Examining Agricultural Land-use/Cover Change Options in Rural Northern Ghana: A Participatory Scenario Exploration Exercise Approach

Badmos, Biola K.; Villamor, Grace B.; Agodzo, Sampson K.; Odai, Samuel Nii; Guug, Samuel

doi:10.18848/2329-1621/cgp/v08i02/15-35

Cited by 11 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…Similarly, inter-seasonal variation in rainfall will also influence rainfall erosivity and this in turn will influence the soil loss. In semi-arid Ghana, rain-fed agriculture predominates and rainfall plays a very important role in influencing agricultural land-use choice and alternatives [24]. An increase in spatial patterns of rainfall has been reported in the study area.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…The real problem for farmers in the northern part of Ghana is the unreliability of rainfall caused by inter-annual variability of both the total amounts and distribution of rainfall [23]. In the study area, rainfall is a key underlying factor influencing farmers' agricultural land use change options [24]. Erratic rainfall makes agricultural planning very difficult and is one of the principal sources of risk for rain-fed agriculturalists in the Sahel [23].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, MCS operates on the grounds that credit is offered to farmers for maize cultivation. The concept of MCS arose because in the northern part of Ghana, maize has been identified as an agricultural land-use adaptation practice [4,24,54]. Also, a program promoting maize cultivation was observed in the study area.…”

Section: Scenario Explorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Approach for Simulating Soil Loss from an Agro-Ecosystem Using Multi-Agent Simulation: A Case Study for Semi-Arid Ghana

Badmos

Agodzo

Villamor

et al. 2015

Land

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Soil loss is not limited to change from forest or woodland to other land uses/covers. It may occur when there is agricultural land-use/cover modification or conversion. Soil loss may influence loss of carbon from the soil, hence implication on greenhouse gas emission. Changing land use could be considered actually or potentially successful in adapting to climate change, or may be considered maladaptation if it creates environmental degradation. In semi-arid northern Ghana, changing agricultural practices have been identified amongst other climate variability and climate change adaptation measures. Similarly, some of the policies aimed at improving farm household resilience toward climate change impact might necessitate land use change. The heterogeneity of farm household (agents) cannot be ignored when addressing land use/cover change issues, especially when livelihood is dependent on land. This paper therefore presents an approach for simulating soil loss from an agro-ecosystem using multi-agent simulation (MAS). We adapted a universal soil loss equation as a soil loss sub-model in the Vea-LUDAS model (a MAS model). Furthermore, for a 20-year simulation period, we presented the impact of agricultural land-use adaptation OPEN ACCESSLand 2015, 4 608 strategy (maize cultivation credit i.e., maize credit scenario) on soil loss and compared it with the baseline scenario i.e., business-as-usual. Adoption of maize as influenced by maize cultivation credit significantly influenced agricultural land-use change in the study area. Although there was no significant difference in the soil loss under the tested scenarios, the incorporation of human decision-making in a temporal manner allowed us to view patterns that cannot be seen in single step modeling. The study shows that opening up cropland on soil with a high erosion risk has implications for soil loss. Hence, effective measures should be put in place to prevent the opening up of lands that have high erosion risk.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Approach for Simulating Soil Loss from an Agro-Ecosystem Using Multi-Agent Simulation: A Case Study for Semi-Arid Ghana

Badmos

Agodzo

Villamor

et al. 2015

Land

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“…For example, Badmos et al . () reported that some farmers in the study were willing to increase the area cultivated for maize if they had adequate access to fertilizer.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Adequate fertilizer application is very important for maize and rice production. For example, Badmos et al (2014) reported that some farmers in the study were willing to increase the area cultivated for maize if they had adequate access to fertilizer.…”

Section: Climatic Factors That Affect Agricultural Land-use Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local level impacts of climatic and non‐climatic factors on agriculture and agricultural land‐use dynamic in rural northern Ghana

Badmos

Villamor

Agodzo

et al. 2018

Singap J Trop Geogr

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This study investigated the local level impacts of climatic and non‐climatic factors on the agricultural land‐use dynamic in rural northern Ghana. Data was collected by means of household questionnaires and interview. The data collected relates to farmer's knowledge about climate change, response to the impact of climate change, dynamics in the area cultivated for crops, and the climatic and non‐climatic factors that affect agricultural land‐use dynamics. The data collected was subjected to simple descriptive statistics and chi‐square tests. Farmers indicated that the weather patterns have affected their cropping activities. Delay in the start of rainfall, fluctuation and cessation before the growing season ends have affected them. Also, inadequate access to farm inputs has affected them. In the face of unfavourable conditions, the farmers may respond by increasing or decreasing the land area cultivated for some crops, they may continue to cultivate their crops, or they may abandon the crop(s) for the season. Jobs outside of the farm are being taken up to support household needs. Climate change has been interacting with non‐climatic (socio‐economic) factors, and a holistic approach would be the best to address the local or regional change. Intensification of research within the study region and nearby regions would improve preparedness for future local/regional change.

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Use of the McHargian LUSA in agricultural research and decision-making in the age of non-stationarity and big earth observation data

Lim

2019

Socio Ecol Pract Res

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In the past 50 years, there have been two major changes that are of methodological and consequential importance to the McHargian land-use suitability analysis (LUSA): increasing evidence of non-stationarity of global and regional ecological conditions and increasing availability of high-resolution spatial-temporal earth observation data. For 50 years, the McHargian LUSA has been an important analysis tool for designers and planners for both regional conservation planning and development. McHarg's LUSA is a decision support tool that reduces the dimensions of spatial-temporal data. This makes the technique relevant beyond decision support to spatial identification and prediction of areas of socio-ecological opportunity, risk, and priority. In this article, I use a set of recent studies relating to agricultural LUSA to reveal relationships between the traditional McHargian LUSA and related spatial-temporal research methods that are adapting to more data and nonstationary ecological conditions. Using a classification based on descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive research activities, I organize these related methods and illustrate how linkages between research activities can be used to assimilate more kinds of spatial "big data," address non-stationarity in socio-ecological systems, and suggest ways to enhance decision-making and collaboration between planners and other sciences.

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Examining Agricultural Land-use/Cover Change Options in Rural Northern Ghana: A Participatory Scenario Exploration Exercise Approach

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

An Approach for Simulating Soil Loss from an Agro-Ecosystem Using Multi-Agent Simulation: A Case Study for Semi-Arid Ghana

An Approach for Simulating Soil Loss from an Agro-Ecosystem Using Multi-Agent Simulation: A Case Study for Semi-Arid Ghana

Local level impacts of climatic and non‐climatic factors on agriculture and agricultural land‐use dynamic in rural northern Ghana

Use of the McHargian LUSA in agricultural research and decision-making in the age of non-stationarity and big earth observation data

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