Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
•
organizational diversity, which describes the diverse socio-economic aspects of
farming such as tenurial arrangements, household characteristics, and gender
roles (Brookfield, Stocking, and Brookfield, 1999; see also Brookfield 2001;
Brookfield
et al.
, 2002).
In varying degrees, the case studies that form the core of the topic illustrate all
four elements of agrodiversity.
It is believed that agrodiversity has the virtue of:
•
strengthening biodiversity
•
imparting ecological stability
•
providing a genetic pool of plants and animals needed for breeding higher-
yielding varieties for food security
•
facilitating dietary diversity
•
contributing to “(1) increased resource productivity over time, (2) increase in
the amount and quality of labour applied to the farm, and (3) insurance and risk
reduction at household enterprise level” (Netting and Stone, 1996: 53; see also
the other articles in
Africa
, Vol. 66, and Brush, 2000).
Historical context
The mainly econcentric case studies of the topic (Jones and Hollier, 1997) are
rooted in the pilot West African PLEC (WAPLEC) work, which was initiated in
the year 1993, with a focus on understanding agro-environmental changes and
farmers' role in and reactions to them.
That initial, basically investigative work involved studies in three principal
sites, centred on Yensiso (subsequently renamed Gyamfiase-Adenya), Sekesua
(subsequently renamed Sekesua-Osonson), and Amanase (renamed Amanase-
Whanabenya), all located in the southern sector of Ghana's forest-savanna
transition zone (Maps B, C, D, E). The principal outputs of those studies, carried
out by scientists from the University of Ghana, Legon, were:
•
the development of research links with farmers and increased insights into
agro-ecological transformations, which served as a basis for further work
•
the scientific paper “Production pressure and environmental change in the
forest-savanna of southern Ghana” (Gyasi
et al.
, 1995)
•
the topic
Environment, Biodiversity and Agricultural Change in West Africa:
Perspectives from Ghana
(Gyasi and Uitto, 1997).
Subsequently, the work was extended to additional sites in Ghana's remaining
major agro-ecological zones, namely humid forest and dry savanna, and in wooded
savanna portions of the Fouta Djallon mountains of the Republic of Guinea (Maps
A, B, C, D, E). The extension was facilitated by:
•
integration of more scientists from the University of Ghana, and of additional
ones from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
