1 THE POLITICS OF RICE FARMING IN DAGBON. 1972-1979 Adrien Antoine Thesis presented for the degree of Ph.D. University of London School of Oriental and African Studies May 1985 ProQuest Number: 11010636 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11010636 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 1 2 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the agricultural policies of the Acheampong military regime towards rice farmers in Dagbon, a traditional area in the Northern Region of Ghana, and the relationship that developed between the farmers and the regime as a result. Commercial rice production expanded rapidly when the regime’s policy of self-sufficiency in food parcelled out the North as the main rice production zone. All farmers were expected to participate in the programme, but in consequence of the nature of the policies employed to encourage rice production it was the big and well-connected ones who gained at the expense of the smaller farmers. The relationship between these privileged rice farmers and the government was further enhanced by their membership of, or support for, the local ruling chieftaincy faction which was in turn supported by the regime. It was a reciprocal arrangement by which the regime in turn received the full support and co-operation of that faction, especially during the referendum on Union Government in 1978. However, it was the prominent rice farmers, working in collaboration with the ruling chiefs, and operating mainly through local institutions, who acted as local agents and ambassadors of the regime. Of course it was not all big rice farmers who supported the regime, but those who did not found it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain assistance from local farming agencies, and represented the main source of opposition to government policies. In return for their support for the regime the farmers were rewarded with import licences, huge bank loans, access to all available farming inputs, and even officials* co-operation in smuggling. On their part the farmers cultivated vast rice farms for commissioners and senior officials posted in the South. The fall of Acheampong in July 1978 rendered the position of his client farmers very vulnerable, but their initial fears were assuaged when the incoming regime failed to take effective action against those alleged to have ’abused* the system. When the ban on political parties was lifted in 1978 and elections v/ere scheduled 3 for later that year, the big rice farmers grouped themselves into well-defined alliances with parties which they considered would best represent their interest. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract 2 List of Maps and Tables 5 Abbreviations 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 16 Chapter 1 The Dagomba Political System and its Evolution 28 Chapter 2 An Outline of Economic Development Prior to the 60 Acheampong Period Section I: Colonial Strategies for the 60 Development of the North Section II: The Performance of the Economy 80 from the Late 1950s to the Acheampong Period Chapter 3 The SMC, Agricultural Development and Patronage 96 in Northern Ghana Chapter k The Political Economy of Small-Scale Rice Farming 136 Chapter 5 The Political Economy of Large-Scale Rice Farming 171 Chapter 6 Large-Scale Rice Farmers, Chieftaincy and the State 202 Chapter 7 The Politics of the RGA 238 Chapter 8 Small Rice Farmers* Organisational Responses 278 Including Co-ops and the SMU Chapter 9 Rice Farmers and Political Behaviour after 303 Acheampong Conclusion 337 Appendix 1 Northern Regional Agricultural Projects (1976-19^0) 357 Appendix 2 Upper Regional Agricultural Projects (1976-1980) 358 Appendix 3 Survey Questionnaire administered to Rice Farmers 359 in Northern Ghana Appendix k Questionnaire for Electoral Survey of Rice Farmers 363 in Northern Ghana (1979) Bibliography 365 5 LIST OF MAPS AND TABLES Page Maps — -- 1 Administrative Regions of Ghana 12 2 Upper and Northern Regions of Ghana showing Administrative 13 Centres, Principal Towns and Roads 3 Crop Production Zones in the Northern Region of Ghana 14 k Growth Centres in the Northern Region of Ghana 15 Tables 2.1 Shea Butter Southbound Trade, 1924-1930 61 2.2 Gold Coast: Expenditure on Agriculture 1931/32 - 1945/46 66 2.3 Gonja Development Plan Production Target 68 2.4 Adoption of Mixed Farms in Northern Territories, 194-9-1956 70 2.5 Summary of Statistics of Ghana's Balance of Payments, 88 1960-1971 (millions of cedis) 3.1 Ghana Imports of Rice: Quantity Value and Unit Value 102 3.2 Rice Production in Ghana, 1940-1968 103 3.3 Area under Rice Production: Northern and Upper Regions 104 (Acres) 1970 3.4- Estimated Fertilizer Requirements for Rice Farming in 107 Northern and Upper Regions (in tons) 4.1 Small-Scale Commercial Rice Farmers' Experience in - Commercial Rice Production Prior to 1978 4.2 Small-Scale Rice Farmers' Distribution of Farms (by ' 143 acreage) 4*3 Estimated Budget for a Ten-Acre Rice Farm, using Combined 145 Mechanical Equipment and Manual Labour (1978) / 4.4 Loan/Credit Distribution among Small-Scale Rice Farmers 152 during 1977/78 6 Page 4*5 Source of Mechanised Services by Small Rice Farmers 155 during 1977 4 .6 Fertilizer Use by Small-Scale Rice Farmers during 1977/78 159 4-7 Source of Recruitment of Casual Labour by Small-Scale Rice Farmers (1977) 4.8 Crop Yield for Small-Scale Rice Farmers (1977) 162 4 *9 Small Fanners1 Main Motives for Cultivating Rice I64 5.1 Occupation by Acreage of All Bank-Financed Rice Farmers, ^74 N/R, 1976 5.2 Estimated Budget for a 300-Acre Rice Farm Using Mechanical 177 Equipment (1977/78) 5.3 Purchase of Paddy by Government Rice Mills, Tamale, during 183 1970/71-1977/78 5.4 Large-Scale Rice Farmers (Northern Region) Distribution of i86 Combine Harvesters 6.1 Elected WDDC Councillors (1978) 230 7/1 Large-Scale Rice Farmers Membership of EGA (1978) 246 7.2 RGA Members1 Attitudes towards the Government, Unigov 248 and the Association 7.3 Political Attitudes of Non-Government Supporters based on 251 Chieftaincy Among RGA members 7*4 1978 Referendum Results - Northern Region 269 8.1 Big Rice Farmers* Expressed Attitudes towards Small Farmers 2qq in Terms of Selection of Crops 9.1 1979 Parliamentary General Election Results: Northern Region 319 9,.2 Comparison of Rice Farmers* and Electorate Party 322 Preferences during the 1979 Parliamentary Elections Comparison of First and Second Round Presidential Elections (Northern Region), 1979 Shift in Large/Small Rice Farmers* Support for Finalist Candidates in Second Round Presidential Elections, 1979* 8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACP Action Congress Party ADB Agricultural Development Bank ADM Administration AFRC Armed Forces Revolutionary Council CCNT Chief Commissioner for the Northern Territories CIDA Canadian International Development Agency CO Colonial Office CPP Convention People’s Party CSO Colonial Secretary’s Office DCE District Chief Executive DEMCO Development Mechanisation Company EDDC Eastern Dagomba District Council FASCOM Farmers’ Services Company GGADP Ghanaian German Agricultural Development Project GNRC Ghana National Reconstruction Corps IFCAT Institute for Field Communication and Agricultural Training NAG National Archives of Ghana NBB Never Bad Boys NIB National Investment Bank NLC National Liberation Council N0RR3P Northern Regional Integrated Project NPP Northern People’s Party NRC National Redemption Council NRDC Northern Regional Development Corporation NRHC Northern Regional House of Chiefs NYA Northern Youth Association OFY Operation Feed Yourself OFYOI Operation Feed Your Own Industries OPEC Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries PFP Popular Front Party PNDC Provisional National Defence Council PNP People’s National Party PP Progress Party PRO Public Record Office RGA Rice Growers’ Association SDF Social Democratic Front SMC Supreme Military Council SMU Special Marketing Unit TFP Third Force Party TNA National Archives, Tamale TREND Training in Extension for National Development UAC United Africa Company UNC United National Convention URADEP Upper Regional Agricultural Development Project WARDA West African Rice Development Association WDDC Western Dagomba District Council 10 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Field research for this dissertation was conducted during two field trips to Ghana in 1977/78 and in 1979* I a® greatly indebted to a number of individuals and institutions who assisted in the final outcome of this work, I was supported by the Social Science Research Council for a period of three years, including both fieldwork periods in Ghana, The School of Oriental and African Studies assisted with a grant for the typing and general preparation of this thesis, I would like to thank a great number of people for the different ways in which they helped, but I can only mention a few of them here. Among those I wish to mention especially for their co-operation are the staff of the Tamale Archives, the Ministry of Agriculture in Tamale, the Ghanaian German Agricultural Development Project, and the Ministry of Economic Planning, Tamale, I would also like to acknowledge the co-operation and hospitality of several chiefs, especially Wulshie Na, Nyankpalana, and former Ya Na Mahamadu Abudulai IV, as well as two prominent rice farmers, Alhaji Sumani Zakaria and Abu Alidu, I learnt a great deal about the internal politics of the Rice Growers* Association in the course of my several discussions with these farmers.