Migrant farmers as information brokers: agroecosystem management in the transition zone of Ghana

Environmentally induced farmer migration is an important livelihood strategy, yet little is known of the effects on the destination region agroecosystem information networks and management practices. In the forest-savanna transition zone (Brong Ahafo Region) of Ghana, where migration from northern regions (migrant) and from neighboring regions (settler) is active, we chart the role of migrant famers and the type of agroecosystem management practices embedded in information networks using a social networks approach. Based on empirical network data from 44 respondents across three communities, we illustrate a diffuse information network, with variable tie frequency between settlement categories (local, settler, or migrant) of farmers. The cohesion of this network is dependent on a few strategic bridging ties initiated by migrant farmers, who are thus centrally positioned to exchange agroecosystem management practices between geographically and socially distant groups. At the individual level, migrant and settler farmers are more likely: (1) to have larger networks with more ties between members of their networks, (2) to be brokers positioned between non-migrant farmers, and (3) to tend (although not statistically significantly) to use pro-environmental management regimes, including agroforestry practices, new planting methods, and plot-scale weeding. We conceptualize this phenomenon as extended social and environmental experience and the deployment of social-ecological memory, with migrant farmers as potential agents of innovation and adaptive management.