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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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Clean Water Still a Luxury: Why Many Communities Are Left Behind
By Kwame Tumu, Upper West Ghana — At 5:15 a.m., 13-year-old Mabel Kuunu sets off with a yellow gallon balanced on her head. She walks two kilometers to a muddy stream — the only source of water her village has known for generations. By the time she returns, she’s missed her morning lessons at school. “We use this water for everything,” she says, “even though it tastes bad.” Despite Ghana’s middle-income status and ambitious development goals, access to clean and safe drinking water remains a daily struggle for millions, especially in rural areas. In some places, water is not just scarce — it’s a luxury. The Water Access Landscape According…
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School Feeding Programs: Lifelines or Loopholes?
By Aisha Savelugu, Northern Ghana — At 10:15 a.m., the clanging of metal pots echoes through the dusty courtyard of a rural primary school. It’s lunchtime, and a line of excited children snakes toward the open kitchen. For many of them, the plate of rice and beans they’re about to receive will be their only proper meal of the day. “If there is no food at school, I don’t eat until evening,” says 8-year-old Rahama, holding her tin bowl with both hands. The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), introduced in 2005, was designed to fight child hunger and boost school enrollment in underserved communities. Twenty years on, its impact is…