Indigenous Rangeland Management Practices and Resource Use Patterns by Agro-pastoralists in Nanton District, Ghana

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge plays a pivotal role in the sustainable management of rangeland and the use of rangeland resources. The study was conducted with the main aim of identifying some indigenous rangeland and herd management strategies employed by agro-pastoralists in the area. Data were collected from 98 agro-pastoralists in 25 communities selected at random using structured questionnaires which contained a checklist of questions regarding indigenous rangeland and herd management practices. The study showed that the majority of the farmers (63%) practiced free grazing followed by rotational (31%) and zero-grazing (6%) systems. Majority of the farmers (77.6%) do not practice any form of herd management techniques. Whilst 12.2% practiced herd splitting, 10.2% confined their younger herds in enclosures during the rainy season where they are offered supplementary feeds. Among the factors responsible for rangeland degradation in the district were bush burning, deforestation, drought, and over-grazing. Traditional rangeland conservation practices adopted by farmers to conserve rangelands in the area were; early burning, no burning, and no felling of economic trees such as Adansonia digitata, Vitellaria paradoxa and Diospyros mespiliformis.

Apart from the Fulani tribe who are pure pastoralists and do not necessarily have rights to own lands across the communities, all other farmers have unlimited access to other rangeland resources besides grazing their animals. These results suggest that a lot more effort and education are needed to enlighten farmers on the consequences of open grazing as majority of them are engaged in the practice.