For five long months, Garu Tempane lies dry. The young and strong gradually migrate to the south to work on farms or mines or whatever job they can find. However, there are those who stay behind, to wait out the dearth, surviving on what the barn holds and whatever their alternative livelihood maneuvers provide. In this Oxfam GB supported project, I will spend a year documenting the impact of climate change on the lives of farmers and their households in two farming communities- Kpatia and Tumbalug (both in the Garu Tempane District of The Upper East Region of Ghana). In the midst of the dryness, a group of women have a source of hope- a solar powered water pump that irrigates an acre of land, on which the women farm vegetables during the dry season. For some, this little patch of watered earth is the sole source of sustenance during the dry season.

For a whole year, I am documenting the impact of climate change on the lives and livelihoods of farmers in 2 rural communities in the Upper East Region of Ghana as part of a project with Oxfam GB. Here is the second chapter of the trilogy. Here, the rains have arrived after five months of dryness, and everybody is busy planting. We can already see the fall armyworms that devastated vast farmlands across northern Ghana last year, begin to rear their ugly heads already. How will this farming season go? Will dreams be dashed? Will hopes come true?