Urban sprawl and agricultural livelihood response in peri-urban Ghana

Kwadwo Afriyie; Kabila Abass; Prince Osei-Wusu Adjei

doi:10.1080/19463138.2019.1691560

Urban sprawl and agricultural livelihood response in peri-urban Ghana

Afriyie, Kwadwo; Abass, Kabila; Adjei, Prince Osei-Wusu 2020-05-03 00:00:00 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2020, VOL. 12, NO. 2, 202–218 https://doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2019.1691560 ARTICLE Kwadwo Afriyie, Kabila Abass and Prince Osei-Wusu Adjei Department of Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kumasi, Kumasi, Ghana ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Received 16 November 2018 The paper examines agricultural livelihood eﬀects of urban sprawl and farmers' Accepted 6 November 2019 response in peri-urban Kumasi, Ghana, involving in-depth interviews with sixty farm- ers (n = 60) and four key informants (n = 4). Greater Kumasi has expanded spatially KEYWORDS over time resulting in arable land reduction in the peri-urban interface and aﬀecting Urban sprawl; arable land; households in varying ways. This has evoked diﬀerent responses from aﬀected farm- food crop; livelihood; Greater ers including agricultural intensiﬁcation, extensiﬁcation, diversiﬁcation and adoption Kumasi; Ghana of oﬀ-farm livelihood strategies. While some households made livelihood gains in their response, and some livelihood losses, others neither gained nor lost. A mix of livelihood assets, but more importantly human and social capital, were identiﬁed as key determinants of the outcomes of households’ livelihood strategies employed. To protect arable land from urban encroachment and reduce peri-urban households’ vulnerabilities the following policy interventions are noteworthy: eﬀective spatial planning through institutional strengthening, legislative enforcement and widening market for agricultural goods and expanding non-farm jobs. 1. Introduction growth or sub-urban development which is charac- terised by low density physical development and the In 1950, only 30% of the world’s population lived in lack of basic municipal infrastructure usually beyond urban areas, a proportion that grew to 55% by 2018. It urban fringes (Bhatta 2010; Cobbinah and Amoako is projected that the proportion will increase to 68% 2012). This phenomenon is driven by a multitude of by 2050 (United Nations, Department of Economic processes that lead to ineﬃcient resource utilisation, and Social Aﬀairs, Population Division 2018). The glo- depletion of local resources and open spaces and bal share of African urban residents is projected to increase in traﬃcproblems (Peiser 2001;Bhatta 2010). grow from 11.3% in 2010 to 20.2% by 2050 (Sagbir The direct implication of sprawl is a change in land use and Santoro 2018). Most of the increase in urban and land cover as it induces increases in built-up and population is taking place in small- and medium- paved area (Sudhira and Ramachandra 2007). sized cities in mid-latitudinal Africa with the growth Ensuring sustainable food supply in a rapidly grow- of existing villages and towns transforming rural land- ing city becomes a matter of concern. Many have scapes into urban areas (Güneralp et al. 2017). suggested that a more eﬀective way of delivering One of the problems of African cities is their out- food to people is to grow food in or near urban areas ward expansion, that is characteristically unplanned (Lee-Smith 2010;Orsiniet al. 2013). In the past 25 years, and unregulated (Güneralp et al. 2017). While the number of actions at local, national and interna- a general consensus regarding the deﬁnition and tional levels focusing on the promotion of agriculture impact of urban sprawl is hard to achieve (Johnson in and around cities has increased steadily in spite of 2001), it is often referred to as a non-contiguous, scat- some cases of institutional reluctance for its inclusion in tered, uncontrolled, uneven and unplanned pattern of urban master plans (Cissé et al. 2005). But urban CONTACT Kabila Abass abakabila@yahoo.com Department of Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kumasi, Kumasi, Ghana © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 203 expansion has threatened the sustainability of urban (including Kumasi Metropolis, Oforikrom, Kwadaso, and peri-urban agriculture. Studies in Africa (Diallo and Suame, Old Tafo, Asokwa and Asokore Mampong Zhengyu 2010; Aduah and Baﬀoe 2013;Naabet al. Municipalities) (which is used interchangeably with 2013;Stow et al. 2016) have shown huge loss of arable Kumasi) has sprawled over the years. This has resulted land and natural landscape due to urban expansion. in problems of congestion, conversion of peri-urban With urban expansion occurring on hitherto agricul- and rural arable land to residential use without ancillary tural lands in peri-urban and rural areas, productive infrastructure and social services (Cobbinah and agricultural food sources are being reduced for the Amoako 2012). Research has shown that there was burgeoning population (Cobbinah et al. 2015a, 2015b; a huge increase in the extent of urban land use from Stow et al. 2016). A similar condition has been experi- 21% to 78% between 1986 and 2016, whilst farmland enced in Vietnam (Tuyen et al. 2014). and vegetative cover reduced appreciably from 31% to In developing countries, rural to urban changes 15% and 48% to 9%, respectively (Abass et al. 2018a). taking place at the edge of cities usually come with Reduction in arable land has been linked to a decline in drastic shrinkage of agricultural activities, unrest- output of major staples in Greater Kumasi and other rained land-use change and land speculation surrounding districts since 2001. (Méndez-Lemus and Vieyra 2017). These changes Various works have reported on the eﬀects of urban more commonly create an intricate context of new expansion on land use and land cover change, and in uncertainties and vulnerabilities for the poor. The particular, loss of arable land in peri-urban Kumasi reason is not far-fetched. As Méndez-Lemus and (Simon et al. 2004; Cobbinah and Amoako 2012;Stow Vieyra (2017) noted, expansion in peri-urban areas et al. 2016; Abass et al. 2018a, 2018b, 2018c). However, means de-territorialisation and re-territorialisation of the eﬀects of sprawl on farmers and their response to social groups and livelihoods, which may hinder population-induced land-use pressures and arable land access to the resources needed for a living. depletion in peri-urban interface has been under On the other hand, when rural areas come under researched. The paper, therefore, examines livelihood urban inﬂuence, a broader range of livelihood possibili- eﬀects and responses of households in peri-urban ties, both farm and non-farm, can be oﬀered to house- Kumasi to the changing land-use pattern due to the holds. This means that households can engage in horizontal expansion of Kumasi. The three key questions diﬀerent rural and urban livelihood activities to augment that this paper tried to address are: How has urban their incomes while sharing resources and assets sprawl aﬀected agricultural livelihood activities of peri- (Satterthwaite et al. 2010). The methods of adaptation urban households in Greater Kumasi? How have peri- employed by these farmers mayhave profoundimplica- urban households adapted to the eﬀects of urban tions for their livelihoods and the sustainability of people sprawl? and What are the outcomes of these adaptive living in both the countryside and cities (Allen 2003; mechanisms or responses? Hussain and Hanisch 2014). Inthefaceofcompetition from growing number of non-agriculture land users, 2. Analytical framework farmers in the peri-urban interface have had to adapt their systems of farming, involving mainly agricultural The framework used for analysing households’ agricul- intensiﬁcation, diversiﬁcation and extensiﬁcation (Abass tural livelihood eﬀects of and responses to urban sprawl et al. 2013; Hussain and Hanisch 2014). Adoption of (see Figure 1) is adapted from the Sustainable Livelihood multiple income portfolios and a shift from farm to non- Framework (DFID 1999). Sustainable Livelihood farm livelihood forms have also been reported as a form Framework puts emphasis on the acquisition, substitu- of adaptation (Abass et al. 2013; Tuyen et al. 2014). tion and utilisation of diﬀerent types of assets that an In Ghana, the proportion of urban population (that individual or household has for pursuing livelihood stra- is at least 5,000 people) has shot up rapidly over the tegies. Key elements of this approach are the ﬁve liveli- years. From 7.8% in 1921, it rose to 43.8% in 2000 (GSS hood assets or capitals (human, natural, ﬁnancial, social (Ghana Statistical Service) 2005a; GSS (Ghana Statistical and physical capital), the ‘vulnerability context’ viewed Service) 2005b). With well over 70% rural at indepen- as shocks, trends and seasonality and the inﬂuence of dence in 1957, Ghana has now over 50% of its popula- transforming structures for the livelihood strategies and tion living in urban areas (Government of Ghana (GoG) their outcomes (DFID 1999). According to Chambers and 2012; Acheampong and Anokye 2013). Greater Kumasi Conway (1992), a livelihood comprises the capabilities, 204 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. Figure 1. Eﬀects of urban sprawl and coping strategies: a conceptual framework. income activities (Tran and Lim 2011).. But the eﬀective- assets and activities required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and ness of the strategies adopted depends on the range of recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or other livelihood assets (ﬁnancial, physical, natural, social and human) available to such households (Abass et al. enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in 2013). For instance, not all farmers would succeed in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base (Chambers and Conway 1992). The risk of liveli- ﬁnding suitable livelihoods when they are faced with shocks in the form of loss of their arable land. Many may hood failure determines the level of vulnerability of become jobless because they may not have the requisite a household to income, food, health and nutritional insecurity (Frankenberger and McCaston 1998). educational background or vocational or technical skills (Nguyen 2009).Whilesomehouseholdstendtobeneﬁt When a city sprawls, it presents both challenges and from the sprawl and others suﬀer, some neither beneﬁt opportunities. Challenges can manifest in the form of loss or shrinkage of arable land (natural capital), loss of tradi- nor suﬀer. This means that the diﬀerent livelihood stra- tegies households adopt will lead to any of the following tional on-farm skills, reduced food supply and agricultural three possible outcomes: improved wellbeing, deterio- income (Do 2006;Tranand Lim 2011). Farmland shrink- age may have negative impacts on livelihood strategies rated wellbeing and wellbeing remaining unchanged. The nature of the outcome would inform future liveli- that largely or partially depend on farmland or other hood strategy. Failure of a livelihood strategy, measured natural resources. Continuous conversion of arable land by a negative outcome, would necessitate a change in to urban land use will lead to further sprawl. Nevertheless, strategy. This, of course, would depend on the amount the negative consequences of loss of farmland are likely of resources a household has command of. Livelihood to be oﬀset by a host of opportunities triggered by strategies are expected to ameliorate the eﬀects of the urbanisation. For instance, the opening up of rural areas sprawl in the form of feedback. due to urban expansion oﬀers farmers' choices of non- Livelihood strategies and outcomes are not just farm employment and access to urban market (Abass dependent on access to capital assets or constrained et al. 2013;Tranand Lim 2011), opportunities that can be seized by farmers to improve their livelihoods. by vulnerability context, they are also transformed by the environment of structures and processes (institu- Loss of or reductioninarablelandinperi-urban tions and policies) which may facilitate or deny entitle- communities would require households to respond in varying ways to secure and sustain their livelihoods. ments. Institutions and policy interventions are the external mediating factors that help urban systems to Some of such strategies may include agricultural diver- cope with and adapt to the negative consequences siﬁcation, intensiﬁcation, extensiﬁcation as well as adop- tion of multiple income portfolios, including non-farm (shocks and stresses) of urban sprawl. Examples of INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 205 such institutions include central government, local gov- population of Kumasi at 1,730,249 (GSS (Ghana ernment, chiefs, non-governmental organisations, Statistical Service) 2014). The rapid population growth social groups and their various policy interventions. and the horizontal expansion of the city have led to Institutions can enable people to achieve positive liveli- land use and land cover conversions from non-urban to hood outcomes by providing enabling environment for urban forms (see Figures 2(a, b)). people to pursue their livelihood strategies. This is Staple agriculture has been practised extensively in done through the formulation and implementation of and around Kumasi, helping to augment food supply for policies and provision of structures such as markets to the burgeoning urban population and meeting the transform one type of asset to another. Institutions do ﬁnancial needs of those involved (GSS (Ghana not only enable people to achieve positive livelihood Statistical Service) 2014). Urban areas are mostly noted outcomes, they also act as barriers to a sustainable for vegetable farming. Kumasi, however, is a traditional livelihood. It is noteworthy that the livelihood out- area which has evolved over time and therefore most of comes could further shape policy direction as shown the arable lands were used for growing all forms of food by the arrows in Figure 1. cropsincluding plantain,yam,maize,cassava andto Although the framework is used in a wide range of a lesser extent some cash crops like cocoa. Empirical studies, it is still relatively fuzzy in terms of what trans- evidence shows that Greater Kumasi is expanding over forming structures are and how livelihood outcomes most of the productive agricultural lands in the periph- inﬂuence also the vulnerability context (Birkmann ery (Abass et al. 2018a). With the horizontal expansion, 2006). Besides, the concept of livelihood accounts cropped area in the area is reported to have declined for solely for positive outcomes. In reality, livelihood out- various staple crops (Abass et al. 2018a), a development comes from a given strategy and within a given vulner- that has negative implications for urban and peri-urban ability context and transforming structures and food crop production. processes may be positive, negative or neither positive nor negative (where no change is occasioned). 3.2. Research participants and sampling Additionally, some of the feedback processes in the framework underestimate the role of livelihood out- The research participants comprised of men and comes on the environmental sphere. Nevertheless, women farmers who were drawn purposively from the framework is a useful way of examining suscept- ﬁve peri-urban communities in Greater Kumasi. ibility and coping capacity of households when faced These study sites included Adarko Jachie, Breman, with shocks and stresses. The approach underlines the Apatrapa, Afrancho and Appiadu. These communities necessity of empowering local-marginalised groups in were selected because of the coexistence of both rural order to reduce vulnerability eﬀectively. and urban livelihood activities. In all, 60 participants conveniently sampled from these communities were involved in the study based on a deﬁned inclusion or 3. Materials and methods selection criteria of being household heads and also being a normal resident in the study communities. 3.1. Study context These were individual heads of their respective house- The paper focuses on Greater Kumasi and its peri-urban holds who were 18 years and above and also engaged communities. Kumasi was the Asante State capital and in farming either as their main or supplementary live- currently Ashanti regional capital. Being a nodal city lihood activity. In addition, four key informants were coupled with its rich and varied natural resource purposively sampled to participate in the study. endowments it is not only a transit location but also Speciﬁcally, one each was selected from Town and an important commercial centre for a large number of Country Planning Department (T&CPD), Department migrants from across diﬀerent parts of the country and of Parks Gardens (DP&Gs) and Kumasi Metropolitan beyond (Quagraine 2011). It is not surprising that the Assembly (KMA) and a traditional leader. city has grown over the years, in terms of numbers and spatial extent. Its annual growth rate between the 1984 3.3. Data collection methods and 2000 intercensal years was 5.2% but increased to 5.4% from 2000 to 2010 (Afrane and Amoako 2011). Qualitative data were obtained from in-depth inter- The 2010 Population and Housing Census puts the views (IDIs) with farmers in peri-urban Kumasi using 206 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. Figure 2. (a) Location map of Greater Kumasi showing urban extent and other land-use forms in 1986 (Source: Abass et al. 2018a). (b) Location map of Greater Kumasi showing urban extent and other land-use forms in 2016 (Source: Abass et al. 2018a). an interview guide. This was complemented with an conducted and 60 structured instruments adminis- interview schedule that was developed for the collec- tered. Averagely, each interview lasted for 40 minutes. tion of participant’s detailed demographic and socio- Discussions covered the following thematic areas: economic data. In all, 60 individual interviews were access to land; land acquisition and ownership; INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 207 tenurial agreements; farming challenges; livelihood 3.5. Ethical issues options, strategies and outcomes. The interviews, Informed written and verbal consents were sought which were audio-recorded with a digital recording from all research participants before the start of each device, lasted for 2 months. In many instances, the interview session. Participants were requested to sign interviews were conducted on Saturdays where farm- or thumbprint a written informed consent form. Oral ers were targeted on their farms. All interviews were consent was sought from those who felt uncomforta- conducted in the local dialect Twi. Key informant ble with either the thumb printing or signing. interviews were also conducted with heads of tar- Participation was entirely voluntary and selected par- geted institutions. In addition to the in-depth inter- ticipants could withdraw at any stage of the interview views, observation was also employed. Observation process. Participants were assured of strict conﬁdenti- encompassed every facet of the issues bothering on ality and anonymity of the responses they provided. location, farm size, methods and techniques of farm- ing. Photographs were taken where necessary and presented in the work as ﬁgures. 4. Results 4.1. Proﬁle of respondents 3.4. Data processing and analysis Majority of respondents were males aged 20 years Qualitative data were analysed within the thematic and above but with the majority within the age cohort analytical framework (Nowell et al. 2017). This ana- of 31 and 50 years. The level of formal education was lytical method entails a number of steps. First, all generally low with the majority having up to the basic audio recordings were transcribed into English. level. Farming was the main livelihood activity for 85% The ﬁrststependsbygeneratingasummary for of all the study participants from the ﬁve commu- each of the transcripts that speciﬁed the key issues nities. While farming was still the dominant economic raised by participants. The second step saw all activity for the majority, trading or commercial activ- interviews that were transcribed exported to ities were emerging as a viable supplementary liveli- NVivo 9 analytical software, where coding was hood activity. A summary of these characteristics is done deductively and inductively. The process of captured in Table 1. coding continued until a theoretical saturation point was reached. At this stage, further coding 4.2. Urban sprawl and land use-land cover generated no new concepts. The third step in the change in Greater Kumasi analysis included the sorting and collating of all pertinent-coded information extracts into themes. Evidence from key informant interviews underscored Fourth, the coded information extracts were thor- the fact that rapid population growth and uncontrolled oughly reviewed from one theme to the other to horizontal expansion of Kumasi have led to conver- ensure that a logical and meaningful pattern is sions of one land use form to another, and in the formed. Each theme was checked for validity as process, the natural vegetation, arable land and other away of ensuring that each reﬂected accurately open spaces are sacriﬁced. A key informant from the the imports of the data set as a whole. This made T&CPD of KMA (physical development unit) said this: it possible for any inadequacies inherent in the There is no doubt that Kumasi has grown in numbers and coding and themes to be identiﬁed and rectiﬁed. area over the years. These changes inevitably come with In the next step, themes were deﬁned and named changes in land use. With urbanisation, land becomes so as to give potential readers ideas about what expensive and so land goes to the highest bidders. When exactly they are about. The story related to each urban land is becoming scarce, and for that matter expen- sive, available space will automatically be used for what is theme was then identiﬁed, with a thorough analy- most economically rewarding. This explains why open sis of each individual theme then following. The spaces and arable lands often suﬀer. ﬁnal category of themes and sub-categories have been presented as narratives and where apt, The dynamics of land use and cover change in Kumasi relevant themes were illustrated with verbatim are complex in nature. It was revealed during key or direct quotations extracted from interview informant interviews that the whole land allocation transcripts. and sales arrangement normally involved inﬂuential 208 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents. Sampled communities Adarko Jachie Apatrapa Afrancho Breman Appiadu Variable Categories Freq. (%) Freq. (%) Freq. (%) Freq. (%) Freq. (%) Sex Male 9 (75.0) 12 (100.0) 10 (83.3) 11 (91.7) 11 (91.7) Female 3 (25.0) – 2(16.7) 1 (8.3) 1(8.3) Level of education No formal education 7 (58.3) 9 (75.0) 5 (41.7) 3 (25.0) 4 (33.3) Basic 4 (33.3) 3 (25.0) 5 (41.7) 9 (75.0) 7 (58.3) Secondary 1 (8.3) –– – 1 (8.3) Age 20-30 2 (16.7) – 1 (8.3) –– 31-40 2 (16.7) 5 (41.7) 3 (25.0) 1 (8.3) 4 (33.3) 41-50 4 (33.3) 6 (50.0) 6 (50.0) 11 (91.7) 5 (41.7) 51-60 3 (25.0) 1 (8.3) 2 (16.7) – 3 (25.0) >60 1 (8.3) –– – – Farming as main livelihood activity Yes 12 (100) 10 (83.3) 12 (100) 8 (66.7) 9 (75.0) No – 2 (16.7) – 4 (33.3) 3 (25.0) Supplementary livelihood activity Trading 5 (41.7) 7 (58.3) 5 (41.7) 6 (50.0) 4 (33.3) Livestock/Poultry 4 (33.3) 2 (16.7) 6 (50.0) 2 (16.7) 2 (16.7) Private Security 1 (8.3) –– – – Driving 1 (8.3) 1 (8.3) Civil/public service 2 (16.7) 3 (25.0) Construction/labourer 2 (16.7) – 1 (8.3) 2 (16.7) 6 (50.0) players. Land allocation and sales are an intricate what and where to develop rests with KMA and the Kumasi Planning Committee which has representatives from KMA, transaction involving a number of actors from KMA, Lands Commission, Manhyia and other bodies. These are Land Commission and the Traditional Authority. This bodies you need to contact for explanation. (A key infor- makes it very diﬃcult to control what and where is mant, DP&Gs) developed. This was what the Metropolitan Engineer said in an in-depth interview: 4.3. Implications of sprawl for household food Land business in the city is not a straightforward matter. The process involved in land allocation is a complex one crop production and livelihood involving diﬀerent stakeholders. This makes it very diﬃcult Household interviews produced interesting revelations to control development. People site their buildings any- where without recourse to any plan. The trend is worrying. regarding how the expansion of Kumasi has aﬀected (Key informant, KMA) food crop production. All respondents recognised and expressed worry about a consistent decline in their A key informant from the T&CPD (physical develop- arable land due to urban expansion. As their commu- ment unit) of KMA also said: nities become urbanised, available land became com- Kumasi has grown even beyond the control of the city modiﬁed, becoming a lucrative asset for those who authorities. Our outﬁt however cannot be held for the hap- possessed it, and in particular, the chiefs who held hazard physical development in the City. Beyond the core these lands [stool lands] in trust for their people. What area, developments have not followed any clear plan. There was even more disturbing to them is that most of these are land use regulations but the problem has to do with their enforcement. There are big players in land transactions in lands have been acquired by wealthy individuals, most the city. It is practically very diﬃcult to stop people from of whom are not indigenes of their area. To them, their building in areas that are in clear breach of the law because continuous dispossession of land on which their liveli- these big people are themselves complicit. Lack of enforce- hoods depend is not only currently disturbing but also ment of land use regulations has engendered impunity. presents a gloomy future. To most of the respondents, Another respondent expressed worry at the way hap- the reduction in arable land has negatively aﬀected their hazard physical development in Greater Kumasi is agricultural output and income levels. While opportu- depleting its green and open spaces. He remarked: nities for making a living from agriculture keep dwind- ling, the cost of living keeps increasing. This, according Kumasi has now grown out of proportion. Hitherto rural to the respondents, has manifested in high prices of areas have now become urbanised. The department of Parks and Gardens, is under KMA. The decision regarding food, utilities, general social services and high rental INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 209 charges. This, to the respondents, presents a livelihood non-farm in response to peri-urbanisation. These stra- threat. This was what one respondent said at Appiadu in tegies included crop diversiﬁcation, agricultural inten- an in-depth interview: siﬁcation, agricultural extensiﬁcation, adoption of multiple livelihood portfolios, including non-farm live- We are farmers and that is what we do to survive and to lihood strategy and seasonal migration. The objective take care of our children because our level of formal educa- was to build household resilience as they came face- tion is low. Until recently when this area became open to outsiders (urbanised), access to land was not an issue. You to-face with an urban way of life with its associated could choose to farm anywhere. Today, the story is diﬀer- diminished importance of traditional farming as ent. A rise in demand for land and its relative scarcity has a source of livelihood. made sales of land a lucrative business. Our chiefs have sold virtually every available land. All these areas that have 4.4.1. Agriculture diversiﬁcation as a livelihood been taken over by buildings used to be open spaces and farmlands some years ago. The future of those of us whose strategy livelihoods are tied to the land is bleak. (A male partici- With dwindling arable land, agricultural diversiﬁcation pant, IDI) becomes a viable coping strategy. This operated at two diﬀerent levels. First, it involved essentially the Another respondent remarked: practice of other forms of agriculture other than crop My brother! Our own people [referring to the chiefs] are cultivation. This includes a focus on livestock rearing selling our birth right, our heritage [referring to their land] such as poultry, snail and grasscutter rearing. These without thinking about the future of our sons and daugh- alternative sources provide extra income to house- ters. They came to meet this land yet, they do not care holds challenged with dwindling arable land. While whether future generations are able to meet their land needs. We have lost most our arable lands to the wealthy some respondents reared their animals on free-range who are even not natives of this place. We have just small basis, others conﬁned them. While the free-range cre- parcels of land dotted around for the purpose of cultiva- ated nuisance to other neighbours, conﬁnement also tion. This has negatively aﬀected our farming activities. We created additional burden in terms of ﬁnance and used to make huge gains from farming but our output and labour for households who had to feed these animals gains have declined over the years. Life is really tough.(A male participant, IDI, Apatrapa) on a regular basis. Second, it took the form of crop diversiﬁcation (or mixed cropping) in which diﬀerent From the point of view of some of the chiefs, devel- crops such as legumes, cassava, okra, plantain among opment could not have been brought to their people others were cultivated on the same piece of land. without the sales of the land. In an in-depth interview While this practice is not entirely new, land scarcity with one of the chiefs, he remarked: reinforced the need for households to adopt it as The land is for the people and we hold it in trust for them. As a practice. Instead of having a huge stretch of land the custodian of stool land, we ensure that lands sold are being used for the cultivation of a single crop as properly accounted for and used for the development of the cassava or maize, it was common to ﬁnd such lands community. Without the sales of these lands, how will this being used to plant multiple crops which according to community open. So, we sell lands to those who need it and the farmers oﬀered a higher level of security in terms have the ﬁnancial muscle to do so, whether you are from this community or not. (A key informant, Appiadu) of food supply and income compared to mono- cropping. A respondent in Afrancho remarked: The apparent failure on the part of these traditional leaders to plough back or invest proceeds from the Getting a vast stretch of land for farming is a diﬃcult thing these days. It is only possible when you move out to the sales of land in their respective communities, however, hinterland. The most secured and proﬁtably thing to do is to has left their subjects in most cases disappointed. have as much as possible all the household food require- ments stuﬀs cultivated on the little plot available. If one crop fails others will support you. (A female participant, IDI). 4.4. Farmers response to agricultural land-use Another respondent said this: pressures and arable land loss I have been a food crop farmer – cassava, cocoyam, maize, In the face of urban sprawl, it is inevitable that etc.- for over 25 years now. It was not diﬃcult then acces- changes would occur in land-based livelihood activ- sing land for farming. The whole of this area was undeve- ities in the peri-urban interface. The study found that loped, complete forest and bush. With time, the whole area farmers adopted diﬀerent strategies, both farm and has opened up with the inﬂux of newcomers. It is diﬃcult to 210 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. get a large parcel of land for farming here unless you move to be an appropriate strategy. Extensiﬁcation involved farther to the outskirts. Now I have a small-scale farm bringing hitherto inaccessible, marginal, seemingly supplemented with rearing of grasscutter, goat, sheep unproductive or unused parcels of land under cultiva- and domestic birds. (A male participant, Appiadu) tion as these farmers systematically have their farm- lands converted to residential, commercial and other urban land use forms. As highly valued lands contin- 4.4.2. Intensiﬁcation of agriculture ued to dwindle, farmers also tried to bring other lands An obvious response from farmers when faced with under cultivation. Farming along streets, including land scarcity is to use what is available in the best some principal ones (Figure 3) was way as to yield the optimum returns to eﬀorts. One of acommon phenomenon in both urban and peri- these was intensive use of available land. This has urban Kumasi. Also, farmers with or without the per- become a viable alternative strategy for some house- mission of the owners, farmed on building founda- holds who have taken advantage of increasing demand tions, while backyard gardening was becoming for high-value exotic leafy vegetables including cab- popular. Farming in waterlogged and along streams bage, lettuce and spring onions. Intensiﬁcation applied was also observed. The challenge however with farm- to traditional vegetable crops like tomatoes, okra, gar- ing in unauthorised locations was tenure insecurity as den egg and pepper which were cultivated both for the dreams of these farmers were sometimes short- domestic consumption and for sale. Intensiﬁcation lived when owners of such plots halted their opera- involved the use of fertilizer (organic and inorganic), tions regardless of whether the crops were mature irrigation as well as pests, diseases and weed control in or not. order to increase yield per unit area. A great deal of Some respondents also travelled farther to rural capital and management skill was required for success- locations where access to large tracts of land was pos- ful application of irrigation, ﬂood, drainage and erosion sible. These were used for extensive cultivation of control, fertilizer and biocide use. However, the practice mainly cash crops such as cocoa, which normally have of irrigation and use of fertilizer were largely associated longer gestation periods. At Breman, a respondent nar- with commercial vegetable cultivation. Subsistence rated his experience this way: farming remained dependent on the rain and streams. In some cases, farmers managed exotic vegetable For me, I have several acres of cocoa farm in Sefwi-Wiawso farms outside their community. Such lands were open What I do here is just to meet my household domestic food spaces which such individuals cultivated. A 34-year-old supplies. (A male participant, IDI) farmer in Appiadu who possessed a mixed plantain and cassava farm also operated lettuce and cabbage farm on an intensive basis at KNUST vegetable site. When asked what the motivation was, this was what he said: I don’t get that much in sales from my plantain and cassava farm. The farm is not big enough and getting suitable land around is diﬃcult. Every parcel of land you see lying idle belongs to someone else. You start cultivating today only to be told to stop work tomorrow when the owner of the land comes. So, my brother there is no security of tenure. The crops may not be mature then. I have a wife and four children and taking care of them has not been easy. For household food supply I am able to manage but there is more to it than supply of food. The KNUST site is somehow waterlogged and an open space for the cultiva- tion of highly demanded exotic vegetables. The authorities are aware of this but they don’t come after us. This helps me to make extra money. (A male participant, IDI) 4.4.3. Agricultural extensiﬁcation When faced with land scarcity, extending agricultural activities beyond current cultivable lands may appear Figure 3. Cultivation along the street, Adarko Jachie. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 211 4.4.4. Multiple livelihood portfolios Although I am still farmer, I intend to quit altogether and concentrate on my provision shop. I started just two years In the peri-urban study areas, keeping multiple liveli- ago and so far, so good. (A female participant, IDI) hood portfolios was a strategic response to the chal- lenges that peri-urbanisation posed to rural agricultural The research also found that not all respondents who livelihood. Most households hardly adopted a single were engaged in multiple economic activities did so survival strategy. Rather, a combination of livelihood because of reduced arable land linked to horizontal activities provided these peri-urban households the urban expansion. Engaging in diﬀerent economic economic backbone as their rural ways of living gave activities has been part of some households who did way to new urban ways of life. Majority of our respon- this to secure their livelihood. A respondent at Adarko dents combined both farm and non-farm livelihood Jachie gave this narration: activities to enable them cope with the changing reali- I am a seamstress, a farmer and sell provisions. Though ties. A participant shared this in an in-depth interview: I am not a full-time farmer, I support my husband on the farm. We have been doing this for years to provide us I combine farming with mason work. At ﬁrst, I was only a guaranteed income and a secured future. These days a farmer. Since we lost greater part of our farmland, thing are hard and so you can’t depend on one job.(A I decided to learn a vocation. Even though my main occu- female participant, IDI) pation is masonry, I still do some farming. (A male partici- pant, Adarko Jachie) 4.5. Household livelihood outcomes As Kumasi expanded outwardly, it absorbed hitherto Three possible livelihood outcomes resulted from the rural settlements in its sphere of inﬂuence. In the face livelihood strategies adopted by our study partici- of dwindling or loss of arable land, due to their rapid pants as a result of horizontal expansion of Kumasi conversion to urban land use forms, some respon- at the expense of its peri-urban and rural arable land. dents shifted from agricultural livelihood activities to Livelihoods either improved, deteriorated or non-agricultural income-generating livelihood remained unchanged. Respondents who said their options. Others too engagedinnon-agricultural conditions worsened cited reduced agricultural out- income portfolios while maintaining their agricul- put resulting in reduced income. These changes, tural livelihood support. The most dominant non- coupled with higher cost of living, were noted to farm livelihood option as evident in Table 1 was have aﬀected negatively their living conditions. They commercial or trading activity. Since most of these were also of the view that they had no money to respondents had little start-up capital, they were invest in other livelihood strategies. In the interviews, mainly into petty trading. Trade in both farm pro- it was clear that these were relatively poor peri-urban duce andmanufacturedgoodsconstitutedakeylive- households whose livelihoods depended entirely on lihood activity in our peri-urban study communities. their land for their sustenance. Besides, they were In Appiadu, it was found that a thriving income- mostly migrants with small parcels of land. The loss generating activity among the low-income house- of their land therefore greatly aﬀected them. Their holds was ﬁrewood business, particularly among livelihood condition was exacerbated by their lack of women. social capital. This is how it was captured by one of Other activities associated with the rapid construc- such respondents: tion works in the form of residential and commercial Hmm! I migrated to this community some twenty years ago enterprises also employed both the young and old. and the chief and hiselders were gracious enough to accept These were masons, concrete mixers, painters, car- me and gave me a small parcel of land tolive and farm on. penters and other category of artisans and labourers I have been working on this land to sustain my family over the in construction and service provision. years. With the land taken and my inability to latch on any job There were however a few respondents who indi- becauseofmylackofskills, my situation has deteriorated and I have become a laughing stock in this community. Besides, cated their intentions to quit farming to concentrate I have no external support to fall on. (Maleparticipant, IDI, on petty trading. To this category of respondents, Adarko Jachie) farming was no longer economically rewarding to them as the system has become increasingly mone- While most respondents claimed that urban sprawl tised with rising cost of living. A respondent remarked has worsened their livelihood conditions in spite of in Breman in the following way: the strategies they adopted, some claimed it has 212 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. rather generated greater economic opportunities for city centre then becomes scarce and expensive rela- them. They cited access to urban markets for their tive to the demand for it. Such a rise in the land price produce, improved road and opportunities to engage according to Afrane and Amoako (2011) drives devel- in non-farm income activities. These respondents opers outward to city outskirts or urban peripheries, were asset-rich households, with the requisite where land prices are comparatively lower. This then human, natural, physical, ﬁnancial and social assets. explains why city outskirts and peri-urban areas have In the area of human capital, hitherto untapped liveli- become highly magnetic spots for developers and hood skills in, for instance, masonry, tailoring and art other investors. As a consequence, hitherto arable were exploited by some of the respondents to com- land and natural vegetation in the outskirt and peri- plement other livelihood portfolios. Those who had urban areas get rapidly converted to housing and access to other available family lands (natural asset) commercial development, dispossessing farmers of were able to continue with their farming operations, their lands in the process. This is the case for Kumasi either on intensive or extensive bases. More impor- as it expands horizontally and in terms of numbers. tant in the asset categories is the ﬁnancial support Besides, who develops what and where is left to from wealthy family members and social networks. individuals with minimal institutional regulation and Some respondents said that they were members of supervision. The institutions whose mandate it is to associations that championed their welfare and facili- ensure orderly spatial development of the city are tated in the sharing of ideas. This has played a key role either poorly coordinated because of their large num- in reducing the vulnerabilities of beneﬁciary house- bers or under-resourced (Addo-Fordwuor 2014; holds, who were able to engage in non-farm liveli- Amoako and Adom-Asamoah 2017). These, coupled hood activity like retail trade for a living. A respondent with interference from politicians and traditional presented her success story this way: rulers, negative public attitude and non-enforcement of laws (Adjei Mensah 2014; Amoako and Adom- The small compensation I received from those who acquired Asamoah 2017) have incapacitated the institutions the land I was farming on enabled me to start my provision to deliver an inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable store. With a monetised economy, patronage in my shop is very high to the extent that I have increased my stock. My city as enshrined in the United Nations Sustainable situation is far better than when I used to farm. Starting this Development Goal 11. provision store has been a blessing to me and my family. Studies have shown that securing building permits (Female participant, IDI, Appiadu) in Ghana is a cumbersome and bureaucratic process. There were however respondents who indicated Corrupt public oﬃcials allegedly make ﬁnancial solici- that they neither gained nor lost in economic terms, tations from applicants for works they are paid to do. given the livelihood strategies they employed in the This adds to the cost of getting such permits. The face of the horizontal expansion of Kumasi. In other undue delays coupled with escalated cost in obtain- words, their response to the sprawl of Kumasi did not ing a building permit create a scenario where devel- aﬀect their livelihood or economic conditions. opers build without permit (Botchway et al. 2014). More than 80% of the buildings springing up in the Greater Kumasi do not have the right building and 5. Discussion development permits (Botchway et al. 2014). There is also the issue of prioritisation by the city authorities as 5.1. Urban sprawl and land use-land cover regards the use of urban lands. Urban and peri-urban change dynamics in Greater Kumasi lands have come under intense use for the purposes The observation by respondents that urban settle- of residential infrastructure, industrial and commercial ments have expanded spatially is supported by earlier enterprises, which the city authorities consider as the studies (Cobbinah and Amoako 2012; Abass et al. most prudent use of urban land from the economic 2018a, 2018b, 2018c). A key factor is rapid population point of view. Such projects in the views of Abass et al. growth and horizontal expansion that remains largely (2018b) and Tan et al. (2009) are more economically uncontrolled (Afriyie et al. 2014). As urban centres rewarding and thus makes it diﬃcult for such spaces expand both in numbers and spatial terms, demand to be set aside for the purpose of farming. The con- for land for residential and other urban land-use forms version of agricultural land to non-agricultural uses inevitably rises (Abass et al. 2018a). Land within the has been seen as a dominant avenue for creating INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 213 space for urban infrastructure and industrial project, Abass et al. 2018a). The decline in crop output may a process that Tan et al. (2009) considered almost suggest that reduced arable land in urban and peri- unavoidable in the process of economic development urban areas is not proportionately compensated for and growth in population. by expanding arable land in the neighbouring rural One major challenge is the land ownership system communities. If this is the case, then it runs counter to in the Ashanti Region. A large proportion (over 80%) of the claim by Stow et al. (2016) that agricultural lands the land in the region falls within what is called stool expanded between 2000 and 2010 even in the face of land (Ubink and Quan 2008). In practice, these lands its replacement by urban built-up. are under the control of traditional leaders, a situation In the immediate to short term, there may be no that makes it very diﬃcult for such lands to be con- cause for alarm with the urban sprawl. This is because trolled by state institutions (Amoako and Adom- there still exists a large number of food-producing rural Asamoah 2017). Addo-Fordwuor (2014) reveals that communities in the Ashanti Region. Indeed, output of even urban spaces meant to be controlled and mana- major staples in the Ashanti Region has been increasing ged by state institutions are rather under the control of at a diminishing rate (Ministry of Food and Agriculture traditional and customary institutions. This provides (MoFA) 2016). In the long term, however, uncontrolled the leeway for traditional institutions to lease sections loss of arable land could have broader negative reper- of such spaces to private developers and demand cussions on food crop production in the region as well rezoning of such spaces for residential or commercial as farmers’ income when their capacity to produce and uses. While this is an obvious violation, it is not news to sell to meet their livelihood needs is undermined hear that many customary institutions and chiefs in the (Corubolo and Mattingly 1999; DPU (Development region see themselves as legitimate owners of such Planning Unit) 2001). The land loss could be devastat- lands since they fall within their areas of jurisdiction ing for those whose source of livelihood is solely agri- (Amoako and Adom-Asamoah 2017). It is this apparent culture, dismantling the occupation without the conﬂict between state institutions on one hand and capabilities to make a smooth transition to any new traditional leaders on the other that underlie the irre- livelihood trajectory. For those with a diversiﬁed gularities in the land use structure of Kumasi. It is the employment proﬁle including farming, the loss would lacunae created by this conﬂict that laid the fertile also be felt (Phuc 2019). In urban milieu, food produc- ground for the various land use abuses by nonchalant tion does not only serve as a strategy for meeting basic citizens, encroachers and developers (Amoako and caloric and nutrition needs of households but also Adom-Asamoah 2017; Abass et al. 2018b). If these a strategic source of cash income. In the view of conditions remain, the sprawl will continue. Nugent (2000), food crop producers in urban and peri- urban areas do so primarily for home consumption, to generate extra income as well as to face and withstand 5.2. Urban sprawl, food crop production and economic crisis and high commodity prices. Rapid con- livelihood threats version of these arable land, therefore, would deny The study shows that urban sprawl has led to the loss these farmers' access to land to meet their basic of arable lands with negative implications for farmers' needs. This may further worsen the economic condi- agricultural output and income. When urban areas tions of those who may have limited capacity to adapt expand spatially to absorb rural areas, it presents to the new urban reality. While farmers risk losing their both opportunities and challenges for the rural dwell- lands for urban infrastructure needs, urbanisation of ers now experiencing urban ways of life (Levi and rural areas also comes with the rising cost of living. Sperry 2007; Tran and Lim 2011). Urban sprawl poses However, loss of land does not necessarily make problems for food production globally and in particu- farmers worse oﬀ. It sometimes creates opportunities lar the less developed world through loss of produc- for people who were hitherto farmers. There is evi- tive arable land and decline in food production dence to show that loss of land does not necessarily (Lerner and Eakin 2011). The link between the hori- worsen the plight of peri-urban areas (Ravallion and zontal expansion of Kumasi, loss of arable land and van de Walle 2006, 2008; Tuyen 2014). The opening up decline in food crop production as reported by the of rural areas comes with an improvement in infra- respondents is consistent with earlier ﬁndings structure and widening of market for households (Cobbinah and Amoako 2012; Afriyie et al. 2014; (Tran and Lim 2011). 214 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. 5.3. Households’ livelihood responses to urban challenge of losing their land (their source of liveli- sprawl hood) to urban demands. When livelihoods come under threat from shocks and stressors, farmers would have to adopt diﬀerent 5.4. Urban sprawl, livelihood strategies and livelihood coping and adaptive strategies to survive outcomes (Elhadary et al. 2013). These strategies, as found in the current study, can be agricultural intensiﬁcation, The way the study participants responded to the diversiﬁcation, extensiﬁcation and adoption of multi- eﬀects of urban sprawl led to multiple outcomes. ple livelihood portfolios. Crop intensiﬁcation invol- While some respondents were not aﬀected, some ving early-maturing and high-yielding crops not only gained while others suﬀered losses in economic ensures food security at household level and supple- terms. This may not be surprising though. In the ments their income but also reduces households’ view of Levi and Sperry (2007), an expanding urban expenditure on food since in the view of area comes with both opportunities and threats for Satterthwaite et al. (2010), majority of urbanites are agriculture particularly at the peri-urban interface. But net food buyers who spend signiﬁcant proportions as they noted, these opportunities and threats are oftheir disposableincomeonfood. Intensivecultiva- very often not evenly spread either within space or tion of vegetables (market gardening) such as cab- among the people inhabiting the peri-urban interface, bage, lettuce, spring onion among others is creating both winners and losers. stimulated by widening the market for vegetables The gains or losses to the households, as the in the city. Intensiﬁcation as a livelihood strategy research revealed, depend on how they were able to has been reported in other related studies (Abass eﬀectively respond to the emerging urban ways of et al. 2013;Oduro et al. 2015). life. These responses in the form of livelihood strate- It is not in all cases that peri-urban farmers resort to gies were also shaped by a mix of livelihood capital agricultural intensiﬁcation as a livelihood strategy. possessed by the households. As Abass et al. (2013) Due to scarcity of arable land in the study commu- noted, how eﬀectively households respond to liveli- nities, respondents resorted to the use of usually hood challenges of urbanisation depends not only on unproductive and/or unused parcels of land for their the vulnerability context but also on the individual farming operations. Others still moved farther to the household’s command of livelihood assets and liveli- hinterlands where there is abundance of arable lands. hood strategies adopted. Ability to increase the area This was usually the case for those who wanted to under crop cultivation when arable land is under depend on farming as their livelihood strategy. This is threat of urban expansion, for instance, will depend consistent with the ﬁndings of Abass et al. (2013). on households’ access to alternative cultivable lands Faced with limited suitable arable land, individuals within or beyond the peri-urban interface. This access will seek non-farm jobs over agricultural activities may be inﬂuenced by a multiplicity of factors includ- (Atamanov and Berg 2011; Tran and Lim 2011). ing the level of income of households, social net- Tacoli (2004) sees this as strategic survival move by works, land ownership and tenurial arrangements. vulnerable groups who have been forced out of their Livelihood gains may also depend on the individual traditional occupations to reduce risks and satisfy background training, talents and skills, which oﬀer their needs. Since income diversiﬁcation is seen as households the requisite human capital to eke fundamental to household risk management (Eakin a living from varied livelihood portfolios. It was clear 2006), it justiﬁes the decision of some of our study that households with varied asset categories, and who participants to adopt multiple livelihood activities. applied the right strategies in the face of the sprawl A study in Nairobi, Kenya, for example, found that experienced more favourable outcomes. Critical to most peri-urban households who previously relied households’ eﬀective coping strategies are the on their farms for food and income resorted to non- human and Social assets possessed. Social capital, is farm occupations when opportunities in the agricul- noted, broadens the set of employment and entre- tural sector declined following population pressure preneurial options for individuals. Social capital cre- and their conversions (Thuo 2010). It is clear that ates mutual trust and reciprocity, enhances farmers will respond diﬀerently when faced with the information ﬂow, oﬀers avenue for collective decision- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 215 making and improves the possibility of engaging in for city authorities to adopt and enforce smart growth partnership which positively contributes to non-farm policies. Smart growth policies promote compact livelihood diversiﬁcation (Smith et al. 2001; Asare urban development by ensuring that growth is con- 2018). While the current study shows that social capi- centrated in existing urban areas rather than spread- tal was key in eﬀective household response to the loss ing out. A vertical rather than horizontal of arable land by accessing alternative livelihood multiplication of individual housing units, one that options, some households had to ﬁght on their own ensures eﬃcient land use, becomes critical. This will since they had no support of any sort from anybody. also demand among other things institutional strengthening to ensure that these policies are enforced. The ultimate aim of all these interventions 6. Conclusion and policy recommendations is to protect and conserve prime agricultural land on The study provides valuable insight into urban sprawl which some urban and peri-urban households and agricultural livelihood response in peri-urban Ghana depend for their livelihood. The fact that land owner- using an adapted Sustainable Livelihood Framework. ship is largely in the hands of traditional leaders, who Greater Kumasi has seen a drastic increase in the built- will always respond to market forces of demand and up area over the years resulting in a reduction of arable supply, appears to make land use and land conversion land, a key agricultural livelihood asset of many house- control a daunting task. But eﬀective collaboration holds in peri-urban Kumasi. This has negatively aﬀected among key stakeholders including city authorities, crop output and income of most households. As the traditional authorities can yield positive results. livelihood asset base of most households got gradually A policy intervention that recognises urban agricul- eroded, a threat to the livelihood security and sustain- ture as part of urban greenery and an integral part of ability of households, they had to respond in diﬀerent the spatial structure of the city is recommended. ways. These responses came in the form of agricultural Urban and peri-urban farmers should be supported diversiﬁcation, agricultural intensiﬁcation, agricultural in the form of technical and input supplies through extensiﬁcation and adoption of multiple income portfo- the assemblies to make their agricultural intensiﬁca- lios including on-farm and oﬀ-farm economic activities. tion more eﬀective and sustainable. This comes with Depending on the alternative assets at the disposal of irrigation farming, right application of organic and households and eﬀectiveness of the strategies inorganic fertilizers and mixed farming. Besides, employed, livelihood consequences were mixed. While a policy initiative from the assemblies in collaboration some households with varied livelihood assets made with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) that gains because their livelihoods improved, asset-poor boosts the market for agricultural output and at the households experienced a deterioration in livelihood same time expands non-farm job market will be conditions resulting from their inability to cope eﬀec- a laudable one. tively with the sprawl that eats up their arable land. These gains manifested in the form of access to urban markets, improvement in roads and opportunities for Disclosure statement engagement in non-farm income activities. Household No potential conﬂict of interest was reported by the authors. losses, however, were expressed in the form of reduced agricultural output, reduced income, high cost of living and a general fall in living conditions. Lying in-between were households who neither gained nor experienced Notes on contributors a decline in their economic or livelihood status. Of the Kwadwo Afriyie is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of livelihood asset category, the human and social capital Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah were key determinants of the outcomes of households’ University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. livelihood strategies employed. But the general picture He holds Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Sociology from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology is that economic and livelihood conditions of most (KNUST) and a Master of Philosophy degrees in Geography and households in all the study communities have declined Resource Development from the University of Ghana, Legon. His due to the consequences of urban expansion. research interest includes: Sustainable livelihood, rural govern- The problem of sprawl-induced arable land deple- ance, issues of urbanisation and peri-urbanisation, extractive tion can be tackled by curbing the sprawl. A way out is activities, and land land use land cover dynamics. 216 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. Kabila Abass is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Afriyie K, Abass K, Adomako JAA. 2014. Urbanisation of the rural Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah landscape: assessing the eﬀects in the peri-urban Kumasi. University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. Int J Urban Sustainable Dev. 6(1):1–19. He holds Doctor of Philosophy in Geography and Rural Allen A. 2003. Environmental planning and management of the Development from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and peri-urban interface: perspectives on an emerging ﬁeld. Technology, Master of Philosophy and Bachelor of Arts degrees Environ Urban. 15(1):135–148. in Geography and Resource Development from University of Amoako C, Adom-Asamoah G 2017. From open spaces to Ghana, Legon. His research interest includes: urban land use adapted spaces – the politics of managing green areas in and environment, problems of urbanisation and peri-urbanisa- Kumasi, Ghana. In the proceedings of the 6th International tion, hazard studies, geography of health, environment, health Conference on Infrastructure Development in Africa, April 12; and development. Ghana: KNUST. [accessed 2017 Dec 15]. http://ir.knust.edu. gh/xmlui/handle/123456789/10855 Prince Osei-Wusu Adjei is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Asare KY 2018. Non-farm livelihood diversiﬁcation in selected Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University rural and peri-urban communities in Sunyani West District of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. He holds [MPhil thesis submitted to the Institute for Development Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Geography Studies], University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast. and Rural Development from KNUST. His research interest Atamanov A, Berg M. 2011. Microeconomic analysis of rural non- includes, poverty, rural development and local governance. farm activities in the Kyrgyz Republic: what determines parti- cipation and returns? Wageningen (The Netherlands): Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, University of Maastricht, Maastricht and Development Economics, ORCID Wageningen University; p. 8–13. 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Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Copyright: © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
ISSN: 1946-3146
eISSN: 1946-3138
DOI: 10.1080/19463138.2019.1691560
Publisher site: See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2020, VOL. 12, NO. 2, 202–218 https://doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2019.1691560 ARTICLE Kwadwo Afriyie, Kabila Abass and Prince Osei-Wusu Adjei Department of Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kumasi, Kumasi, Ghana ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Received 16 November 2018 The paper examines agricultural livelihood eﬀects of urban sprawl and farmers' Accepted 6 November 2019 response in peri-urban Kumasi, Ghana, involving in-depth interviews with sixty farm- ers (n = 60) and four key informants (n = 4). Greater Kumasi has expanded spatially KEYWORDS over time resulting in arable land reduction in the peri-urban interface and aﬀecting Urban sprawl; arable land; households in varying ways. This has evoked diﬀerent responses from aﬀected farm- food crop; livelihood; Greater ers including agricultural intensiﬁcation, extensiﬁcation, diversiﬁcation and adoption Kumasi; Ghana of oﬀ-farm livelihood strategies. While some households made livelihood gains in their response, and some livelihood losses, others neither gained nor lost. A mix of livelihood assets, but more importantly human and social capital, were identiﬁed as key determinants of the outcomes of households’ livelihood strategies employed. To protect arable land from urban encroachment and reduce peri-urban households’ vulnerabilities the following policy interventions are noteworthy: eﬀective spatial planning through institutional strengthening, legislative enforcement and widening market for agricultural goods and expanding non-farm jobs. 1. Introduction growth or sub-urban development which is charac- terised by low density physical development and the In 1950, only 30% of the world’s population lived in lack of basic municipal infrastructure usually beyond urban areas, a proportion that grew to 55% by 2018. It urban fringes (Bhatta 2010; Cobbinah and Amoako is projected that the proportion will increase to 68% 2012). This phenomenon is driven by a multitude of by 2050 (United Nations, Department of Economic processes that lead to ineﬃcient resource utilisation, and Social Aﬀairs, Population Division 2018). The glo- depletion of local resources and open spaces and bal share of African urban residents is projected to increase in traﬃcproblems (Peiser 2001;Bhatta 2010). grow from 11.3% in 2010 to 20.2% by 2050 (Sagbir The direct implication of sprawl is a change in land use and Santoro 2018). Most of the increase in urban and land cover as it induces increases in built-up and population is taking place in small- and medium- paved area (Sudhira and Ramachandra 2007). sized cities in mid-latitudinal Africa with the growth Ensuring sustainable food supply in a rapidly grow- of existing villages and towns transforming rural land- ing city becomes a matter of concern. Many have scapes into urban areas (Güneralp et al. 2017). suggested that a more eﬀective way of delivering One of the problems of African cities is their out- food to people is to grow food in or near urban areas ward expansion, that is characteristically unplanned (Lee-Smith 2010;Orsiniet al. 2013). In the past 25 years, and unregulated (Güneralp et al. 2017). While the number of actions at local, national and interna- a general consensus regarding the deﬁnition and tional levels focusing on the promotion of agriculture impact of urban sprawl is hard to achieve (Johnson in and around cities has increased steadily in spite of 2001), it is often referred to as a non-contiguous, scat- some cases of institutional reluctance for its inclusion in tered, uncontrolled, uneven and unplanned pattern of urban master plans (Cissé et al. 2005). But urban CONTACT Kabila Abass abakabila@yahoo.com Department of Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kumasi, Kumasi, Ghana © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 203 expansion has threatened the sustainability of urban (including Kumasi Metropolis, Oforikrom, Kwadaso, and peri-urban agriculture. Studies in Africa (Diallo and Suame, Old Tafo, Asokwa and Asokore Mampong Zhengyu 2010; Aduah and Baﬀoe 2013;Naabet al. Municipalities) (which is used interchangeably with 2013;Stow et al. 2016) have shown huge loss of arable Kumasi) has sprawled over the years. This has resulted land and natural landscape due to urban expansion. in problems of congestion, conversion of peri-urban With urban expansion occurring on hitherto agricul- and rural arable land to residential use without ancillary tural lands in peri-urban and rural areas, productive infrastructure and social services (Cobbinah and agricultural food sources are being reduced for the Amoako 2012). Research has shown that there was burgeoning population (Cobbinah et al. 2015a, 2015b; a huge increase in the extent of urban land use from Stow et al. 2016). A similar condition has been experi- 21% to 78% between 1986 and 2016, whilst farmland enced in Vietnam (Tuyen et al. 2014). and vegetative cover reduced appreciably from 31% to In developing countries, rural to urban changes 15% and 48% to 9%, respectively (Abass et al. 2018a). taking place at the edge of cities usually come with Reduction in arable land has been linked to a decline in drastic shrinkage of agricultural activities, unrest- output of major staples in Greater Kumasi and other rained land-use change and land speculation surrounding districts since 2001. (Méndez-Lemus and Vieyra 2017). These changes Various works have reported on the eﬀects of urban more commonly create an intricate context of new expansion on land use and land cover change, and in uncertainties and vulnerabilities for the poor. The particular, loss of arable land in peri-urban Kumasi reason is not far-fetched. As Méndez-Lemus and (Simon et al. 2004; Cobbinah and Amoako 2012;Stow Vieyra (2017) noted, expansion in peri-urban areas et al. 2016; Abass et al. 2018a, 2018b, 2018c). However, means de-territorialisation and re-territorialisation of the eﬀects of sprawl on farmers and their response to social groups and livelihoods, which may hinder population-induced land-use pressures and arable land access to the resources needed for a living. depletion in peri-urban interface has been under On the other hand, when rural areas come under researched. The paper, therefore, examines livelihood urban inﬂuence, a broader range of livelihood possibili- eﬀects and responses of households in peri-urban ties, both farm and non-farm, can be oﬀered to house- Kumasi to the changing land-use pattern due to the holds. This means that households can engage in horizontal expansion of Kumasi. The three key questions diﬀerent rural and urban livelihood activities to augment that this paper tried to address are: How has urban their incomes while sharing resources and assets sprawl aﬀected agricultural livelihood activities of peri- (Satterthwaite et al. 2010). The methods of adaptation urban households in Greater Kumasi? How have peri- employed by these farmers mayhave profoundimplica- urban households adapted to the eﬀects of urban tions for their livelihoods and the sustainability of people sprawl? and What are the outcomes of these adaptive living in both the countryside and cities (Allen 2003; mechanisms or responses? Hussain and Hanisch 2014). Inthefaceofcompetition from growing number of non-agriculture land users, 2. Analytical framework farmers in the peri-urban interface have had to adapt their systems of farming, involving mainly agricultural The framework used for analysing households’ agricul- intensiﬁcation, diversiﬁcation and extensiﬁcation (Abass tural livelihood eﬀects of and responses to urban sprawl et al. 2013; Hussain and Hanisch 2014). Adoption of (see Figure 1) is adapted from the Sustainable Livelihood multiple income portfolios and a shift from farm to non- Framework (DFID 1999). Sustainable Livelihood farm livelihood forms have also been reported as a form Framework puts emphasis on the acquisition, substitu- of adaptation (Abass et al. 2013; Tuyen et al. 2014). tion and utilisation of diﬀerent types of assets that an In Ghana, the proportion of urban population (that individual or household has for pursuing livelihood stra- is at least 5,000 people) has shot up rapidly over the tegies. Key elements of this approach are the ﬁve liveli- years. From 7.8% in 1921, it rose to 43.8% in 2000 (GSS hood assets or capitals (human, natural, ﬁnancial, social (Ghana Statistical Service) 2005a; GSS (Ghana Statistical and physical capital), the ‘vulnerability context’ viewed Service) 2005b). With well over 70% rural at indepen- as shocks, trends and seasonality and the inﬂuence of dence in 1957, Ghana has now over 50% of its popula- transforming structures for the livelihood strategies and tion living in urban areas (Government of Ghana (GoG) their outcomes (DFID 1999). According to Chambers and 2012; Acheampong and Anokye 2013). Greater Kumasi Conway (1992), a livelihood comprises the capabilities, 204 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. Figure 1. Eﬀects of urban sprawl and coping strategies: a conceptual framework. income activities (Tran and Lim 2011).. But the eﬀective- assets and activities required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and ness of the strategies adopted depends on the range of recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or other livelihood assets (ﬁnancial, physical, natural, social and human) available to such households (Abass et al. enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in 2013). For instance, not all farmers would succeed in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base (Chambers and Conway 1992). The risk of liveli- ﬁnding suitable livelihoods when they are faced with shocks in the form of loss of their arable land. Many may hood failure determines the level of vulnerability of become jobless because they may not have the requisite a household to income, food, health and nutritional insecurity (Frankenberger and McCaston 1998). educational background or vocational or technical skills (Nguyen 2009).Whilesomehouseholdstendtobeneﬁt When a city sprawls, it presents both challenges and from the sprawl and others suﬀer, some neither beneﬁt opportunities. Challenges can manifest in the form of loss or shrinkage of arable land (natural capital), loss of tradi- nor suﬀer. This means that the diﬀerent livelihood stra- tegies households adopt will lead to any of the following tional on-farm skills, reduced food supply and agricultural three possible outcomes: improved wellbeing, deterio- income (Do 2006;Tranand Lim 2011). Farmland shrink- age may have negative impacts on livelihood strategies rated wellbeing and wellbeing remaining unchanged. The nature of the outcome would inform future liveli- that largely or partially depend on farmland or other hood strategy. Failure of a livelihood strategy, measured natural resources. Continuous conversion of arable land by a negative outcome, would necessitate a change in to urban land use will lead to further sprawl. Nevertheless, strategy. This, of course, would depend on the amount the negative consequences of loss of farmland are likely of resources a household has command of. Livelihood to be oﬀset by a host of opportunities triggered by strategies are expected to ameliorate the eﬀects of the urbanisation. For instance, the opening up of rural areas sprawl in the form of feedback. due to urban expansion oﬀers farmers' choices of non- Livelihood strategies and outcomes are not just farm employment and access to urban market (Abass dependent on access to capital assets or constrained et al. 2013;Tranand Lim 2011), opportunities that can be seized by farmers to improve their livelihoods. by vulnerability context, they are also transformed by the environment of structures and processes (institu- Loss of or reductioninarablelandinperi-urban tions and policies) which may facilitate or deny entitle- communities would require households to respond in varying ways to secure and sustain their livelihoods. ments. Institutions and policy interventions are the external mediating factors that help urban systems to Some of such strategies may include agricultural diver- cope with and adapt to the negative consequences siﬁcation, intensiﬁcation, extensiﬁcation as well as adop- tion of multiple income portfolios, including non-farm (shocks and stresses) of urban sprawl. Examples of INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 205 such institutions include central government, local gov- population of Kumasi at 1,730,249 (GSS (Ghana ernment, chiefs, non-governmental organisations, Statistical Service) 2014). The rapid population growth social groups and their various policy interventions. and the horizontal expansion of the city have led to Institutions can enable people to achieve positive liveli- land use and land cover conversions from non-urban to hood outcomes by providing enabling environment for urban forms (see Figures 2(a, b)). people to pursue their livelihood strategies. This is Staple agriculture has been practised extensively in done through the formulation and implementation of and around Kumasi, helping to augment food supply for policies and provision of structures such as markets to the burgeoning urban population and meeting the transform one type of asset to another. Institutions do ﬁnancial needs of those involved (GSS (Ghana not only enable people to achieve positive livelihood Statistical Service) 2014). Urban areas are mostly noted outcomes, they also act as barriers to a sustainable for vegetable farming. Kumasi, however, is a traditional livelihood. It is noteworthy that the livelihood out- area which has evolved over time and therefore most of comes could further shape policy direction as shown the arable lands were used for growing all forms of food by the arrows in Figure 1. cropsincluding plantain,yam,maize,cassava andto Although the framework is used in a wide range of a lesser extent some cash crops like cocoa. Empirical studies, it is still relatively fuzzy in terms of what trans- evidence shows that Greater Kumasi is expanding over forming structures are and how livelihood outcomes most of the productive agricultural lands in the periph- inﬂuence also the vulnerability context (Birkmann ery (Abass et al. 2018a). With the horizontal expansion, 2006). Besides, the concept of livelihood accounts cropped area in the area is reported to have declined for solely for positive outcomes. In reality, livelihood out- various staple crops (Abass et al. 2018a), a development comes from a given strategy and within a given vulner- that has negative implications for urban and peri-urban ability context and transforming structures and food crop production. processes may be positive, negative or neither positive nor negative (where no change is occasioned). 3.2. Research participants and sampling Additionally, some of the feedback processes in the framework underestimate the role of livelihood out- The research participants comprised of men and comes on the environmental sphere. Nevertheless, women farmers who were drawn purposively from the framework is a useful way of examining suscept- ﬁve peri-urban communities in Greater Kumasi. ibility and coping capacity of households when faced These study sites included Adarko Jachie, Breman, with shocks and stresses. The approach underlines the Apatrapa, Afrancho and Appiadu. These communities necessity of empowering local-marginalised groups in were selected because of the coexistence of both rural order to reduce vulnerability eﬀectively. and urban livelihood activities. In all, 60 participants conveniently sampled from these communities were involved in the study based on a deﬁned inclusion or 3. Materials and methods selection criteria of being household heads and also being a normal resident in the study communities. 3.1. Study context These were individual heads of their respective house- The paper focuses on Greater Kumasi and its peri-urban holds who were 18 years and above and also engaged communities. Kumasi was the Asante State capital and in farming either as their main or supplementary live- currently Ashanti regional capital. Being a nodal city lihood activity. In addition, four key informants were coupled with its rich and varied natural resource purposively sampled to participate in the study. endowments it is not only a transit location but also Speciﬁcally, one each was selected from Town and an important commercial centre for a large number of Country Planning Department (T&CPD), Department migrants from across diﬀerent parts of the country and of Parks Gardens (DP&Gs) and Kumasi Metropolitan beyond (Quagraine 2011). It is not surprising that the Assembly (KMA) and a traditional leader. city has grown over the years, in terms of numbers and spatial extent. Its annual growth rate between the 1984 3.3. Data collection methods and 2000 intercensal years was 5.2% but increased to 5.4% from 2000 to 2010 (Afrane and Amoako 2011). Qualitative data were obtained from in-depth inter- The 2010 Population and Housing Census puts the views (IDIs) with farmers in peri-urban Kumasi using 206 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. Figure 2. (a) Location map of Greater Kumasi showing urban extent and other land-use forms in 1986 (Source: Abass et al. 2018a). (b) Location map of Greater Kumasi showing urban extent and other land-use forms in 2016 (Source: Abass et al. 2018a). an interview guide. This was complemented with an conducted and 60 structured instruments adminis- interview schedule that was developed for the collec- tered. Averagely, each interview lasted for 40 minutes. tion of participant’s detailed demographic and socio- Discussions covered the following thematic areas: economic data. In all, 60 individual interviews were access to land; land acquisition and ownership; INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 207 tenurial agreements; farming challenges; livelihood 3.5. Ethical issues options, strategies and outcomes. The interviews, Informed written and verbal consents were sought which were audio-recorded with a digital recording from all research participants before the start of each device, lasted for 2 months. In many instances, the interview session. Participants were requested to sign interviews were conducted on Saturdays where farm- or thumbprint a written informed consent form. Oral ers were targeted on their farms. All interviews were consent was sought from those who felt uncomforta- conducted in the local dialect Twi. Key informant ble with either the thumb printing or signing. interviews were also conducted with heads of tar- Participation was entirely voluntary and selected par- geted institutions. In addition to the in-depth inter- ticipants could withdraw at any stage of the interview views, observation was also employed. Observation process. Participants were assured of strict conﬁdenti- encompassed every facet of the issues bothering on ality and anonymity of the responses they provided. location, farm size, methods and techniques of farm- ing. Photographs were taken where necessary and presented in the work as ﬁgures. 4. Results 4.1. Proﬁle of respondents 3.4. Data processing and analysis Majority of respondents were males aged 20 years Qualitative data were analysed within the thematic and above but with the majority within the age cohort analytical framework (Nowell et al. 2017). This ana- of 31 and 50 years. The level of formal education was lytical method entails a number of steps. First, all generally low with the majority having up to the basic audio recordings were transcribed into English. level. Farming was the main livelihood activity for 85% The ﬁrststependsbygeneratingasummary for of all the study participants from the ﬁve commu- each of the transcripts that speciﬁed the key issues nities. While farming was still the dominant economic raised by participants. The second step saw all activity for the majority, trading or commercial activ- interviews that were transcribed exported to ities were emerging as a viable supplementary liveli- NVivo 9 analytical software, where coding was hood activity. A summary of these characteristics is done deductively and inductively. The process of captured in Table 1. coding continued until a theoretical saturation point was reached. At this stage, further coding 4.2. Urban sprawl and land use-land cover generated no new concepts. The third step in the change in Greater Kumasi analysis included the sorting and collating of all pertinent-coded information extracts into themes. Evidence from key informant interviews underscored Fourth, the coded information extracts were thor- the fact that rapid population growth and uncontrolled oughly reviewed from one theme to the other to horizontal expansion of Kumasi have led to conver- ensure that a logical and meaningful pattern is sions of one land use form to another, and in the formed. Each theme was checked for validity as process, the natural vegetation, arable land and other away of ensuring that each reﬂected accurately open spaces are sacriﬁced. A key informant from the the imports of the data set as a whole. This made T&CPD of KMA (physical development unit) said this: it possible for any inadequacies inherent in the There is no doubt that Kumasi has grown in numbers and coding and themes to be identiﬁed and rectiﬁed. area over the years. These changes inevitably come with In the next step, themes were deﬁned and named changes in land use. With urbanisation, land becomes so as to give potential readers ideas about what expensive and so land goes to the highest bidders. When exactly they are about. The story related to each urban land is becoming scarce, and for that matter expen- sive, available space will automatically be used for what is theme was then identiﬁed, with a thorough analy- most economically rewarding. This explains why open sis of each individual theme then following. The spaces and arable lands often suﬀer. ﬁnal category of themes and sub-categories have been presented as narratives and where apt, The dynamics of land use and cover change in Kumasi relevant themes were illustrated with verbatim are complex in nature. It was revealed during key or direct quotations extracted from interview informant interviews that the whole land allocation transcripts. and sales arrangement normally involved inﬂuential 208 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents. Sampled communities Adarko Jachie Apatrapa Afrancho Breman Appiadu Variable Categories Freq. (%) Freq. (%) Freq. (%) Freq. (%) Freq. (%) Sex Male 9 (75.0) 12 (100.0) 10 (83.3) 11 (91.7) 11 (91.7) Female 3 (25.0) – 2(16.7) 1 (8.3) 1(8.3) Level of education No formal education 7 (58.3) 9 (75.0) 5 (41.7) 3 (25.0) 4 (33.3) Basic 4 (33.3) 3 (25.0) 5 (41.7) 9 (75.0) 7 (58.3) Secondary 1 (8.3) –– – 1 (8.3) Age 20-30 2 (16.7) – 1 (8.3) –– 31-40 2 (16.7) 5 (41.7) 3 (25.0) 1 (8.3) 4 (33.3) 41-50 4 (33.3) 6 (50.0) 6 (50.0) 11 (91.7) 5 (41.7) 51-60 3 (25.0) 1 (8.3) 2 (16.7) – 3 (25.0) >60 1 (8.3) –– – – Farming as main livelihood activity Yes 12 (100) 10 (83.3) 12 (100) 8 (66.7) 9 (75.0) No – 2 (16.7) – 4 (33.3) 3 (25.0) Supplementary livelihood activity Trading 5 (41.7) 7 (58.3) 5 (41.7) 6 (50.0) 4 (33.3) Livestock/Poultry 4 (33.3) 2 (16.7) 6 (50.0) 2 (16.7) 2 (16.7) Private Security 1 (8.3) –– – – Driving 1 (8.3) 1 (8.3) Civil/public service 2 (16.7) 3 (25.0) Construction/labourer 2 (16.7) – 1 (8.3) 2 (16.7) 6 (50.0) players. Land allocation and sales are an intricate what and where to develop rests with KMA and the Kumasi Planning Committee which has representatives from KMA, transaction involving a number of actors from KMA, Lands Commission, Manhyia and other bodies. These are Land Commission and the Traditional Authority. This bodies you need to contact for explanation. (A key infor- makes it very diﬃcult to control what and where is mant, DP&Gs) developed. This was what the Metropolitan Engineer said in an in-depth interview: 4.3. Implications of sprawl for household food Land business in the city is not a straightforward matter. The process involved in land allocation is a complex one crop production and livelihood involving diﬀerent stakeholders. This makes it very diﬃcult Household interviews produced interesting revelations to control development. People site their buildings any- where without recourse to any plan. The trend is worrying. regarding how the expansion of Kumasi has aﬀected (Key informant, KMA) food crop production. All respondents recognised and expressed worry about a consistent decline in their A key informant from the T&CPD (physical develop- arable land due to urban expansion. As their commu- ment unit) of KMA also said: nities become urbanised, available land became com- Kumasi has grown even beyond the control of the city modiﬁed, becoming a lucrative asset for those who authorities. Our outﬁt however cannot be held for the hap- possessed it, and in particular, the chiefs who held hazard physical development in the City. Beyond the core these lands [stool lands] in trust for their people. What area, developments have not followed any clear plan. There was even more disturbing to them is that most of these are land use regulations but the problem has to do with their enforcement. There are big players in land transactions in lands have been acquired by wealthy individuals, most the city. It is practically very diﬃcult to stop people from of whom are not indigenes of their area. To them, their building in areas that are in clear breach of the law because continuous dispossession of land on which their liveli- these big people are themselves complicit. Lack of enforce- hoods depend is not only currently disturbing but also ment of land use regulations has engendered impunity. presents a gloomy future. To most of the respondents, Another respondent expressed worry at the way hap- the reduction in arable land has negatively aﬀected their hazard physical development in Greater Kumasi is agricultural output and income levels. While opportu- depleting its green and open spaces. He remarked: nities for making a living from agriculture keep dwind- ling, the cost of living keeps increasing. This, according Kumasi has now grown out of proportion. Hitherto rural to the respondents, has manifested in high prices of areas have now become urbanised. The department of Parks and Gardens, is under KMA. The decision regarding food, utilities, general social services and high rental INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 209 charges. This, to the respondents, presents a livelihood non-farm in response to peri-urbanisation. These stra- threat. This was what one respondent said at Appiadu in tegies included crop diversiﬁcation, agricultural inten- an in-depth interview: siﬁcation, agricultural extensiﬁcation, adoption of multiple livelihood portfolios, including non-farm live- We are farmers and that is what we do to survive and to lihood strategy and seasonal migration. The objective take care of our children because our level of formal educa- was to build household resilience as they came face- tion is low. Until recently when this area became open to outsiders (urbanised), access to land was not an issue. You to-face with an urban way of life with its associated could choose to farm anywhere. Today, the story is diﬀer- diminished importance of traditional farming as ent. A rise in demand for land and its relative scarcity has a source of livelihood. made sales of land a lucrative business. Our chiefs have sold virtually every available land. All these areas that have 4.4.1. Agriculture diversiﬁcation as a livelihood been taken over by buildings used to be open spaces and farmlands some years ago. The future of those of us whose strategy livelihoods are tied to the land is bleak. (A male partici- With dwindling arable land, agricultural diversiﬁcation pant, IDI) becomes a viable coping strategy. This operated at two diﬀerent levels. First, it involved essentially the Another respondent remarked: practice of other forms of agriculture other than crop My brother! Our own people [referring to the chiefs] are cultivation. This includes a focus on livestock rearing selling our birth right, our heritage [referring to their land] such as poultry, snail and grasscutter rearing. These without thinking about the future of our sons and daugh- alternative sources provide extra income to house- ters. They came to meet this land yet, they do not care holds challenged with dwindling arable land. While whether future generations are able to meet their land needs. We have lost most our arable lands to the wealthy some respondents reared their animals on free-range who are even not natives of this place. We have just small basis, others conﬁned them. While the free-range cre- parcels of land dotted around for the purpose of cultiva- ated nuisance to other neighbours, conﬁnement also tion. This has negatively aﬀected our farming activities. We created additional burden in terms of ﬁnance and used to make huge gains from farming but our output and labour for households who had to feed these animals gains have declined over the years. Life is really tough.(A male participant, IDI, Apatrapa) on a regular basis. Second, it took the form of crop diversiﬁcation (or mixed cropping) in which diﬀerent From the point of view of some of the chiefs, devel- crops such as legumes, cassava, okra, plantain among opment could not have been brought to their people others were cultivated on the same piece of land. without the sales of the land. In an in-depth interview While this practice is not entirely new, land scarcity with one of the chiefs, he remarked: reinforced the need for households to adopt it as The land is for the people and we hold it in trust for them. As a practice. Instead of having a huge stretch of land the custodian of stool land, we ensure that lands sold are being used for the cultivation of a single crop as properly accounted for and used for the development of the cassava or maize, it was common to ﬁnd such lands community. Without the sales of these lands, how will this being used to plant multiple crops which according to community open. So, we sell lands to those who need it and the farmers oﬀered a higher level of security in terms have the ﬁnancial muscle to do so, whether you are from this community or not. (A key informant, Appiadu) of food supply and income compared to mono- cropping. A respondent in Afrancho remarked: The apparent failure on the part of these traditional leaders to plough back or invest proceeds from the Getting a vast stretch of land for farming is a diﬃcult thing these days. It is only possible when you move out to the sales of land in their respective communities, however, hinterland. The most secured and proﬁtably thing to do is to has left their subjects in most cases disappointed. have as much as possible all the household food require- ments stuﬀs cultivated on the little plot available. If one crop fails others will support you. (A female participant, IDI). 4.4. Farmers response to agricultural land-use Another respondent said this: pressures and arable land loss I have been a food crop farmer – cassava, cocoyam, maize, In the face of urban sprawl, it is inevitable that etc.- for over 25 years now. It was not diﬃcult then acces- changes would occur in land-based livelihood activ- sing land for farming. The whole of this area was undeve- ities in the peri-urban interface. The study found that loped, complete forest and bush. With time, the whole area farmers adopted diﬀerent strategies, both farm and has opened up with the inﬂux of newcomers. It is diﬃcult to 210 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. get a large parcel of land for farming here unless you move to be an appropriate strategy. Extensiﬁcation involved farther to the outskirts. Now I have a small-scale farm bringing hitherto inaccessible, marginal, seemingly supplemented with rearing of grasscutter, goat, sheep unproductive or unused parcels of land under cultiva- and domestic birds. (A male participant, Appiadu) tion as these farmers systematically have their farm- lands converted to residential, commercial and other urban land use forms. As highly valued lands contin- 4.4.2. Intensiﬁcation of agriculture ued to dwindle, farmers also tried to bring other lands An obvious response from farmers when faced with under cultivation. Farming along streets, including land scarcity is to use what is available in the best some principal ones (Figure 3) was way as to yield the optimum returns to eﬀorts. One of acommon phenomenon in both urban and peri- these was intensive use of available land. This has urban Kumasi. Also, farmers with or without the per- become a viable alternative strategy for some house- mission of the owners, farmed on building founda- holds who have taken advantage of increasing demand tions, while backyard gardening was becoming for high-value exotic leafy vegetables including cab- popular. Farming in waterlogged and along streams bage, lettuce and spring onions. Intensiﬁcation applied was also observed. The challenge however with farm- to traditional vegetable crops like tomatoes, okra, gar- ing in unauthorised locations was tenure insecurity as den egg and pepper which were cultivated both for the dreams of these farmers were sometimes short- domestic consumption and for sale. Intensiﬁcation lived when owners of such plots halted their opera- involved the use of fertilizer (organic and inorganic), tions regardless of whether the crops were mature irrigation as well as pests, diseases and weed control in or not. order to increase yield per unit area. A great deal of Some respondents also travelled farther to rural capital and management skill was required for success- locations where access to large tracts of land was pos- ful application of irrigation, ﬂood, drainage and erosion sible. These were used for extensive cultivation of control, fertilizer and biocide use. However, the practice mainly cash crops such as cocoa, which normally have of irrigation and use of fertilizer were largely associated longer gestation periods. At Breman, a respondent nar- with commercial vegetable cultivation. Subsistence rated his experience this way: farming remained dependent on the rain and streams. In some cases, farmers managed exotic vegetable For me, I have several acres of cocoa farm in Sefwi-Wiawso farms outside their community. Such lands were open What I do here is just to meet my household domestic food spaces which such individuals cultivated. A 34-year-old supplies. (A male participant, IDI) farmer in Appiadu who possessed a mixed plantain and cassava farm also operated lettuce and cabbage farm on an intensive basis at KNUST vegetable site. When asked what the motivation was, this was what he said: I don’t get that much in sales from my plantain and cassava farm. The farm is not big enough and getting suitable land around is diﬃcult. Every parcel of land you see lying idle belongs to someone else. You start cultivating today only to be told to stop work tomorrow when the owner of the land comes. So, my brother there is no security of tenure. The crops may not be mature then. I have a wife and four children and taking care of them has not been easy. For household food supply I am able to manage but there is more to it than supply of food. The KNUST site is somehow waterlogged and an open space for the cultiva- tion of highly demanded exotic vegetables. The authorities are aware of this but they don’t come after us. This helps me to make extra money. (A male participant, IDI) 4.4.3. Agricultural extensiﬁcation When faced with land scarcity, extending agricultural activities beyond current cultivable lands may appear Figure 3. Cultivation along the street, Adarko Jachie. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 211 4.4.4. Multiple livelihood portfolios Although I am still farmer, I intend to quit altogether and concentrate on my provision shop. I started just two years In the peri-urban study areas, keeping multiple liveli- ago and so far, so good. (A female participant, IDI) hood portfolios was a strategic response to the chal- lenges that peri-urbanisation posed to rural agricultural The research also found that not all respondents who livelihood. Most households hardly adopted a single were engaged in multiple economic activities did so survival strategy. Rather, a combination of livelihood because of reduced arable land linked to horizontal activities provided these peri-urban households the urban expansion. Engaging in diﬀerent economic economic backbone as their rural ways of living gave activities has been part of some households who did way to new urban ways of life. Majority of our respon- this to secure their livelihood. A respondent at Adarko dents combined both farm and non-farm livelihood Jachie gave this narration: activities to enable them cope with the changing reali- I am a seamstress, a farmer and sell provisions. Though ties. A participant shared this in an in-depth interview: I am not a full-time farmer, I support my husband on the farm. We have been doing this for years to provide us I combine farming with mason work. At ﬁrst, I was only a guaranteed income and a secured future. These days a farmer. Since we lost greater part of our farmland, thing are hard and so you can’t depend on one job.(A I decided to learn a vocation. Even though my main occu- female participant, IDI) pation is masonry, I still do some farming. (A male partici- pant, Adarko Jachie) 4.5. Household livelihood outcomes As Kumasi expanded outwardly, it absorbed hitherto Three possible livelihood outcomes resulted from the rural settlements in its sphere of inﬂuence. In the face livelihood strategies adopted by our study partici- of dwindling or loss of arable land, due to their rapid pants as a result of horizontal expansion of Kumasi conversion to urban land use forms, some respon- at the expense of its peri-urban and rural arable land. dents shifted from agricultural livelihood activities to Livelihoods either improved, deteriorated or non-agricultural income-generating livelihood remained unchanged. Respondents who said their options. Others too engagedinnon-agricultural conditions worsened cited reduced agricultural out- income portfolios while maintaining their agricul- put resulting in reduced income. These changes, tural livelihood support. The most dominant non- coupled with higher cost of living, were noted to farm livelihood option as evident in Table 1 was have aﬀected negatively their living conditions. They commercial or trading activity. Since most of these were also of the view that they had no money to respondents had little start-up capital, they were invest in other livelihood strategies. In the interviews, mainly into petty trading. Trade in both farm pro- it was clear that these were relatively poor peri-urban duce andmanufacturedgoodsconstitutedakeylive- households whose livelihoods depended entirely on lihood activity in our peri-urban study communities. their land for their sustenance. Besides, they were In Appiadu, it was found that a thriving income- mostly migrants with small parcels of land. The loss generating activity among the low-income house- of their land therefore greatly aﬀected them. Their holds was ﬁrewood business, particularly among livelihood condition was exacerbated by their lack of women. social capital. This is how it was captured by one of Other activities associated with the rapid construc- such respondents: tion works in the form of residential and commercial Hmm! I migrated to this community some twenty years ago enterprises also employed both the young and old. and the chief and hiselders were gracious enough to accept These were masons, concrete mixers, painters, car- me and gave me a small parcel of land tolive and farm on. penters and other category of artisans and labourers I have been working on this land to sustain my family over the in construction and service provision. years. With the land taken and my inability to latch on any job There were however a few respondents who indi- becauseofmylackofskills, my situation has deteriorated and I have become a laughing stock in this community. Besides, cated their intentions to quit farming to concentrate I have no external support to fall on. (Maleparticipant, IDI, on petty trading. To this category of respondents, Adarko Jachie) farming was no longer economically rewarding to them as the system has become increasingly mone- While most respondents claimed that urban sprawl tised with rising cost of living. A respondent remarked has worsened their livelihood conditions in spite of in Breman in the following way: the strategies they adopted, some claimed it has 212 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. rather generated greater economic opportunities for city centre then becomes scarce and expensive rela- them. They cited access to urban markets for their tive to the demand for it. Such a rise in the land price produce, improved road and opportunities to engage according to Afrane and Amoako (2011) drives devel- in non-farm income activities. These respondents opers outward to city outskirts or urban peripheries, were asset-rich households, with the requisite where land prices are comparatively lower. This then human, natural, physical, ﬁnancial and social assets. explains why city outskirts and peri-urban areas have In the area of human capital, hitherto untapped liveli- become highly magnetic spots for developers and hood skills in, for instance, masonry, tailoring and art other investors. As a consequence, hitherto arable were exploited by some of the respondents to com- land and natural vegetation in the outskirt and peri- plement other livelihood portfolios. Those who had urban areas get rapidly converted to housing and access to other available family lands (natural asset) commercial development, dispossessing farmers of were able to continue with their farming operations, their lands in the process. This is the case for Kumasi either on intensive or extensive bases. More impor- as it expands horizontally and in terms of numbers. tant in the asset categories is the ﬁnancial support Besides, who develops what and where is left to from wealthy family members and social networks. individuals with minimal institutional regulation and Some respondents said that they were members of supervision. The institutions whose mandate it is to associations that championed their welfare and facili- ensure orderly spatial development of the city are tated in the sharing of ideas. This has played a key role either poorly coordinated because of their large num- in reducing the vulnerabilities of beneﬁciary house- bers or under-resourced (Addo-Fordwuor 2014; holds, who were able to engage in non-farm liveli- Amoako and Adom-Asamoah 2017). These, coupled hood activity like retail trade for a living. A respondent with interference from politicians and traditional presented her success story this way: rulers, negative public attitude and non-enforcement of laws (Adjei Mensah 2014; Amoako and Adom- The small compensation I received from those who acquired Asamoah 2017) have incapacitated the institutions the land I was farming on enabled me to start my provision to deliver an inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable store. With a monetised economy, patronage in my shop is very high to the extent that I have increased my stock. My city as enshrined in the United Nations Sustainable situation is far better than when I used to farm. Starting this Development Goal 11. provision store has been a blessing to me and my family. Studies have shown that securing building permits (Female participant, IDI, Appiadu) in Ghana is a cumbersome and bureaucratic process. There were however respondents who indicated Corrupt public oﬃcials allegedly make ﬁnancial solici- that they neither gained nor lost in economic terms, tations from applicants for works they are paid to do. given the livelihood strategies they employed in the This adds to the cost of getting such permits. The face of the horizontal expansion of Kumasi. In other undue delays coupled with escalated cost in obtain- words, their response to the sprawl of Kumasi did not ing a building permit create a scenario where devel- aﬀect their livelihood or economic conditions. opers build without permit (Botchway et al. 2014). More than 80% of the buildings springing up in the Greater Kumasi do not have the right building and 5. Discussion development permits (Botchway et al. 2014). There is also the issue of prioritisation by the city authorities as 5.1. Urban sprawl and land use-land cover regards the use of urban lands. Urban and peri-urban change dynamics in Greater Kumasi lands have come under intense use for the purposes The observation by respondents that urban settle- of residential infrastructure, industrial and commercial ments have expanded spatially is supported by earlier enterprises, which the city authorities consider as the studies (Cobbinah and Amoako 2012; Abass et al. most prudent use of urban land from the economic 2018a, 2018b, 2018c). A key factor is rapid population point of view. Such projects in the views of Abass et al. growth and horizontal expansion that remains largely (2018b) and Tan et al. (2009) are more economically uncontrolled (Afriyie et al. 2014). As urban centres rewarding and thus makes it diﬃcult for such spaces expand both in numbers and spatial terms, demand to be set aside for the purpose of farming. The con- for land for residential and other urban land-use forms version of agricultural land to non-agricultural uses inevitably rises (Abass et al. 2018a). Land within the has been seen as a dominant avenue for creating INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 213 space for urban infrastructure and industrial project, Abass et al. 2018a). The decline in crop output may a process that Tan et al. (2009) considered almost suggest that reduced arable land in urban and peri- unavoidable in the process of economic development urban areas is not proportionately compensated for and growth in population. by expanding arable land in the neighbouring rural One major challenge is the land ownership system communities. If this is the case, then it runs counter to in the Ashanti Region. A large proportion (over 80%) of the claim by Stow et al. (2016) that agricultural lands the land in the region falls within what is called stool expanded between 2000 and 2010 even in the face of land (Ubink and Quan 2008). In practice, these lands its replacement by urban built-up. are under the control of traditional leaders, a situation In the immediate to short term, there may be no that makes it very diﬃcult for such lands to be con- cause for alarm with the urban sprawl. This is because trolled by state institutions (Amoako and Adom- there still exists a large number of food-producing rural Asamoah 2017). Addo-Fordwuor (2014) reveals that communities in the Ashanti Region. Indeed, output of even urban spaces meant to be controlled and mana- major staples in the Ashanti Region has been increasing ged by state institutions are rather under the control of at a diminishing rate (Ministry of Food and Agriculture traditional and customary institutions. This provides (MoFA) 2016). In the long term, however, uncontrolled the leeway for traditional institutions to lease sections loss of arable land could have broader negative reper- of such spaces to private developers and demand cussions on food crop production in the region as well rezoning of such spaces for residential or commercial as farmers’ income when their capacity to produce and uses. While this is an obvious violation, it is not news to sell to meet their livelihood needs is undermined hear that many customary institutions and chiefs in the (Corubolo and Mattingly 1999; DPU (Development region see themselves as legitimate owners of such Planning Unit) 2001). The land loss could be devastat- lands since they fall within their areas of jurisdiction ing for those whose source of livelihood is solely agri- (Amoako and Adom-Asamoah 2017). It is this apparent culture, dismantling the occupation without the conﬂict between state institutions on one hand and capabilities to make a smooth transition to any new traditional leaders on the other that underlie the irre- livelihood trajectory. For those with a diversiﬁed gularities in the land use structure of Kumasi. It is the employment proﬁle including farming, the loss would lacunae created by this conﬂict that laid the fertile also be felt (Phuc 2019). In urban milieu, food produc- ground for the various land use abuses by nonchalant tion does not only serve as a strategy for meeting basic citizens, encroachers and developers (Amoako and caloric and nutrition needs of households but also Adom-Asamoah 2017; Abass et al. 2018b). If these a strategic source of cash income. In the view of conditions remain, the sprawl will continue. Nugent (2000), food crop producers in urban and peri- urban areas do so primarily for home consumption, to generate extra income as well as to face and withstand 5.2. Urban sprawl, food crop production and economic crisis and high commodity prices. Rapid con- livelihood threats version of these arable land, therefore, would deny The study shows that urban sprawl has led to the loss these farmers' access to land to meet their basic of arable lands with negative implications for farmers' needs. This may further worsen the economic condi- agricultural output and income. When urban areas tions of those who may have limited capacity to adapt expand spatially to absorb rural areas, it presents to the new urban reality. While farmers risk losing their both opportunities and challenges for the rural dwell- lands for urban infrastructure needs, urbanisation of ers now experiencing urban ways of life (Levi and rural areas also comes with the rising cost of living. Sperry 2007; Tran and Lim 2011). Urban sprawl poses However, loss of land does not necessarily make problems for food production globally and in particu- farmers worse oﬀ. It sometimes creates opportunities lar the less developed world through loss of produc- for people who were hitherto farmers. There is evi- tive arable land and decline in food production dence to show that loss of land does not necessarily (Lerner and Eakin 2011). The link between the hori- worsen the plight of peri-urban areas (Ravallion and zontal expansion of Kumasi, loss of arable land and van de Walle 2006, 2008; Tuyen 2014). The opening up decline in food crop production as reported by the of rural areas comes with an improvement in infra- respondents is consistent with earlier ﬁndings structure and widening of market for households (Cobbinah and Amoako 2012; Afriyie et al. 2014; (Tran and Lim 2011). 214 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. 5.3. Households’ livelihood responses to urban challenge of losing their land (their source of liveli- sprawl hood) to urban demands. When livelihoods come under threat from shocks and stressors, farmers would have to adopt diﬀerent 5.4. Urban sprawl, livelihood strategies and livelihood coping and adaptive strategies to survive outcomes (Elhadary et al. 2013). These strategies, as found in the current study, can be agricultural intensiﬁcation, The way the study participants responded to the diversiﬁcation, extensiﬁcation and adoption of multi- eﬀects of urban sprawl led to multiple outcomes. ple livelihood portfolios. Crop intensiﬁcation invol- While some respondents were not aﬀected, some ving early-maturing and high-yielding crops not only gained while others suﬀered losses in economic ensures food security at household level and supple- terms. This may not be surprising though. In the ments their income but also reduces households’ view of Levi and Sperry (2007), an expanding urban expenditure on food since in the view of area comes with both opportunities and threats for Satterthwaite et al. (2010), majority of urbanites are agriculture particularly at the peri-urban interface. But net food buyers who spend signiﬁcant proportions as they noted, these opportunities and threats are oftheir disposableincomeonfood. Intensivecultiva- very often not evenly spread either within space or tion of vegetables (market gardening) such as cab- among the people inhabiting the peri-urban interface, bage, lettuce, spring onion among others is creating both winners and losers. stimulated by widening the market for vegetables The gains or losses to the households, as the in the city. Intensiﬁcation as a livelihood strategy research revealed, depend on how they were able to has been reported in other related studies (Abass eﬀectively respond to the emerging urban ways of et al. 2013;Oduro et al. 2015). life. These responses in the form of livelihood strate- It is not in all cases that peri-urban farmers resort to gies were also shaped by a mix of livelihood capital agricultural intensiﬁcation as a livelihood strategy. possessed by the households. As Abass et al. (2013) Due to scarcity of arable land in the study commu- noted, how eﬀectively households respond to liveli- nities, respondents resorted to the use of usually hood challenges of urbanisation depends not only on unproductive and/or unused parcels of land for their the vulnerability context but also on the individual farming operations. Others still moved farther to the household’s command of livelihood assets and liveli- hinterlands where there is abundance of arable lands. hood strategies adopted. Ability to increase the area This was usually the case for those who wanted to under crop cultivation when arable land is under depend on farming as their livelihood strategy. This is threat of urban expansion, for instance, will depend consistent with the ﬁndings of Abass et al. (2013). on households’ access to alternative cultivable lands Faced with limited suitable arable land, individuals within or beyond the peri-urban interface. This access will seek non-farm jobs over agricultural activities may be inﬂuenced by a multiplicity of factors includ- (Atamanov and Berg 2011; Tran and Lim 2011). ing the level of income of households, social net- Tacoli (2004) sees this as strategic survival move by works, land ownership and tenurial arrangements. vulnerable groups who have been forced out of their Livelihood gains may also depend on the individual traditional occupations to reduce risks and satisfy background training, talents and skills, which oﬀer their needs. Since income diversiﬁcation is seen as households the requisite human capital to eke fundamental to household risk management (Eakin a living from varied livelihood portfolios. It was clear 2006), it justiﬁes the decision of some of our study that households with varied asset categories, and who participants to adopt multiple livelihood activities. applied the right strategies in the face of the sprawl A study in Nairobi, Kenya, for example, found that experienced more favourable outcomes. Critical to most peri-urban households who previously relied households’ eﬀective coping strategies are the on their farms for food and income resorted to non- human and Social assets possessed. Social capital, is farm occupations when opportunities in the agricul- noted, broadens the set of employment and entre- tural sector declined following population pressure preneurial options for individuals. Social capital cre- and their conversions (Thuo 2010). It is clear that ates mutual trust and reciprocity, enhances farmers will respond diﬀerently when faced with the information ﬂow, oﬀers avenue for collective decision- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBANSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT 215 making and improves the possibility of engaging in for city authorities to adopt and enforce smart growth partnership which positively contributes to non-farm policies. Smart growth policies promote compact livelihood diversiﬁcation (Smith et al. 2001; Asare urban development by ensuring that growth is con- 2018). While the current study shows that social capi- centrated in existing urban areas rather than spread- tal was key in eﬀective household response to the loss ing out. A vertical rather than horizontal of arable land by accessing alternative livelihood multiplication of individual housing units, one that options, some households had to ﬁght on their own ensures eﬃcient land use, becomes critical. This will since they had no support of any sort from anybody. also demand among other things institutional strengthening to ensure that these policies are enforced. The ultimate aim of all these interventions 6. Conclusion and policy recommendations is to protect and conserve prime agricultural land on The study provides valuable insight into urban sprawl which some urban and peri-urban households and agricultural livelihood response in peri-urban Ghana depend for their livelihood. The fact that land owner- using an adapted Sustainable Livelihood Framework. ship is largely in the hands of traditional leaders, who Greater Kumasi has seen a drastic increase in the built- will always respond to market forces of demand and up area over the years resulting in a reduction of arable supply, appears to make land use and land conversion land, a key agricultural livelihood asset of many house- control a daunting task. But eﬀective collaboration holds in peri-urban Kumasi. This has negatively aﬀected among key stakeholders including city authorities, crop output and income of most households. As the traditional authorities can yield positive results. livelihood asset base of most households got gradually A policy intervention that recognises urban agricul- eroded, a threat to the livelihood security and sustain- ture as part of urban greenery and an integral part of ability of households, they had to respond in diﬀerent the spatial structure of the city is recommended. ways. These responses came in the form of agricultural Urban and peri-urban farmers should be supported diversiﬁcation, agricultural intensiﬁcation, agricultural in the form of technical and input supplies through extensiﬁcation and adoption of multiple income portfo- the assemblies to make their agricultural intensiﬁca- lios including on-farm and oﬀ-farm economic activities. tion more eﬀective and sustainable. This comes with Depending on the alternative assets at the disposal of irrigation farming, right application of organic and households and eﬀectiveness of the strategies inorganic fertilizers and mixed farming. Besides, employed, livelihood consequences were mixed. While a policy initiative from the assemblies in collaboration some households with varied livelihood assets made with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) that gains because their livelihoods improved, asset-poor boosts the market for agricultural output and at the households experienced a deterioration in livelihood same time expands non-farm job market will be conditions resulting from their inability to cope eﬀec- a laudable one. tively with the sprawl that eats up their arable land. These gains manifested in the form of access to urban markets, improvement in roads and opportunities for Disclosure statement engagement in non-farm income activities. Household No potential conﬂict of interest was reported by the authors. losses, however, were expressed in the form of reduced agricultural output, reduced income, high cost of living and a general fall in living conditions. Lying in-between were households who neither gained nor experienced Notes on contributors a decline in their economic or livelihood status. Of the Kwadwo Afriyie is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of livelihood asset category, the human and social capital Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah were key determinants of the outcomes of households’ University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. livelihood strategies employed. But the general picture He holds Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Sociology from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology is that economic and livelihood conditions of most (KNUST) and a Master of Philosophy degrees in Geography and households in all the study communities have declined Resource Development from the University of Ghana, Legon. His due to the consequences of urban expansion. research interest includes: Sustainable livelihood, rural govern- The problem of sprawl-induced arable land deple- ance, issues of urbanisation and peri-urbanisation, extractive tion can be tackled by curbing the sprawl. A way out is activities, and land land use land cover dynamics. 216 K. AFRIYIE ET AL. Kabila Abass is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Afriyie K, Abass K, Adomako JAA. 2014. Urbanisation of the rural Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah landscape: assessing the eﬀects in the peri-urban Kumasi. University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. Int J Urban Sustainable Dev. 6(1):1–19. He holds Doctor of Philosophy in Geography and Rural Allen A. 2003. Environmental planning and management of the Development from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and peri-urban interface: perspectives on an emerging ﬁeld. Technology, Master of Philosophy and Bachelor of Arts degrees Environ Urban. 15(1):135–148. in Geography and Resource Development from University of Amoako C, Adom-Asamoah G 2017. From open spaces to Ghana, Legon. His research interest includes: urban land use adapted spaces – the politics of managing green areas in and environment, problems of urbanisation and peri-urbanisa- Kumasi, Ghana. In the proceedings of the 6th International tion, hazard studies, geography of health, environment, health Conference on Infrastructure Development in Africa, April 12; and development. Ghana: KNUST. [accessed 2017 Dec 15]. http://ir.knust.edu. gh/xmlui/handle/123456789/10855 Prince Osei-Wusu Adjei is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Asare KY 2018. Non-farm livelihood diversiﬁcation in selected Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University rural and peri-urban communities in Sunyani West District of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. He holds [MPhil thesis submitted to the Institute for Development Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Geography Studies], University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast. and Rural Development from KNUST. His research interest Atamanov A, Berg M. 2011. Microeconomic analysis of rural non- includes, poverty, rural development and local governance. farm activities in the Kyrgyz Republic: what determines parti- cipation and returns? Wageningen (The Netherlands): Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, University of Maastricht, Maastricht and Development Economics, ORCID Wageningen University; p. 8–13. 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International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development – Taylor & Francis

Published: May 3, 2020

Keywords: Urban sprawl; arable land; food crop; livelihood; Greater Kumasi; Ghana

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Urban sprawl and agricultural livelihood response in peri-urban Ghana

Urban sprawl and agricultural livelihood response in peri-urban Ghana

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Urban sprawl and agricultural livelihood response in peri-urban Ghana

Urban sprawl and agricultural livelihood response in peri-urban Ghana

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