The Contribution of Agroforestry to Biodiversity and Food Sovereignty in Ghana

Ghana, a West African country bordering Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, Cote d’Ivoire to the west, and the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean) to the south, has a wide range of natural resources and forests. Ghana boasts valuable commodities such as gold, diamond, bauxite, manganese, and oil; however, the country’s fast-growing population heavily depends on agriculture, which has led to significant declines in forest cover and biodiversity. Farmers have and must continue to adopt agroforestry systems (AFS), a set of land uses that combines trees and other woody perennials with agricultural crops and/or livestock, to reduce the rate at which agriculture contributes to deforestation. Ghanaian farmers have practiced agroforestry for centuries. The taungya system, one of Ghana’s earliest forms of AFS, allows farmers to combine trees and crops on their farms. Recently, agroforestry in Ghana has focused on farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR), cocoa, and rubber agroforestry. FMNR, which aims to restore degraded forests and arable land in dry regions, is popular in the Northern Savannah zones. Cocoa agroforestry, where cocoa is grown under timber trees, is widely practiced in the forest zones. Rubber agroforestry has gained momentum in recent years in Ghana. Hevea brasiliensis is commonly intercropped with plantain and other cash crops. Although not significantly practiced in Ghana, silvopasture and riparian forest buffers are potential AFS that can alleviate the current state of deforestation and its accompanying social issues. This chapter discusses the historical background and current trends of AFS in Ghana, the contribution of AFS to biodiversity conservation and food security, AFS policies and their implementation, and other potential AFS that can contribute to food sovereignty and biodiversity conservation in Ghana.