cards were provided so that participants could add activities if desired. The participants were then asked, starting from the morning, to place the activity cards in the time slots on the page.

GIDA site female farmers daily activity timeline focus group

The daily activity data from the male and female groups was then compared to assess differences in gender roles and workload across the groups.


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Example of Finished Women’s Daily Activity Timeline:

Morning Evening

The seasonal analysis activity consisted of asking farmers to rate the availability of food, water, and income as well as the need to use fertilizers and pesticides across each month of the year. Further information on the number of workers needed for farming tasks by season was collected, distinguishing between those tasks that could be assisted by family members and those that required hired labour. The research team provided a basic monthly calendar template with picture cards for the different resources (food, water, income) and inputs (chemical fertilizers, compost, pesticides), and farmers indicated the status of that resource or input by placing cards on each month. Harvest months might show many income cards, for example, while other months had fewer or no income cards to show lower income times of the year.


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GIDA site male farmers seasonal analysis focus group

This seasonal analysis allowed the research team to discuss the main challenges faced across different seasons in terms of resource availability, labour and inputs with the farmers. Since we visited the site in the rainy season, this activity was essential to extending our understanding of farming practices and framing our strategies to address the complete annual farming cycle. Example of Finished Seasonal Analysis Activity:


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APPENDIX 4: SCHEDULE OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGY


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APPENDIX 5: DATA COMPILATION AND ANALYSIS In order for the team to gain insight on farming practices and challenges farmers face, and to test the feasibility of proposed interventions, a number of research questions were developed. They were based on the extensive literature review conducted prior to the fieldwork. Different versions of each question were written to target the particular stakeholder to be interviewed. When all the questions were drafted, they were compiled into one master database and assigned codes based on topics. There were over 350 combinations of questions and stakeholders in total. The following is a snapshot of the question database: Information Gap Interview Group Hypothesis Question Label Question TextWorking Arrangements, Gender Roles

Women Traders Gender GR1 How many hours per week do you work?

Working Arrangements, Gender Roles

Men Farmers Gender GR3 How much time do you spend each day traveling to the plot?

Women's Groups UN Habitat Gender GWG13 When you have a programme or information for the women farmers, how do you reach them?

Ashaiman Transition

GIDA General AT1 Since the change from Tema to Ashaiman, have there been any changes in how the site is managed?

RWH Perceptions & Practices Women Farmers RWH RPR1 Have you ever used collected rainwater as a source for watering

your crops?RWH Perceptions & Practices IWMI/AWGUPA RWH RPR11 Are there any rainwater collection systems on any of the GIDA

sites?RWH Perceptions & Practices Local Community RWH RPR10 Do you ever collect rainwater to use for your household needs?

Do you know anyone who does?Waste/Sanitation Situation Local Community Composting CWS4 Do you have a bin to put your household waste into?

Composting Facilities Men Farmers Composting CCF1 Do you know if there is any composting facility that available in

the site?Composting Perceptions Women Farmers Composting CPE4 Have you ever used composting fertiliser? The question database constantly evolved and was added to during the fieldtrip as more was learned and the research needs changed. Whenever a stakeholder interview or question and answer session was conducted, the database was used as a starting point to extract the relevant questions. In order to compile the data to facilitate analysis, the answers from each interview were entered into one answer database. The database can be filtered by any criteria, including topic, stakeholder, or specific question so that results can easily be compared. This also alerted the team during the fieldtrip if there were any discrepancies between stakeholder perceptions that warranted further investigation.


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The following is a snapshot of the answer database:

ID Interviewer

Respondent Name (for interviews with officials only)

Type of Interview

DEMO1: Gender

DEMO2: GIDA/ NonGIDA

DEMO3: Age

DEMO5: Occupation GR4 GR5 GR8 GR9

JPWF1 Jenny GIDA Farmers Cooperative

Focus Group Daily Activities

Female GIDA 3055 Farmer always enough food to feed your family; is a hobby she likes; is a family tradition that's been passed down to us

Weeding, but children or hired labour can help sometimes

farming is primary, but some women take crops to market sometimes

Okra, maize, rice are prmary; some grow vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and onions

JPMF1 Jenny Farmers Cooperative Roman Down

Semistructured group interview

Male NonGIDA 65, 36,38, 37, 68, 60

farmer father was a farmer "farmer from infancy"stable seasons(dry season, rainy season) access to market and to sell the crops.

cost of equipments for farming, repairing pumps and pipes. Pumps are expensive and they have to change it every 34 years. Waste and plastics disposed in gutters and transformed through the canal to farms is a major problem for farmers.

farming. Wives take crops from farm and sell them at the market

tomatoes, peppers (augustend of year), okra, corn (mayaugust)

EMF1 Erika Farmers Cooperative Roman Down

Focus Group Seasonal Analysis

Male NonGIDA 3065 farmer lack of support from the government and price flutuation due to offer and demand for products in the market each season

no other source of income

Maize and okra

RMF1 Rieko GIDA Farmers Cooperative

Semistructured group interview

Male GIDA 50 Farmer farming the way to live it is fun to see vegetables growing

land allocation, financeinterms of, water fee and buying inputs, such as chemical fertiliser and labour force

Electrocity Rice, Maize, Tomatoes, Okra


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APPENDIX 6: IRRIGATION WATER SOURCES


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APPENDIX 7: WATER STRATEGIES Settlement Pond A settlement pond improves the quality of water by temporarily increasing the space that the water from a river flows into, causing the water to slow down. Slowing down the rate of flow or velocity of the water causes it to drop the waste it is carrying (suspended load) to the bottom of the pond. The water can then either be pumped directly out of the pond for irrigation or the water can re‐enter the stream or river, increasing its rate of flow again and supplying cleaner water downstream. Further information is available from the UK Drinking Water Inspectorate at http://www.dwi.gov.uk/ (last accessed 30/05/09)

A Decanter Digester and an Anaerobic Filter

Spillway

Arial view of a network of decanter digesters and anaerobic filters (Bodard, 1996 pp. 21‐22)

The vessel on the left is the Decanter Digester and the vessel on the right is the Anaerobic Filter (Bodard, 1996 pp. 21‐22)


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Sanitation waste flows from individual households into a community based Decanter Digester. One Decanter Digester can serve 30 homes, and takes up 3m across by 2m deep. Once the sanitation waste enters the Decanter Digester, organic material settles to the bottom of the vessel, which then acts as a digester. Water pressure then forces water to flow in a small pipe from the digester into the Anaerobic Filter. In the Anaerobic Filter, the water is forces through a network of small stones, which further purifies the water. The water is forced up through the vessel, where it can then enter a drain. This process purifies the waste water and makes it suitable for entering a drain system. Source: Bodard, P. (1996) A Agua e saneamento no Nordeste do Brasi: Estudos de Casol. GRET Urbano Brasil. PSEou, France, pp. 21‐22. Spillway A spillway is a structure that operates, via gravity, by releasing excess water from a dam to prevent overtopping or flooding during times when high volumes of water enter the dam’s reservoir. More information is available at the British Dams Website: http://www.britishdams.org/about_dams/overflow.htm (last accessed 30/05/09)

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Towards a Model of Sustainable Urban Agriculture: A Case Study of Ashaiman, Accra

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