Northern Ghana is a sub-humid area, combining areas with high population densities and high reported levels of land degradation with scarcely populated areas, which have low levels of land degradation. It consists of three administrative Regions: Upper East Region (densely populated, around Bolgatanga and Bawku in particular), Upper West Region (pockets of dense populationaround Wa, Nandom and Lawra-amidst low population densities), and Northern Region (mainly low population densities, with the exception of the area of the major town of Ghana's northern area: Tamale. The ICCD research was concentrated in the Bolgatanga area, but later extended to include the Nandom area in Upper West (as the start of a proposal to develop a Climate Change Preparedness Programme in Northern Ghana, financed by the University of Amsterdam). In the absence of useful longitudinal data at the village or household levels, it was decided to organise two expert meetings (workshops), in collaboration with the University of Development Studies at Tamale, the University of Ghana at Legon and a local NGO, CECIK. Most of the research activities for ICCD took place in the so-called Bolgatanga cell, an area between 10° and 11° North and 0° and 1° West. It covers the eastern part of Upper East Region and the northeastern part of Northern Region. Around 1960 the cell had an average population density of less than 50 inhabitants per square kilometre (although by that time, parts of the northern area already had densities far beyond that). On average, though, the density still could be regarded as 'low' compared to other drylands in the tropics. Currently, the Bolgatanga cell has between 0.7 and 0.8 million inhabitants, which means an average population density of between 60 and 70 inhabitants per square kilometre; high in relative terms. The part of the cell, which is located in the Upper East Region, has a very high population density with an average of 200 persons per square kilometre. 12.1 CROPS AND LAND USE DYNAMICS IN NORTHERN GHANA Crops that are relevant in the northern parts of Ghana include maize, sorghum, millets, rice, groundnuts and cotton. Most of the crop (harvest area) data recorded by the FAO for these crops for Ghana as a whole can be attributed to the northern areas. Maize has almost always been the most important grain crop of Ghana, in terms of hectarage (although more important in the centre-north areas and not in the upper-north areas). The maize area increased from between 200,000 and 300,000 ha in the 1960s to a level between 600,000 and 700,000 ha in the late 1990s. The year 1984 was an absolute peak year, with 720,000 ha. The years 1965 and 1978 were the lowest with less than 200,000 ha.

Background: The type of farming practices employed within an agro-ecosystem have some effects on its health and sustainable agricultural production. Thus, it is important to encourage farmers to make use of ecosystem-friendly farming practices if agricultural production is to be sustainable and this requires the identification of the critical success factors. This paper therefore examined the factors to consider in promoting sustainable agriculture production in Africa through ecosystem-based farm management practices (EBFMPs) using Ghana as a case study. The study employed mixed methods-qualitative and quantitative techniques. Data were collected through key informant interviews, focus group discussions and a semi-structured questionnaire administered to 300 households. The Poisson and negative binomial models were employed to determine the factors that influence farmers' intensity of adoption of EBFMPs. Eight (8) EBFMPs were used in the paper as the dependent variable, which are organic manure application, conservation of vegetation, conservative tillage, mulching, crop rotation, intercropping with legumes, efficient drainage system and soil bunding. Results: The paper found that the intensity of adoption of EBFMPs is significantly determined by the age of farmers, distance to farms, perception of soil fertility, knowledge of EBFMPs, number of extension visits and the type of irrigation scheme available to farmers. Conclusions: To promote sustainable agricultural production in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa using EBFMBs, these factors must be considered.

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In November-December 2002, stool samples from a random sample of the human population (N = 190) in the Garu area of northern Ghana were checked for intestinal helminths, using a single Kato smear and duplicate coprocultures for each subject. All 190 subjects were subsequently treated with a single, 400-mg dose of albendazole and 146 of them were successfully re-examined 21-28 days post-treatment. Prior to treatment, 75.5% of the Kato smears were found to contain 'hookworm-like' eggs (with a geometric mean egg count among the positives of 578 eggs/g faeces), and the third-stage larvae of Oesophagostomum bifurcum and hookworm were found in the cultures of stools from 34.2% and 77.4% of the subjects, respectively. Among the subjects who had positive Kato smears before treatment, albendazole treatment led to a cure 'rate' of 79.0% and an egg-reduction 'rate' of 73.5%. The results from the coprocultures indicated cure 'rates' of 98.0% for O. bifurcum but only 51.3% for hookworm. Only one subject was still positive for O. bifurcum after treatment. Among those still positive for hookworm after treatment, the larva-reduction 'rate' was 79.8%. The egg-/larva-reduction 'rates' among those with heavy infections prior to treatment were >90%, whether the data analysed came from the Kato smears or the coprocultures. It may be concluded that a single dose of albendazole is very likely to cure an O. bifurcum infection and to reduce greatly the intensity (but not the prevalence) of any hookworm infections.

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