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When the Rain Doesn’t Come: Small Farmers Battle Climate Change
By Baaba Wa, Upper West Region — For 60-year-old farmer Alhaji Iddrisu, the sky used to be a dependable clock. By early May, the rains would arrive — nourishing his maize and groundnut fields in the village of Wechiau. But this year, like many before, the clouds gathered and passed. No rain. No crops. No income. “I planted twice,” he says, staring at a cracked patch of land. “The seeds died both times. Now, I have nothing.” Across Ghana, especially in the northern savannah regions, climate change is no longer theory — it’s daily life. And for the country’s smallholder farmers, the stakes couldn’t be higher. A Fragile Backbone Smallholder…
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When the Rain Doesn’t Come: Small Farmers Battle Climate Change
By Jasmine Wa, Upper West Region — For 60-year-old farmer Alhaji Iddrisu, the sky used to be a dependable clock. By early May, the rains would arrive — nourishing his maize and groundnut fields in the village of Wechiau. But this year, like many before, the clouds gathered and passed. No rain. No crops. No income. “I planted twice,” he says, staring at a cracked patch of land. “The seeds died both times. Now, I have nothing.” Across Ghana, especially in the northern savannah regions, climate change is no longer theory — it’s daily life. And for the country’s smallholder farmers, the stakes couldn’t be higher. A Fragile Backbone Smallholder…
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Farming Dreams in the City: Urban Gardens Feeding Families
By Kwame Accra, Ghana — Nestled between a concrete wall and a mechanic’s workshop in the densely populated neighborhood of Alajo, rows of green lettuce, okra, and tomatoes sway gently under the morning breeze. There’s no farmland in sight, no tractor — just makeshift containers, old rice sacks, and plastic bottles arranged on wooden planks. This unlikely farm belongs to 45-year-old Patience Anokye, a single mother of three and a seamstress by trade. Two years ago, the pandemic slashed her client base and income. But she turned to a skill she had nearly forgotten — farming. “I was raised in the village where we grew our own food,” she says.…
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When the Rain Doesn’t Come: Small Farmers Battle Climate Change
By Adoma Garu, Upper East Ghana — On a cracked field just outside town, 52-year-old Alhassan Naaba kneels beside wilted maize stalks and dusty groundnut vines. The rains, which usually begin in May, have barely come. His hopes for this year’s harvest — and his family’s survival — hang in the balance. “Last year, we harvested four bags,” he says, pointing to a dry stretch of earth. “This year, we may not get even one.” Across Ghana’s northern regions and parts of the savannah belt, climate change is hitting smallholder farmers hard. Rainfall is becoming less predictable, droughts are longer, and when the rain finally comes, it often arrives in…