Community participation in sustainable land management in Ghana

Abstract

The paper investigates the applicability of community participation as a strategy for sustainable land management in Ghana. It discusses an assessment of the use of farmer co-operatives, as community-based associations, for enhancing community participation in land management in four farming communities in the Eastern Region of Ghana, where the fieldwork was conducted. A three-tier multi-stage sampling procedure involving purposive, cluster and simple random techniques was used to select communities, suburbs, areas, households and participants to participate in the study. A desk review revealed that community participation was critical for sustainable land management. It also showed that Ghana has adopted the farmer cooperative approach to community level action. The fieldwork reveals that farmer cooperatives had existed in the study areas since the 1990s. In spite of their long-term existence, farmer cooperatives are under-patronized by farmers in the area. Reasons for the low patronage include lack of interest, distrust of leadership and non-involvement. The study also shows that majority of the members of the farmer cooperatives had obtained some form of support. On gains regarding land management, farmers reported no gains. However, a test of significance reveals a high potential for use for sustainable land management implying that the potentials of farmer cooperatives have not been explored, fully. Hence, suggestions have been made for exploring farmer cooperatives to enhance community participation for sustainable land management.

Ghana Journal of Development Studies Vol. 2(2) 2005: 32-43