Source: zami reports
Saboba is the capital of the Saboba District, one of the 16 metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies in Ghana’s Northern Region, with a population of approximately 95,683 people, including 47,172 men and 48,511 women.
Saboba District is bounded to the east by the Oti River, which serves as an international border between Ghana and the Republic of Togo, and to the north by the Chereponi District; to the west by the Gushiegu and Karaga Districts; to the south-west by Yendi; and to the south by Zabzugu.
The district has a total land area of about 1,751.2 km2 according to the Ghana Statistical Service. Saboba, like the rest of Ghana’s northern region, experiences a dry season that lasts from November to April and sometimes until May.
The dry south-easterly winds, popularly known as harmattan, that blow over the Sahara during this time of year have a tremendous desiccating effect, resulting in a high rate of transportation. Saboba, like the rest of northern Ghana, has one of the warmest districts, with an average daily high temperature of 34 degrees Celsius.
The climate is warm, with an annual average temperature of 34 degrees, but there are only a few truly tropical and muggy months. The weather is warm or hot all year. From July to September, humidity can be oppressively high.
Farming is the main occupation of residents. In the off-season, irrigation farming around the Muadani Dam and Oti River becomes the source of livelihood. Water from these two major water sources has been the backbone of vegetable farming through manual irrigation during the off-season.
Their farm produce has been on display in markets such as Yendi and, on occasion, Tamale. In the past, the water level in the dam and river was sufficient for their small-scale farming activities, including quenching the thirst of livestock for both consumption and sale, but fortunes are fading.
According to indigenous knowledge, the vegetation along the two sources of water for farming is the reason for the significant level of water. However, this is no longer the case.
According to a 2016 study conducted by Michigan State University, vegetation along rivers, lakes, and dams is critical for the preservation and retention of quantity and quality.
“Vegetation slows water movement, reducing soil erosion and resulting in fewer pollutants entering our waterways, “Trees and other vegetation increase water infiltration in the soil, increasing groundwater recharge and water retention over longer time periods.
These two processes keep water in the soil available for microorganisms, other plants, and animals,” according to the report.
At first, glance, logging along the Muadani Dam and the Oti River is evidence. The logs have served as a source of domestic and commercial household fuel. During the dry season, group hunting for game with fire has resulted in bushfires, adding to the loss of vegetation.
According to Mpoan Simon, the Saboba District Forestry Manager, the result of these acts is water bodies with withered banks.
“The consequent effects are that the residents are no longer able to do their farming around these water bodies, thereby losing their only source of food and livelihood,” he explained to ZAMI Report’s Prince Kwame Tamakloe.
Alice Buwabiba, a single mother and small-scale farmer, said farming has been her source of income for the last eight years since her husband’s death for her and her children, but the harvest has been woefully inadequate to support two meals a day.
Alice, despite her lack of education, never shied away from sharing her fears. “I kept advocating for the preservation of the trees on the water banks, but all of my efforts were ignored,” she said. She is proposing traditional council bylaws.Changes in the climate
Alice and the people of Saboba are not only dealing with dwindling harvests but also with what they call “extreme heat.”
The World Bank Group’s November 2022 Country Climate and Development Report for Ghana projected that if urgent climate action is not taken, at least one million more people could fall into poverty as a result of climate shocks.
“Income for poor households could fall by up to 40%,” according to the report. Ghana’s economic and human development are vulnerable to climate change, and if no action is taken soon, higher temperatures and heat stress will affect crop and labour output, as well as land degradation, which will impede human capital and productivity.”
Ghana Water Corporation
According to the Ghana Water Company in the region, the felling of trees around its water generation sources in the region has contributed to a decrease in water levels. Climate change in Ghana has clearly resulted in a reduction in underground recharge and annual river flows, which can lead to water scarcity.
According to a CSIR-WRI report on climate change and water resources published in 2000, all river basins will be vulnerable by 2020, and the entire country will face acute water shortages.
What experts and authorities have to say
According to Dr Frank Baffour-Ata of the Department of Environment at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, climate change has received significant attention globally due to its negative impacts on livelihoods, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
He cited the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which revealed that some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa face dry conditions that make agriculture difficult, and climate change is likely to shorten growing seasons if drastic measures to restore vegetation around water bodies and forest areas are not taken.
He adds that future climate changes and their concomitant effects are expected to have negative effects on forests, including observed shifts in vegetation distribution and increased mortality of trees as a result of heat and droughts worldwide, not just in the northern region of Ghana.
“These effects will have significant ramifications for food security and related livelihoods in SSA, particularly in Ghana, where agriculture is primarily rain-fed, as in Saboba and other northern regions.”
Dr Prince Maxwell Etwire, a Senior Research Scientist at the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute(SARI) says “Trees are very important in this instant because trees are able to do what we call carbon restrictions, so they absorb the carbon so it doesn’t go into the atmosphere. This has direct effects on water bodies because if the river body is bare, it is exposed to a wider area for evaporation because there is no shade, but if there is a tree cover, it narrows the area for evaporation.”
“In addition to narrowing the area for evaporation, trees also serve as windbreaks, which is why it was once forbidden to cut trees near water bodies,” he added.
There is scientific evidence that the climate in the area has been changing, which has been caused by a variety of factors, including anthropological activities (human activities) such as burning and gasoline emissions from machines.
“As the gases are emitted, natural processes capture those gases so that they do not enter the atmosphere; therefore, if those enablers, such as trees and other vegetation, are destroyed, there will be no protection.”
According to SARI, farmers are unsure when to plant their crops due to the climate. Drought and soil fertility loss are two of the ways climate change has impacted farming in the north.
“Climate change issues also have an impact on pests because certain pests, such as the autumn armyworm, that were previously unknown in our area are now present as a result of climate change,” he explains.
Meanwhile, while Dr Etwire recognizes that climate change is not the only factor affecting food security, he believes that addressing climate concerns will boost productivity and food security.
What the traditional council has to say
According to Ubor Mukanja, Chief of Toma, where the dam is located, traditional authorities are aware of the situation and plan to conduct tree-planting exercises around the water bodies.
“From this year on, we will establish a task force to monitor all activities around Oti and Muadani, including hunting and pasture harvesting for animal feed,” he promised.
Meanwhile, Elvis Nagbija, secretary of the Konkomba Youth Association, says the organisation is looking for funding to drench the dam and replant the trees around it.
“All is not lost; we can restore things to how they were if community leaders and the paramount chief of Saboba order mandatory tree planting and prohibit all forms of hunting near water bodies,” he says.
Conclusion
However, until the vegetation around these water bodies is restored and these handicapped farmers can resume farming activities, Sustainable Development Goal 2 (zero hunger) will be jeopardised due to residents’ failure to adhere to SDG 13 (climate action).
By: Prince Kwame Tamakloe
