Joseph Agyenim

The rate of agricultural land conversion in peri-urban communities due to peri-urbanisation and inefficient use of agricultural lands has raised concerns at both local and global levels. This paper surveys the literature and synthesises the key arguments for and against peri-urbanisation. A review of the literature demonstrates that the focal arguments focus on employment, diversification and intensification of agriculture, cash-income activities, livestock rearing, access to goods and services, unsanitary conditions, social vices, weakening social relations, deforestation, high cost of living, and out-migration. We conclude that peri-urbanisation brings about the betterment of living conditions and at the same time displaces local livelihoods, while breeding poverty for local residents. Hence, we recommend the design and implementation of policies that will secure agriculture lands, while promoting urban activities to enable farmer households to cultivate their land and at the same...

Chemical contamination of meat through the use of scrap tyre for singeing as the processing method is a major issue of concern for food safety and public health in Ghana. The study examined the reasons for the use of scrap tyres for meat singeing in Akropong-Akuapem and the possibilities of heavy metal contamination. Four butchers operating the Abattoir in the Municipal capital were purposively sampled and interviewed using interview guide. Samples of freshly unwashed, washed and boiled meat singed with the scrap tyres were taken for laboratory analysis for selected heavy metals. Three different samples of goat meat and beef were used for the study. It was revealed that butchers used the scrap tyres because they were cheap source of fuel for singeing and easily accessible. The results of heavy metal analysis indicated high levels of Fe, Cu, Zn and Cd in the meat of goat and cattle samples but Hg was however low in all the sampled meat. Consumers of meat singed with scrap tyres are e...

1.1 Background information Ensuring environmental sustainability is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by world leaders in 2000. This underscores the priority the world places on achieving and maintaining a clean and safe environment for both present and future generations. Waste management is therefore a subject of immense interest to all nations and peoples. Significant differences, however, characterise waste management service delivery in developed and developing countries. Though the developed countries generate larger amounts of wastes, they have developed adequate facilities and strong institutions to manage them. Developing countries, on the other hand, are faced with an uphill task of providing adequate facilities for waste management and to ensure their sustainable operation and maintenance. The Millennium Development Goals Report for 2007 notes that half the population of the developing world lack basic sanitation and that in order to meet the MD...

Non-farm livelihood diversification is an important livelihood strategy for rural households in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the available evidence suggests that these strategies have received less attention; therefore, the constraints rural people face in venturing into the non-farm sector also remain unaddressed. In order to understand the livelihood strategies and constraints in the sector, this paper used crosssectional survey data from 251 randomly sampled farmers from the Sunyani West District, Ghana. Focus Group Discussions were also conducted in order to collect qualitative data to support quantitative analysis. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics: frequencies, percentages and cross tabulation. The study found that the non-farm sector was heterogeneous and highly gendered and involved several activities, with trading being the most prominent one. Gender disaggregation of non-farm activities has underlying cultural and social bases resulting in different produ...

The purpose of this chapter is to analyse the institutional development approaches that may be adopted to enhance the capacity of developing countries to adapt to the consequences of climate change. The approach of the chapter is to reflect on the impacts of climate change on developing countries in the context of their peculiar vulnerabilities as a step towards identifying the institutional development approaches which could adequately respond to those vulnerabilities and support climate change adaptation mechanisms in those countries. The chapter argues that the impact of climate change in the developing world would be exacerbated by excessive reliance on natural resources, poverty, weak technical and organisational capacity and a potential socio-cultural resistance to scientific and technical adaptation mechanisms. To respond to these challenges, the chapter dwells on experiences in Ghana to discuss national- and local-level institutional reforms as well as international cooperation that could be adopted by developing countries to enhance their resilience to the impacts of climate change, with an emphasis on sustainable agriculture and food security. The chapter would be a useful guide to governments in the developing world in preparing their nations to adapt to climate change, as well as non-governmental and international organisations involved in supporting developing countries in that pursuit.

Water law in most developing countries is shaped by a combination of global and local influences that have taken place throughout the centuries. This article examines the evolution of water law in Ghana from pre-colonial through colonial to current times. It discusses the issues of legal pluralism and how the dynamics of internal law making are influenced by colonial practices and, in the post-colonial era, through aid agencies and international agreements. In this evolutionary history, it focuses in particular on how access to water and sanitation services has been arranged. As can be seen, Ghana has taken a pragmatic approach, prioritizing the issue but not going so far as to recognize a right to water. Instead, it has adopted cost-recovery as an integral part of the integrated water resources management approach. A critical question for the future will be how Ghana reconciles the global adoption of the right to water and sanitation in 2010, and its political acceptance of this ri...

1.1 Background Fresh water is indispensable and irreplaceable, but it is increasingly becoming threatened in specific regions of the world. Water has thus become a critical resource issue for most developing if not developed countries. Population growth, urban ...

ABSTRACT Four major paradigm shifts in water management include the shift from: government to governance, centralization to decentralization, water as a gift of God to water as an economic good, and sectoral to integrated water resource management. Are these paradigm shifts compatible with cultural/institutional practices in Ghana? Using theoretical and empirical arguments, this paper affirms that Ghana often adopts such paradigm shifts due to exogenous pressures but the absence of domestic ownership, inadequate resources, and institutional mismatches, often result in limited implementation. This paper recommends water governance which focuses more on prioritization, indigenizing exogenous ideas, and working within existing cultural practices.