On Climate Change And How It Is Affecting People Of Central Gonja District

Effects of CLIMATE CHANGE as being touted daily by various advocates -government and non-governmental organizations, farmers in Sankpala in the Central Gonja District of the northern region have now confirmed how dire, effects of climate change are. They decry how they are likely to be hit by severe famine this year since most of their crops are now stunted as a result of their inability to predict this year's rain pattern.

Last year, in the northern sector, farmers planted in April and had good yields. The rains started in April last year and by June - July, it stopped. Unlike this year, it delayed two months and has just started in June.

Mr Mohammed Sumani, a 54 year old farmer who has for some years now adapted to new agricultural methodologies, lamented how his 4 acre field of maize disappointed him this year. He planted obatanpa maize, a variety which takes 120 days to mature, unfortunately he planted in April, and then the rains did not come in the whole month of May. Before the rains could start, it was up for tussling which has made the farmer to lose virtually everything.

Mr Sumani said all the farmers who planted within the same time with him, are lamenting.

Mr Imoro Ziblim, an extension officer at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, confirmed that, the farmer followed the right methodology by planting 80cm by 40cm and however said it would have been much better if the farmer planted in mid or late May.

The farmer, Mr Mohammed Sumani however, is not surprised at why the rain pattern kept changing. According to him, the illegal cutting of trees without replanting, coupled with other human activities which he mentioned improper disposal of waste, as major courses of the change in rain pattern.

'You see, times have changed. The rains no longer come as we used to know and cropped accordingly. But now there could be a year where you will have the rains heavy and just as when you think it is time to farm, you plant only to be deceived. Just as you have seen my field, am not the only one who affected by the rains, some have prepared their fields and still waiting to plant when they are certain of the rains. These days, many farmers including the youth have run to bush in the name of making real money out of the illegal felling of trees in the area'. Other farmers said the 2014 cropping season is very likely to record low yield, only miracle can save the situation.

This means nationally, the country will record relatively low yields if other people in other locations are sharing the woes of people in Sankpala.

This came to light when the Agriculture Value Chain Mentorship Project (AVCMP) team of Bishara radio including some officials from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and the Savana Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) embarked on a field trip to the community to access impact of agric programmes it airs weekly in two main languages namely Dagbani and Gonja.

There is massive depletion of the district's forest cover due to fuel wood cutting and charcoal burning. The recent invasion of the illegal loggers is also a very big cause of the depletion of the forest couple with the annual ritual of bush fires. The Central Gonja district covers a total land area of 8,353 Km2, representing 12% of the total landmass of the Northern Region. Experts said that northern Ghana, which covers 40 percent of the landmarks of the country, was hit the hardest by climate change.

Indeed the issue of climate change, which is number one casual factor affecting agricultural production, has come to stay and may get worse if nothing concrete is done to arrest the situation. Climate change affects more than just a change in the weather; it refers to seasonal changes over a long period of time.

They therefore appealed to government and development partners to stop paying the lip service and rise against the indiscriminate felling of trees in the country as the few forest reserves are gradually becoming deserts which has enormous consequences on the environment and thereby affecting food production.