PN6 Final Report. Empowering Farming Communities in Northern Ghana with Strategic Innovations and Productive Resources in Dryland Farming

Abstract

The Project, themed Strategic innovations in dryland farming, provided outputs in areas of improved staple crop varieties for rainfall-deficit regions, practical options for increasing domestic water availability to engender female empowerment in income generation, and techniques that sustain soil water and fertility improvement of the degraded soils. By the end of the active Project phase in 2008, four varieties of cowpea were released to farmers. These varieties were immediately adopted by farmers who obtained up to 25% yield increments over earlier types. The overall contribution of these varieties to farming system sustainability was demonstrated by their suitability to pre-rice, maize and sorghum cropping where they provide valuable organic matter to the succeeding cereal crop, and dry grains at a time of depleted food stocks. Further, varieties of sorghum and cassava with proven high yields under conditions of drought that have enjoyed patronage from farmers over a two-year period were put into adaptive trials across Northern Ghana. The adoption and impact studies have shown an 11% increase (over farmers in nonbeneficiary communities) in the number of farmers that have access, knowledge and use of the strategic innovations to improve dryland farming conditions in Northern Ghana