Causes of Bushfires in Ghana

 

Picture of a bushfire in Ghana

Ghana, a former British colony located at the west coast of West Africa has a land surface of about 23.9 million squared kilometers. For many decades now, the issue of bush fires in Ghana especially in its northern part (the savanna area) has been a major issue of concern. The effects of bushfire on the livelihoods and on the ecosystem in Ghana have increasing become damaging over the years.

It turns out that the incidence of

bushfires is seasonal. There are two main seasons in Ghana: the first is the rainy season, which starts from May and ends in October, and the Dry season, which runs from November to March.  The dry season in Ghana is sometimes referred to as the “hammattan” season. Almost 100% of bushfires in the country are recorded in the dry season.  The hammattan season is one that usually comes with very dry atmosphere, strong dry winds moving at about 50miles per hour with a lot of dust in the air and also comes with lots of sunshine. The conditions during the dry season usually leave the vegetation very dry.  It might be quite clear to the reader at this point that the hammattan season is one that supports burning of any kind especially grass lands. In this next section below, I shall proceed to discuss briefly, some of the main causes of bush fires in Ghana and end with a few suggestions to combat them.

            The causes of bush fires during the hammattan can be traced to a lot of sources. Majority of these fires occur in the rural communities and are largely caused by the activities of human beings. These range from farming practices, to hunting activities, honey harvesting accidents, charcoal burning accidents, burning by herds men etc.

            Burning is embedded in the cultural values and traditional farming systems of most rural farmers in Ghana. In preparing land for farming, which occurs at the end of March, most farmers clear and gather rubbish on their farms from previous year’s harvests and burn them and quite often these land preparation process result in bush fires. Secondly, at the beginning of the dry season also, cattle herders often start fires to stimulate the growth of young shoots. According to these herders, the growth of young offshoots is more palatable and contains more nutrients.

            Another practice that potentially often starts off a bushfire is hunting with naked fire.  Some rural folks hunt for rats, rabbits and other bush meat that live in holes beneath the ground by trying to smoke them out. A lot of the time they fail to put out their fires, which result in bush fires.  

            Further more, a great deal of bush fires has also been caused by wild honey harvesting activities. In rural Ghana, wild honey is harvested during the night using naked fire. In this way, folks try to burn out bees from the hive so as to collect the honey. Out of negligence, some of them sometimes fail to put out the fires when they are done, and potentially cause bushfires.

            Last but not the least charcoal burning has also been one of the main causes of bushfires in Ghana over the years. Charcoal is a domestic fuel that is used mostly for cooking. The process of producing charcoal requires burning logs and tree stamps and putting the fire out right before they burn out completely so as to collect the incomplete substance called charcoal. A lot of the charcoal burning process usually ends up with a bushfire.

            To tackle the problem of these bushfires, the following proposed solutions could be helpful. First of all there should be mass public education on bush fire prevention measures. The formation of bushfire clubs in schools tasked with championing the fight against bush fires could also be a positive measure to a better crusade against bush fires. Finally, there should be tougher punishments or charges for culprits of bushfires.