Publication Briefing Series

Making Sustainable Intensification Work in Northern Ghana

Targeting Practices to Local Agroecological and Socioeconomic Conditions

Smallholder farming systems in West Africa face the challenge of increasing agricultural production and sustaining rural livelihoods while addressing land degradation and growing climate-related risks. The diversity of these systems means that sustainable intensification must contend with differences in agroecological conditions, farm resources, production systems, and farmers’ capacity to invest and manage risk. Even where promising practices exist, their wider uptake can be constrained by financial limitations, production risks, and other socioeconomic and institutional conditions.

Contributors: Kwame Oppong Hackman , Charles Lamoussa Sanou , Madina Diancoumba , Heidi Webber , Johannes Schuler , Hycenth Tim Ndah , Dilys MacCarthy , Bright Salah Freduah , Thomas Gaiser , Thuy Huu Nguyen , Frank Thonfeld , Jonas Meier
Published: 26th October 2026

Available in en

Download full brief here

Key Messages

  • Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) can simultaneously improve maize productivity, profitability, and environmental outcomes in northern Ghana, but its benefits depend on local agroecological conditions and farmers’ access to labor and inputs, requiring context-specific targeting rather than uniform promotion.
  • How land is managed matters as much as which practice is adopted, with insect diversity declining heavily under conventional intensification due to post-harvest residue burning, while being conserved under ISFM.
  • Earth Observation, field measurement, and modelling used together can help determine where ISFM is likely to work, giving a practical basis for targeting. Farmers’ uptake of sustainable intensification depends on both technical performance and socioeconomic conditions.