papers
The papers on this page are a mix of long and short research articles, policy documents and short commentaries. Click on the links below to access them.
Longish articles
Document d'orientation politique sur l'agriculture urbaine a Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. A policy narrative, one of the outputs from a series of stakeholder engagements in Ouagadougou, pointing out the implications of recent research for urban agriculture in Ouagadougou. Written with Moussa Sy and Rene van Veenhuizen.
A comparative analysis of agricultural knowledge and innovation systems in Kenya and Ghana: sustainable agricultural intensification in the rural–urban interface. A paper with Ivan Adolwa, on knowledge networks in Tamale, Ghana, compared to Kakamega, Kenya.
Traditional Provisioning Responsibilities of Women in Northern Ghana. A book chapter with Eileen Nchanji, focusing on gendered food roles in Tamale. In the book Gender and Food: From Production to Consumption and After.
Fertiliser credit and agroecological use of organic soil amendments in northern Ghana. With Seidu Al-Hassan in African Journal of Food, Agriculture Nutrition and Development.
Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture in Tamale: A policy narrative. A document summarising recommendations from a policy information process I helped facilitate.
IWMI Working Paper – 163: Characteristics of urban and peri-urban agriculture in West Africa: results of an exploratory survey conducted in Tamale (Ghana) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Results of a collaborative research effort in Tamale and Ouagadougou.
Smallholder perspectives on the Green Revolution in Africa. A summary paper in the journal Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems
Compost adoption in northern Ghana. Describes the barriers to adoption of compost by smallholder maize farmers.
Donkeys and bicycles. Article in International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability; farmers used donkey carts as one of a range of tools to overcome the problem of compost carriage.
Counting What Matters. A 2013 report on the feasibility of introducing mandatory food waste audits in the UK, for the Community Interest Company 'This is Rubbish'.
Reflections on teaching and learning in Ghana and the UK. Farmers' participatory learning was translated into a series of workshops in UK sixth form.
Donkeys and Compost: Intermediate Transport and Soil Fertility Management in Northern Ghanaian Livelihoods. PhD Thesis.
Research and dissemination methods for non-literate contexts. Describes practical visual methods.
Barriers to smallholders composting in Northern Ghana. The primary constraint on farmers' compost use is their low levels of financial capital, preventing them using animal drawn vehicles to carry it to the farm.
Shorter articles
Transporting agricultural inputs in Northern Ghana. Contribution in the 2014 book Engineering in Development:Transport by Robin Lovelace and Andy McLoughlin, Published by Engineers without Borders UK
Sustainable agricultural development in the African Green Revolution: the importance of farmers’ context-specific environmental knowledge. Address given as a panellist at the Sustainable Agricultural Development Panel of the 3rd Oxford University Africa Society Pan-African Conference: ‘Towards a 21st Century African Renaissance: Sowing the seeds of success’ in May 2013
Credit groups and sustainable Soil Fertility Management in Northern Ghana. A paper given at the 2013 Association of American Geographers meeting
CHARM home energy study qualitative analysis. A research summary for a 2013 project examining the effect of smart electricity meters on householders' energy use behaviour.
Access systems to sustainable compost transport in savanna smallholdings. Won a prize at the 2012 International Sustainable Development Research Society Annual Conference, pp.36 and 38-41 in the 2012 ISDRS Newsletter.
What African agriculture needs. A short comment in Think Africa Press' 'experts weekly' column.
Participant observation as a tool for holistic agroecosystems research. A methods paper showing the use of ethnography in agroecosystem research, given at the 2012 International Geographical Congress.
Community scale organisation gives Northern Ghanaian smallholders access to farm vehicles and
Integrated Soil Fertility Management and maize commercialisation in Northern Ghana. Two papers given at the 2012 Royal Geographical Society Conference, University of Edinburgh.