Communication for development: The case of promoting organic farming in northern Ghana

Summary

This case study uses a participatory approach to evaluate challenges in communication for development in an agricultural market-based project located in Northern Ghana, “Organic Markets for Development,” The project engages rural communities around Ghana’s largest National Park Mole. The four research questions were 1) How do the communication methods used in the OM4D project influence the adoption process of organic farming among small-scale farmers? 2) What is the communication structure and flow of information within the OM4D project social network? 3) What are the challenges in communication that are hindering the adoption process? and 4) Which recommendations can be made to tackle the challenges faced, improve communication, and build organizational communication capacity based on the learnings of this research? The findings indicate that such interventions have high levels of conflict that are essential to moderate by using effective communication methods. The formal third-party organic certification system forces the OM4D project to use the top-down approach. Also, attitudes originating from a top-down approach were observed, where low adoption is accounted for on farmer characteristics rather than limiting socio-economic factors. Overall, the project succeeded in disseminating information and awareness-raising, but the communication methods were insufficient to facilitate the adoption process and establish a shared understanding and practical problem-solving. The recommendation is to include participatory methods in the project to promote effective community capacity building and engagement.