“The people of Techiman eat Teporo”: migrant farming and epistemic pluralism in Forikrom, Ghana

Abstract

Local knowledges of farmers often remain marginalized in wider agricultural development interventions. Scholars, practitioners and non-profit organisations have stressed the importance of including farmers as veritable experts in their own right, and of recognising their knowledge. Yet these calls for epistemic pluralism have often focused on the interaction between academic knowledge and local knowledge, while the interaction amongst different local knowledges has received less attention. In this ethnographic study, we attempt to unravel dynamics amongst local knowledges by studying interactions amongst migrant and autochthonous farmers in Forikrom, Ghana. We show that migrant and autochthonous farmers form distinct epistemic communities as these farmers pursue different agricultural and epistemic aims. Epistemic diversity becomes most apparent regarding agricultural techniques and certain yam varieties. However, epistemic homogenisation threatens this diversity. For instance, indigenous yam varieties are being displaced in the community in favour of shorter maturing varieties. We provide insights into the ruling relations that guide the choices that migrant farmers make and how this leads to processes of epistemic homogenisation. These drivers include the land tenure system, economic imperatives and labour relations, socio-cultural norms, agricultural policy and local politics. Furthermore, we explore how a community-based “boundary” organisation in Forikrom, the Abrono Organic Farming Project (ABOFAP), counters such homogenisation by mediating pluralistic approaches.