Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
6
Management regimes in
southern Ghana
Edwin A. Gyasi
Introduction
The term “management regime” refers to the techniques and methods of managing
the land, water, and biota for crop and livestock production. It forms an integral part
of agrodiversity, which is defined as “the many ways in which farmers use the nat-
ural diversity of the environment for production, including not only their choice of
crops but also their management of land, water, and biota as a whole” (Brookfield
and Padoch, 1994: 9; see also Brookfield, Stocking, and Brookfield, 1999). An
understanding of agricultural management regimes is necessary as a basis for
planned conservation and plant and animal diversity, and the natural biophysical
resources underpinning it.
The following is a description of management regimes, including organizational
practices or arrangements, as they relate to biodiversity and biophysical status in
general in agricultural areas within the PLEC demonstration sites, Gyamfiase-
Adenya (Map C), Sekesua-Osonson (Map D), and Amanase-Whanabenya (Map E),
in southern Ghana (Map B).
The field types and their management regimes
Field types
In a sample survey of farmers and their households, the following field types or land-
use stages were the most frequently encountered in all three demonstration sites:
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