Perceived changes in economic capital Bongo

According to the women in Bongo, job availability has slightly enhanced during the recent decades (more work for NGOs and thanks to the development of a local handicraft industry).

An increasing number of women opens bank accounts and women are more independent now compared to twenty years ago. School drop out girls are now all in ‘business’, and even their few years in school help to make them better ‘business women’ and to be more independent.

Women at the focus group meetings in Anafobisi told that in the past three traditions existed by which people who were in need could get credit: a) one male goat loaned out to be paid for later with one female goat; b) one calabash or basket full of groundnut or maize loaned out was paid for with two calabashes or baskets of the produce collected; c) a young bull loaned out was paid for with a cow later. The periods of the loans were not stated explicitly but generally paying back was expected within a year. People who travelled south came back to teach the communities the collection of interests on cash money credits. And nowadays women do get cash credits from various NGOs. It is interesting to note that the men say that there are currently no credit groups for men in Anafobisi, although there used to be one recently. Part of the credit was used to support fishing, which proved to be a rewarding activity and money that was saved was put on a bank account, but it was stolen. There were also problems within the credit group about people who died and whose relatives had to accept to pay back the arrears.

The women of Balungu gave evidence of strongly increased income-generating activities: weaving of hats and baskets, producing ropes, sheabutter extraction, malt making (as a preparatory step for pito brewing), dawadawa processing (a food-flavourer), parboiling of rice, pito brewing, kenkey processing, trading, and pot making. In the olden days women only used to weave big baskets, make pots, produce sheabutter and dawadawa and brew pito for special occasions. Life has become much more busy for them, they say: not only income-generating activities have become far more important, also farm work has become more intensive. In the past many women were not used to work on the land, and this started to change during the 1980s.

The women in Balungu used to help each other with the building and plastering of houses. They helped with carrying water necessary for the production of mud bricks or cooked food for the builders. Whatever someone could afford to miss would be paid to the one who assisted him or her. By that time, the people didn’t really form a group and were helped by their friends and relatives. When someone would borrow a male-goat, he would have to return a female-goat and the same counts for other livestock. This traditional form of credit and interest is still being practised today. However, many women now also make use of modern credit-systems.

Bongo men say that they can better meet basic needs nowadays compared to the period of the early 1980s and before. According to them there is an improved standard of living. There are more established businesses, there is more business knowledge, and people are generally more healthy, and more productive. In many villages there are now ‘visibly rich people’. Larger inequality in the villages does result in problems though. The Bongo men were worried that “the rich become power drunk” and there is increased trouble making and increased litigation. Growing wealth also resulted in increased polygamy among the ‘new rich’ (while the overall trend in polygamy has been downward), which increased envy and jealousy in the community.

In Anafobisi, like the women, the men also became far more involved in commercial non-farm activities, like rope making, contract labour (especially in construction), hat making, fishing, carpentry, and producing tree seedlings. Two occupation groups were formed: one for tree seedling production and the other for fishermen.

The men from Balungu are involved in a number of non-agricultural cash-generating activities as well: hat weaving; smock sowing; tailoring; blacksmithing. Their agricultural work has also become more commercially oriented: livestock selling became important (especially small stock, poultry and pigs) as well as - for some -dry season farming (tomatoes). They do not have enough water for dry season onion cultivation, although they know that in the Bawku area it has become a very lucrative activity.

Men from Balungu can get credit from various sources, nowadays. They do have problems with the terms of credit, though. Problems with credit are: high interest rate (interest rates range between twenty and fifty percent), late disbursement of loans, unfavourable repayment terms, and they are made to repay back credit immediately after harvest by which time crop prices are too low. Because of these problems the large majority of the farmers do not make use of these credit schemes. There are also informal credit systems, both in cash and in kind. In case a relative is the source of the informal credit there is no interest but for a non-relative there is an (annual) interest

of fifty percent. Livestock is also given as credit. A male animal is often given as credit and paid back with a female animal.

The men from Balungu told us that they see increased “signs of economic wealth” in the village. They were asked what these signs are, according to them. On an individual basis “wealth’ can be measured as follows, they say: -having enough to eat

-have more livestock

-if people come to borrow from you -having a zinc roof

-having a donkey cart -having a bullock plough -having a bicycle

-having more than one wife

-using bitumen to plaster the house (normally, a mixture of cow dung and soil is used to plaster houses), and -owning a water pumping machine

Over the years more people started owning these assets. Almost everybody should be able to roof his/her house now. People agree that over the years their wealth has been increasing. We asked how that is possible, while at the same time they say that their crop yields have been decreasing. The participants said that in the olden days people kept wealth in the form of livestock without selling them. That was a sign of wealth. These days they invest in bullock ploughs, bicycles etc. Even though you may not have a lot of money, you must force yourself to get these items. In the olden days they also believed that the ancestors did not want them to sleep in zinc-roofed houses but now they think zinc is best for them, because it secures their property from fire. The participants also agreed that migrant income has become quite important. The youth especially go down to the south (Kintampo, Kumasi and Accra) soon after harvest time. They are usually involved in selling meat, weeding and pounding fufu among other activities. Some go to the Northern Region to do harvesting because the harvesting there is done later than theirs. Generally the rate of migration is higher now than in the past.

According to the men from Balungu, the growing commercialisation of the local economy is evident and can be seen by the strong increase of activities at local markets if we compare today with twenty years ago. Their own people as well as Burkinabés patronise the local market. They sell livestock, craft ware and foodstuff. People from Burkina Faso come with cash and not foodstuff. Whereas the people from Balungu prefer to sell foodstuff to their own people, they would not mind selling craft ware to the Burkinabés. They do not want to sell foodstuff to the Burkinabés because “that creates inflation for ourselves”. Patronage in the main market is reducing now because new markets are springing up. Whereas the old folks used to go to the market in the morning, younger people want to go in the evening “because they want to socialise”. Having the market in the evening implies lower patronage. Initially, livestock was frequently sold in the main market. Now it is no longer sold there, but at more scattered markets.

Garu

Access to credit has improved a lot for women. As a result, there is higher engagement in income generation activities. Many women are now saving money in banks. An important economic change is that women can now own livestock and women now have better access to land, they can own farms, they can cultivate more crops than in the past and they can

independently decide on sale of crops. However, there are sometimes cases in which women are deceived by men: men borrow money and refuse to pay back, leading to bankruptcy and hardship among the business women.

Kugsabilla women said that crop marketing has strongly increased. In the past there was only a small local market. Now they can sell at local and external markets, and traders from the south of Ghana come all the way to buy from their village. They also sell to Garu, Bawku, and Widana markets. Recently middlemen came to buy their soy beans.

The women also said that in the past there was hardly any cash income generation for

women and there were no credit facilities. Now women save in the bank and obtain credit. They also give communal financial assistance to each other. The introduction of new technology has resulted in a change in gender roles and the demand for cash has increased due to increase in social services and payment for them. They

now have group activities and individual activities and are no longer economically dependent on their husbands. They put the group incomes into banks for credit or use it to pay their loans. Individual women now pay school fees and medical expenses. Among pito brewers an informal credit system (susu) has developed. Two groups have collected 4 million cedis and 2 million respectively. Loans are divided into two parts: one part for group activity and the other part is divided among the individual group members. The credit portfolio is limited, though, by their savings in the bank, type of venture, and ability to pay back.

Tambalug women were far less outspoken about economic change in their village, compared to women in Kugsabilla. For credit they rely on the local bank, on individuals and on their husbands. Loans are generally very small and the size of loans ranges between 20,000 and 80,000 cedis.

The men from Garu who were present during the inception workshop told us that compared to the 1970s there is more money, living standards have improved, there is a higher number of income-generating activities, also for men (e.g. charcoal business) and there is better access to credit and an increase in the forms of credit. The men were worried, though, about the

inflation and its impact on their savings.

In Kugsabilla the men reported very positively about the increase in credit possibilities and savings groups. It is, however, easier for groups to secure credit than it is for individuals. Even though interest on credit is regarded as too high it helps farmers to purchase inputs for farming. The maize produced using the credit is stored for consumption. Farmers resort to dry season gardening (onion production) to pay back the loan. Interest rates are regarded as too high, though. However, with high annual inflation the real interest rates are much lower. The dry season gardening is seen as more beneficial than the rainy season farming. Credit can also be secured from the bank for income generation activities. Onion production has been introduced into the area by the Busangas, about 35-40 years ago. The first Kusasi to cultivate onion did so in 1965/66. It has now become a very lucrative venture in the area. Citizens of the area have migrated to other parts of the country, especially around Accra to cultivate onions. In Accra, however, they cultivate the crop during the rainy season and return to the village to do the dry season production. In other words: onion cultivation has been capable of reversing the normal seasonal pattern of labour migration. The fact that these farmers abandon the rain-fed cultivation of grains (and their ‘livelihood tradition’) is a clear sign that onion farming is a lucrative activity. During the dry season production they raise seeds for the rainy season production in Accra. This is because seed production in Accra is not possible due to differences in climatic conditions. Even though dry season gardening (onion production) was first introduced to the area by the Busangas the farmers were taught by a Project how to do dry season gardening properly. Other crops produced in the dry season include cabbage, watermelon and lettuce.

Another very beneficial venture in Kugsabilla is pig farming and people have been assisted to put up better structures to house the pigs.

Also in Tambalug the possibilities to get credit have increased, and people have formed credit groups. In Tambalug, these groups are rice, soybean and welfare groups. The group members are collectively responsible for repayment of the loans. Individuals could get access to formal credit if they had the required collateral. In practice, they don’t have. This implies that besides the group members no other people have access to formal credit. For small amounts, people also borrow from friends and relatives. Income-generating activities of male community members include dry season onion cultivation, small ruminants trade, seasonal labour migration and agricultural labour. Even after insisting, no other income generating activities, like masonry, carpentry, leather working, etc. were mentioned in this village, which seems rather far behind villages like Kugsabilla. Per season, about twenty men from Tambalug engage in seasonal labour migration. Seasonal labour migration has reduced due to increased dry season gardening and also because of education (more boys of 14-20 years old are in school nowadays).

The most important sign of wealth concerns cattle ownership (the more cattle, the wealthier). Other signs of wealth are: to have many wives; to have many children and to have a house with iron-sheet roofing. The

participants in the group discussion also indicated that wealthy households are able to meet food needs from their own fields. In the section on natural capital, they indicated that most households in the village meet this goal in ‘normal’ years.

2.6 Perceived changes in social-political capital