Discovering The Land of Gold – Ghana

A report by Krishan Foundation Pty Ltd
Taspia Islam

LOCATION

Ghana, a country in western Africa, is situated on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. Situated on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in western Africa, Ghana is bordered to the northwest and north by Burkina Faso, to the east by Togo, to the south by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west by Côte d’Ivoire.

HISTORY

Although relatively small in area and population, Ghana is one of the leading countries of Africa, partly because of its considerable natural wealth and partly because it was the first black African country south of the Sahara to achieve independence from colonial rule. In addition to being known for its lush forests, diverse animal life, and miles of sandy beaches along a picturesque coast, Ghana is also celebrated for its rich history. Its habitation possibly dates from 10,000 BCE and as a fascinating repository of cultural heritage. The country takes it name from the great medieval trading empire that was located northwest of the modern-day state until its demise in the 13th century. Direct sea trade with Europe, established in the 15th century, had much impact on the area’s inhabitants, many of whom actively traded with the Portuguese, Dutch, British, and other Europeans. Forts and castles, many of which still dot the Ghanaian coast today, were constructed by Europeans to protect their trade interests. Although trading was originally centered on the gold that was readily available in the area (and from which the future British colony the Gold Coast would take its name), the focus shifted to the lucrative slave trade in the 17th century. The area later became known for growing cacao, the source of cocoa beans. Introduced there in the late 19th century, cacao continues to provide an important export for Ghana.

INDEPENDENCE

Modern-day Ghana, which gained its independence on March 6, 1957, consists primarily of the former Gold Coast. The colony’s drive for independence was led by nationalist and Pan-African leader Kwame Nkrumah, who viewed Ghana’s sovereignty as being important not only for the Ghanaian people but for all of Africa, saying “Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.” Indeed, more than 30 other African countries, spurred by Ghana’s example, followed suit and declared their own independence within the next decade.

Nkrumah quickly laid the groundwork for fiscal independence within the new country as well, embarking on many economic development projects. Unfortunately, decades of corruption, mismanagement, and military rule stymied growth and achievement. By the 1990s, though, the country’s state of affairs began showing signs of improvement, and Ghana is now held up as an example of successful economic recovery and political reform in Africa.

CAPITAL CITY

Ghana’s administrative capital is the coastal city of Accra. Originally founded on the site of several Ga settlements, Accra developed into a prosperous trading hub; today it serves as the commercial and educational center of the county. Kumasi, another prominent commercial center, is located in the south-central part of the country. Known as the “Garden City of West Africa,” Kumasi is also the seat of the king of the Asante people, the vestige of an empire (see Asante empire) that existed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture accounts for about 28% of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product and employs more than half of the workforce, mainly small landholders. About 7.85 Mha is under cultivation. Out of this only 0.2% is under irrigation. Cocoa, oil palm, rubber, and citrus constitute the major cash crops. The major starchy staples include maize, cassava, plantain, yam, cocoyam, rice, sorghum, and millet and occupy a total land area of 3.40Mha, representing about 43% of total cultivated land.

Agriculture in Ghana is predominantly on a smallholder basis with about 90% of the farmers cultivating less than one hectare. It is characterized by traditional methods of farming using hoe and cutlass. There is little mechanization, except in the forest/savannah transitional and the Guinea Savannah zones, where mechanization involving the use of tractors for land preparation is practiced. Bullock land preparation is also practiced in the Sudan savannah zone.

Cereal crops (mainly maize, sorghum, and millet) are produced in annual single-crop systems in the lower rainfall areas in the three northern regions. Maize is produced in annual single-crop systems in the higher rainfall area in the southern forest zone and in annual double-crop systems in the forest/savannah transitional zone. Typical double-crop systems in this zone include maize-maize, maize-cowpea, and groundnut-maize. In the three northern regions, sorghum and millet are often intercropped with cowpea and/or maize and in the southern forest, zone maize is often intercropped with one or more other crops such as cassava, cocoyam, and plantain.

RELIEF AND DRAINAGE

Relief throughout Ghana is generally low, with elevations not exceeding 3,000 feet (900 meters). The southwestern, northwestern, and extreme northern parts of the country consist of a dissected peneplain (a land surface worn down by erosion to a nearly flat plain, later uplifted and again cut by erosion into hills and valleys or into flat uplands separated by valleys); it is made of Precambrian rocks (about 540 million to 4 billion years old). Most of the remainder of the country consists of Paleozoic deposits (about 250 to 540 million years old), which are thought to rest on older rocks. The Paleozoic sediments are composed mostly of beds of shales (laminated sediments consisting mostly of particles of clay) and sandstones in which strata of limestone occur in places. They occupy a large area called the Voltaian Basin in the north-central part of the country where the elevation rarely exceeds 500 feet (150 meters). The basin is dominated by Lake Volta, an artificial lake that extends far into the central part of the country behind the Akosombo Dam and covers about 3,275 square miles (8,500 square km). Along the north and south, and to some extent along the west, the uplifted edges of the basin give rise to narrow plateaus between 1,000 and 2,000 feet (300 and 600 meters) high, bordered by impressive scarps. The most outstanding are the Kwahu (Mampong) Scarp (see Kwahu Plateau) in the south and the Gambaga Scarp in the north.

Surrounding the basin on all of its sides, except in the east, is the dissected Precambrian peneplain, which rises to elevations of 500 to 1,000 feet above sea level and contains several distinct ranges as high as 2,000 feet.

Along the eastern edge of the Voltaian Basin, and extending from the Togo border to the sea immediately west of Accra, is a narrow zone of folded Precambrian rocks running northeast to southwest, forming the Akwapim-Togo Ranges, which vary in elevation from 1,000 to 3,000 feet (300 to 900 meters). The highest points in Ghana are found there, including Mount Afadjato (2,903 feet [885 meters]), Mount Djebobo (2,874 feet [876 meters]), and Mount Torogbani (2,861 feet [872 meters]), all situated east of the Volta River near the Togo border. These ranges are part of the Togo-Atakora Mountains, which extend northward into Togo and Benin.

The southeastern corner of the country, between the Akwapim-Togo Ranges and the sea, consists of the gently rolling Accra Plains, which are underlain by some of the oldest Precambrian rocks known—mostly gneisses (coarse-grained rocks in which bands containing granular minerals alternate with bands containing micaceous minerals); in places, they rise above the surface to form inselbergs (prominent steep-sided hills left after erosion). The only extensive areas of young rocks less than about 136 million years old are in the wide, lagoon-fringed delta of the Volta, about 50 miles (80 km) east of Accra, and in the extreme southwest of the country, along the Axim coast.

In the east, the predominant rocks are less than 65 million years old, though there is a patch of Cretaceous sediments (about 65 to 145 million years old) near the Ghana-Togo border. To the west of Axim, near the Côte d’Ivoire frontier, the rocks date to the Cretaceous Period. The intervening coastal zone between the eastern and western extremes contains patches of Devonian sediments (about 360 to 415 million years old). With the older and more resistant rocks of the Precambrian peneplain, these form a low, picturesque coastline of sandy bays and rocky promontories.

The drainage system is dominated by the Volta River basin, which includes Lake Volta and the Black Volta, White Volta, and Oti rivers. Most of the other rivers, such as the Pra, the Ankobra, the Tano, and a number of smaller ones, flow directly south into the ocean from the watershed formed by the Kwahu Plateau, which separates them from the Volta drainage system. South of Kumasi, in the south-central part of the country, is Ghana’s only true natural lake—Bosumtwi—lying in a meteorite impact crater and without any outlet to the sea. Along the coast are numerous lagoons, most of them formed at the mouths of small streams.

Over much of the surface of Ghana, the rocks are weathered, and great spreads of laterite (red, leached, iron-bearing soil) and lesser spreads of bauxite and manganese are found on the flat tops of hills and mountains. Although the movements of Earth’s crust that produced the basic geologic structure of the country have now virtually ceased, periodic earthquakes occur, especially near Accra along the eastern foot of the Akwapim-Togo Ranges, where there is a major fault line.

SOIL

Throughout the country, weathering, leaching, and the formation of laterite hardpans (hard, impervious layers composed chiefly of iron and aluminum oxides cemented by relatively insoluble materials) by capillary movement (the movement of water containing mineral salts to the surface) and evaporation are common processes that vary in importance according to the characteristics of each locality. Leaching is more pronounced in the wet south, while the formation of laterite is more widespread in the drier north. In general, most soils are formed in place from parent rock material that has been subjected to prolonged erosion and consequently has limited fertility.

In the forest zone the soils are mostly lateritic. They are subdivided into relatively fertile and less-acidic ochrosols (red, brown, and yellow-brown, relatively well-drained soils) in areas of moderate precipitation and into more-acidic and less-fertile oxisols in the extreme southwest, where annual precipitation exceeds 65 inches (1,650 mm). Ochrosols occur over considerable areas in the coastal and northern savanna zones. As in the forest zone, they are the best soils for agriculture.

The coastal savanna zone has an abundance of soil types, including tropical black earth, tropical gray earth, acid vleisols, and sodium vleisols. Except for the tropical black earth, known locally as Akuse clays, most of these soils are of little importance agriculturally. The Akuse clays fill a broad zone across the coastal savanna plains; although heavy and intractable, they respond well to cropping under irrigation and mechanical cultivation.

Because of their intrinsic poverty in nutrients, most of the soils are heavily dependent upon the humus supplied by the vegetation cover. There is thus a delicate balance between vegetation and soil fertility, which may be upset by uncontrolled burning or overuse.

CLIMATE

Ghana’s climate, like that of the rest of the Guinea Coast, is determined largely by the interplay of two air masses: a hot, dry continental air mass that forms over the Sahara and a warm, humid maritime tropical air mass that forms over the South Atlantic. Both air masses move toward the Equator with their hemispheric winds and meet at the Guinea Coast for several months each year. Continental air moves southward with the northeast trade winds, known in western Africa as the harmattan, and maritime tropical air moves northward with the southwest trades. The zone where these air masses converge is characterized by seasonal line squall precipitation. The convergence zone itself oscillates north and south, following the seasonal movements of the overhead sun and the thermal equator; it reaches its most northerly position in the central Sahara, about latitude 21° N, in August, and its most southerly position about 7° N, a few miles north of the Ghana coastline, in January. Rains occur when the dominant air mass is maritime tropical, and drought prevails when continental air and the harmattan dominate.

In the savanna country north of the Kwahu Plateau, there are two seasons—a dry season from November to March, with hot days and cool nights under clear skies, and a wet season that reaches its peak in August and September. The mean annual precipitation is between 40 and 55 inches (1,020 and 1,400 mm), but there is a marked moisture deficit because of the long, intensely dry season that follows. In the southern forest country, where the annual mean precipitation from north to south has a range of about 50 to 86 inches (1,270 to 2,180 mm), there are two rainy seasons—one from April to July and a lesser one from September to November—and two relatively dry periods that occur during the harmattan season, from December to February, and in August, which is a cool, misty month along the coast. In the Accra Plains, anomalously low annual mean precipitation figures vary from 40 inches (1,000 mm) to less than 30 inches (760 mm), and the precipitation variability and vegetation bear close resemblance to conditions in the northern savanna zone.

Temperatures show much more regional uniformity. The annual mean temperature is from 78 to 84 °F (26 to 29 °C) and the daily range is only some 10 to 15 °F (6 to 8 °C) along the coast and some 13 to 30 °F (7 to 17 °C) in the north. Average relative humidities range from nearly 100 percent in the south to 65 percent in the north, although, during the harmattan season, figures as low as 12 percent have been recorded in the north and around Accra. Enervating conditions produced locally by the combination of high temperatures and high humidities are moderated by altitude in the higher parts and by land and sea breezes along the coast. In general, the hottest months are February and March, just before the rains, and the lowest temperatures occur in January or—along the coast—in August.

PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE

Although soils and biotic factors (i.e., those pertaining to living organisms, including humans) are important, vegetation is primarily determined by precipitation. There are three principal types of vegetation from south to north occurring in the coastal savanna, in the forest zone, and in the northern savanna zone.

The coastal savanna in the southeastern plains around Accra consists of a mixture of scrub and tall grass (mostly Guinea grass), with giant anthills, often 10 to 14 feet (3 to 4 meters) high, providing an anchorage for thicket clumps that often include Elaeophorbia (a fleshy-leaved plant containing caustic latex) and another drought- and fire-resistant species such as the baobab (Adansonia digitata).

In the forest zone (the southern third of the country and the area along the Akwapim-Togo Ranges, where the mean annual precipitation exceeds 45 inches [1,140 mm] and is well distributed throughout the year without a pronounced dry season), the predominant vegetation is evergreen and tropical semi-deciduous forest. There are tall trees of varying heights, forming a closed canopy at the top, above which tower a few forest giants, such as the silk cotton tree, the Wawa tree (African whitewood, a hardwood), and the African mahogany. The evergreen forest is in the extreme southwest, where the precipitation exceeds 65 inches (1,650 mm) a year, while there is a semi-deciduous forest farther north.

The dense forest zone formerly covered an area of about 30,000 square miles (78,000 square km), but farming activities and timber exploitation have reduced it to less than 8,000 square miles (21,000 square km), including about 6,000 square miles (15,500 square km) of reserved forest. To ensure the sustainable use of the country’s rapidly diminishing forest resources, the government has embarked on a forestry policy involving the compulsory reforestation of cutover areas and more-accurate measurements of exploitable timber and rates of extraction and regeneration, as well as a ban on the export of round logs.

The third vegetation type, the northern savanna, is found in the northern two-thirds of the country, where the low annual precipitation, between 30 and 45 inches (760 and 1,140 mm), occurs in a single season and is followed by a period of intense drought. There the vegetation consists mostly of tall Guinea grass, together with a scattering of low trees, such as the shea butter tree, various species of acacia, and baobabs. Along the northern border the savanna gives way to a more open type of grassland that has developed largely as a result of prolonged human interference.

Ghana is relatively rich in animal life, although it has been reduced by hunting and the spread of human settlement. Large mammals include lions, leopards, hyenas, antelope, elephants, buffalo, wild hogs, chimpanzees, and many kinds of monkeys. Among the snakes are pythons, cobras, horned and puff adders, and green mambas. Crocodiles, endangered manatees, and otters are found in the rivers and lagoons. Hippopotamuses are found in the Volta River. There are many species of lizards, tortoises, and giant snails. Among the numerous birds are parrots, hornbills, kingfishers, eagles, kites, herons, cuckoos, nightjars, sunbirds, egrets, vultures, snakebirds, and plantain eaters.

The ocean, rivers, and inland lakes are rich in fish and other forms of life. Sardines, locally called herring, arrive seasonally in the coastal waters in large shoals; other fish include anchovy, tuna, mackerel, soles, skates, mullet, bonitos, flying fish, lungfish, elephant fish, sea bream, and sharks. Edible turtles, barracuda, and stingrays are fairly common; mussels, crabs, lobsters, and prawns also are found.

Insect life is particularly abundant. There are beetles, fireflies, ants, termites, butterflies, crickets, and bugs. Among the most dangerous insects are mosquitoes, tsetse flies, and blackflies (Simuliidae), which are responsible for transmitting the endemic diseases of malaria and yellow fever, trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), and onchocerciasis (river blindness, a parasitic disease), respectively.

The Mole National Park near Damongo is about 1,900 square miles (4,900 square km) in extent and has an abundant game population including elephants, monkeys, and crocodiles. Kakum National Park, which is located about 14 miles (22 km) north of Cape Coast and opened to the public in 1994, had originally been established as a timber reserve in 1932. It comprises about 140 square miles (360 square km) of rainforest and contains many endangered mammals, reptiles, birds, and butterflies, as well as a large variety of tropical trees and plants. Other reserves have been developed farther south, notably on the western side of Lake Volta.

ETHNIC AND LINGUISTIC GROUPS

Ethnically, the people of Ghana may be said to belong to one broad group within the African family, but there is a large variety of subgroups. On the basis of language, it is possible to distinguish at least 75 of these. Many of these are very small, and only 10 of them are numerically significant. The largest of these groups are the Akan (which includes the Anyi, Asante [Ashanti], Baule, Fante, and Guang), Mole-Dagbani (see Dagomba), Ewe, Ga-Adangme (see Ga and Adangme), and Gurma. Despite the variety, there were no serious ethnic dissensions when Ghana became independent. Ethnic consciousness persists in many areas, however, and at times tensions have erupted—especially in northern Ghana—into violent clashes with many fatalities. At all levels in government and in public life, an effort has been made to play down ethnic differences, a policy that has been helped by the adoption of English as the official language.

Practically all the present peoples are believed to have moved into the country within the last 700 to 1,000 years in a series of migrations from the north, with the Ewe and Ga-Adangme, who occupy the southeastern corner of the country, entering from the east and southeast.

RELIGION

More than one-half of the population is Christian, about one-fifth is Muslim, and a small segment adheres to the traditional indigenous religions. Indigenous religions, while widespread and deep-rooted, lack a systematic body of doctrines. Though they are based, in general, on belief in the existence of a supreme being, a number of lesser deities associated with various natural phenomena are recognized. Considerable prominence is given to dead ancestors, who are considered to be ever-present, capable of influencing the course of events for the living, and capable of serving as intermediaries between the living and the gods.

In the first half of the 20th century, Christianity steadily gained ground at the expense of the indigenous religions, but the trend slowed following independence. Beginning in the late 20th century, the number of adherents of Islam began to increase. Christian influence is most dominant in the southern part of the country, while Islam is strongest in the extreme north and in the larger urban centres, which contain some immigrant populations from Muslim regions of western Africa. Many spiritualist and syncretistic churches claiming some adherence to Christianity combined with traditional African beliefs in magic and divination have appeared and grown in popularity since the 1950s. Other divisions of the Christian church are the Protestant and Roman Catholic denominations.

Settlement patterns

Ghana has three major geographic regions—coastal, forest, and northern savanna—the boundaries of which are not always clearly defined.

By far the smallest of the regions, the coastal zone is traditionally a region of fishermen and small-scale farmers. This region was formerly occupied by a series of small kingdoms, the inhabitants of which were the first people from what would become Ghana to be exposed to European contact—from the 15th century onward, perhaps even earlier. From east to west the principal ethnic groups are the Ewe, Adangme (Adangbe), Ga, Efutu, Fante, Ahanta, and Nzima. The seaboard has made the region an important hub of commerce, resulting in the growth of such urban centers as Accra, Cape Coast, and Sekondi-Takoradi. The coastal zone has more urban centers than any other region in Ghana.

Farther inland, occupying about one-third of the country, is the forest region with its relatively large and prosperous traditional states and rich agricultural lands. West of the Volta these states consist mostly of Akan peoples; to the east, the Ewe predominate. The forest environment and the economic activities and modes of life engendered by it, especially since the introduction of the farming of cacao (source of cocoa beans) in 1879, have served to give the region a common stamp. Apart from the Ewe, the major ethnic groups are the Akwapim and Kwahu in the east, the Akim in the south, the Asante and Brong in the center and north, and the Warsaw and Sefwi in the west. While all the peoples in the region have a relatively long history of settlement and political activity, those with the most impressive record are the Asante, who from the 17th to the late 19th century built a political empire centered on Kumasi that included a large number of subject and satellite states spread throughout the forest region and in both the coastal and northern savanna zones.

Almost all the timber, cacao, and exploited mineral wealth, as well as a number of minor cash crops grown for export and a large part of the foodstuffs consumed in Ghana, come from the forest region. Population density is relatively high, especially in the cacao-growing areas. Except for Kumasi, there are few really large urban centers, although other administrative centers—Ho, Koforidua, and Sunyani—form significant population concentrations.

The northern savanna covers some two-thirds of the country but is economically the least developed of the three regions. There, the largest ethnic groups are the Dagomba and the Guang (Gonja), related to the Mossi people of Burkina Faso. The region has a harsh environment because of its low precipitation. The southern area, which immediately adjoins the forest zone, forms part of the disease-ridden “middle belt” of western Africa that combines the worst features of both the forest and the savanna environments; it is especially unattractive for settlement. In the past, it was subject to extensive slave raiding from both the north and south. Distance from the sea and consequent insulation from active European contact over a long period retarded the development of this region.

Among the advantages of the northern savanna region—especially in the most northerly part, which is relatively free from the tsetse fly so deadly to cattle—is extensive savanna vegetation that is well suited to livestock breeding. Its relatively light soils and the precipitation regime favor the cultivation of yams and cereals. Although agriculture is mostly of the traditional subsistence type, the introduction of irrigation in the 1960s and mechanized cultivation in the 1980s opened up new prospects. Lake Volta, which extends far into the heart of the region, offers comparatively cheap access to the south and serves as a reservoir of water for agricultural and other uses, though periods of drought can affect its utility.

In the late 1980s only about one-third of Ghana’s population was estimated to be urban, but a steady increase in migration from rural areas into urban centers—some of which expanded at about double the national population growth rate—resulted in almost one-half of Ghana’s population residing in urban centers at the beginning of the 21st century. In the 2010s the proportion was slightly more than one-half. Most of the urban centers, despite their rapid expansion in size and population, remain small by world standards. The Accra-Tema agglomeration, with a population of more than one million, is the largest in the country, followed by Kumasi and Tamale.

MoU with Krishan Foundation

24TH NOVEMBER 2022.
To whom it may concern
COLLABORATION ON RICE SEED PROPAGATION AND MULTIPLICATION
This is to certify that HGL Limited, duly represented by Mr. Cyril Klutsey the
General Manager has agreed to partner with Abed CHAUDHURY, the founder of Krishan
Foundation Pty Limited in rice seed development and propagation in Adaklu in the
Volta Region of Ghana.
HGL Ltd is an indigenous Ghanaian social business. The company is driven by the
social impact of drawing more citizens into the production function of the country
by stimulating employment for less skilled persons in a sustainable manner. Such
sustainability is achieved by the ability to operate profitably with returns reinvested
towards yielding more social impact. The company achieves its objectives through the
development of agricultural, and agro-processing in Ghana and West Africa.
HGL has received foundation seeds from Abed CHAUDHURY for propagation and
distribution across West Africa of which Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast are our
immediate places of impact.
Kindly contact HGL on +233501680477 or visit our website www.hglghana.com for
further information.
Yours faithfully,
CYRIL KLUTSEY,
GENERAL MANAGER