FLOOD DISASTERS AND LIVELIHOOD OUTCOMES AT TOLON/KUMBUNGU DISTRICT OF NORTHERN REGION, GHANA

Abstract

The study focused on how flood disasters affected livelihood systems in Tolon/Kumbungu District. The study was carried out in six sampled communities namely Tampia No. 1 and No.2, Nawuni, Adayili, Afayili, Kuli and Shegbini. It examined the nature of floods, damage caused and their effects on livelihoods, coping mechanisms of the affected people and the role of formal and informal institutions in mitigating the effects of floods, particularly its influence on the socio-demographic characteristics. Twenty-two disaster prone communities where purposively selected and the simple random technique was applied to select the six communities out of the twenty-two. The study also discovered that floods in the district were seasonal occurnng 111 August/September every year and mainly caused by the opening of the Bagre Dam 111 Burkina Faso. It was also realised that floods destroyed farmlands of the people in the study area every year leading to instances of total crop destruction and failure. Few respondents (21.7%) out of 120 indicated that floods caused erosion that resulted in the creation of galleys in the communities and on their farmlands or wash away soil nutrients which led to crop failure. It is recommended that the Disaster Response Committee should be equipped and resourced adequately to respond quickly to any disaster occurrence. It is further recommended that the committee should embark on mass sensitisation and advocacy programmes to create awareness in the vulnerable communities and advising people to live distant away from the river bangs. Importantly, the Government of Ghana 'should dialogue its Burkina Faso counterpart to ensure that people living around the Volta basin be warned ahead of time of spilling the Bagre dam in Burkina Faso. Finally, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture should be alive to her responsibility by pursuing aggressive agricultural extension services in flood ravaged Districts in particular and the entire region as a whole.