In the Volta Delta region in the south-east of the country, more and more farmers are suffering major losses to their harvests or even losing them altogether. The reason for this is the increasing salinisation of their farmland. The land between the Gulf of Guinea and the Keta Lagoon is increasingly flooded by storm surges that bring salt water onto the fields. In addition, the groundwater is infiltrating and becoming increasingly saline. The reason for this is not least the worsening climate change.

Although researchers and some government representatives have been calling for protective measures for years, nothing has happened so far and local agricultural officials complain that their hands are tied due to the lack of support from the central government in Accra.

Neither the Ministry of Agriculture nor the town of Keta responded to a request for comment. Other decisions by the ministry have been counterproductive. In 2017 and 2018, the ministry sent seeds for distribution without first assessing the needs of farmers in the salt-saturated environment. The seeds were not the salt-tolerant varieties that were needed.

There are ways of dealing with the problem. NGOs, such as The Salt Doctors based in the Netherlands, support local authorities in implementing similar programmes in Senegal and parts of East Africa. The steps are simple: farmers receive salt-tolerant seeds, learn to prepare their fields for optimal drainage and planting, test their soil with low-cost salinity meters and adapt their crops to that salinity. Another option is to restore the mangrove ecosystems on the coast. Here, edible plants that are native to salty coastal landscapes are to be cultivated.

Well over 300,000 hectares of land have now been damaged. Severe storm surges destroyed property and crops in 2021, 2023 and again in April this year. In some fields, the salt water was still centimetre high in June. Storm surges and flooding have become increasingly frequent in recent years. In the planting seasons, harvests failed due to the salt content.

Ghana's coastal problems, which include increasing salinisation and massive erosion of beach areas, now pose serious risks to the food situation and the personal safety of the people. Experts agree that if nothing fundamental is done, people will eventually have to be relocated from the coastal areas.