Stemming donkey slaughter to save northern agriculture
The deepening agricultural hardship in the Upper East Region should alarm every policymaker with a stake in Ghana’s rural economy. What is unfolding is not merely a regional challenge but a national emergency; one fuelled by the destructive convergence of illegal donkey slaughter and intensifying climate change.
Together, they are eroding the very foundations of smallholder farming, undermining food security, and accelerating rural poverty and migration.
For decades, donkeys have been indispensable to northern livelihoods. They plough fields, transport produce, and support everyday rural labour. In areas where mechanised farming remains limited or unaffordable, donkeys are the backbone of agricultural production.
Yet this backbone is being snapped under the weight of an insatiable, illicit trade in donkey hides driven by demand for Ejiao in China. Between 2021 and 2024, as many as 150 to 200 donkeys were reportedly slaughtered daily in some communities.
The result is predictable: scarcity of working animals, shrinking farm sizes, and collapsing household productivity.
The crisis is starkly visible in the stories of farmers who have had to cut their acreages because they cannot find or afford donkeys. Some, like Mrs Assibi Kolog, have been forced to abandon farming altogether, joining the growing stream of rural migrants heading to southern Ghana in search of survival. This is a direct threat to food production in the north and to national food security.
Authorities are not blind to the danger. The Upper East Regional Director of Agriculture, Alhaji Fuseini Zakaria, rightly calls the situation an “existential threat.” The Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive has hinted at bylaws to restrict mass slaughter.
For us on The Ghanaian Times, the challenge is bigger than municipal action. Weakened border controls, the absence of a national ban on donkey hide exportation, and the relocation of foreign buyers to other regions continue to frustrate local interventions. Cross-border smuggling, particularly through Burkina Faso and Togo, further complicates enforcement.
The national response has been woefully inadequate, especially considering the scale of ecological and economic damage. Statistics cited by agricultural scientist Professor Roger Kanton are sobering: Ghana’s donkey population, once estimated at 13 million in the early 1980s, has fallen to about 14,000 as of 2024. In our view, this level of depletion is not merely unsustainable but catastrophic.
Even more troubling is Ghana’s failure to enforce a strong national policy despite explicit bans on donkey killing by ECOWAS, the AU, and the EU.
This crisis is compounded by climate change. Erratic rainfall, prolonged dry spells, and soil degradation are already pushing farmers to the edge. The loss of donkeys, vital tools for adapting to these harsh conditions, could push many beyond the brink.
Without decisive action, traditional crops like early and late millet may disappear from some communities, taking with them livelihoods, heritage, and food sufficiency.
The path forward requires urgent and coordinated action. First, government must introduce and strictly enforce a national ban on donkey slaughter and hide exportation. Second, security agencies need tighter border monitoring to dismantle smuggling networks. Third, conservation strategies and breeding programmes should be implemented to rebuild the donkey population. And finally, climate adaptation initiatives, from improved irrigation to climate-smart agriculture, must be expanded to strengthen farmers’ resilience.
Ghana cannot afford to look away. The survival of rural northern communities and a critical portion of our national food system depends on what we do next.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-
TETTEY
🔗 Follow Ghanaian Times WhatsApp Channel today. https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbAjG7g3gvWajUAEX12Q
🌍 Trusted News. Real Stories. Anytime, Anywhere.
✅ Join our WhatsApp Channel now! https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbAjG7g3gvWajUAEX12Q
