Typical farm from the 1980s, showing intercropping of yams (finyjie in Nafaanra), cassava (dwa), calabash (chrԑ) or gourd and other crops. Banda, 1982.
Magdalene Attah uses a small wooden mortar and pestle to process cassava flour while two goats forage in the background. The large wood pile to the rear (left) is associated with the tobacco drying barns that line the south edge of Ahenkro. Ahenkro, May, 1995.
A roadside agricultural field is planted with cassava (Manihot esculenta). The palmate leaves of the mature plants are visible growing among trees that were left standing when the intercropped field was first prepared. Regular weeding is needed to control spear grass, which can be seen growing at the edge of the field. Cassava is grown for its tubers, which can be harvested over a long period and store well when processed and dried. Its leaves are valued as an ingredient in soups. Planted early in the rainy season (April-May) the tubers mature in 6-18 months, depending on variety. Cassava tolerates poorer soils than yams (Dioscorea sp.), which are a preferred food in the area. Therefore, cassava it is grown in intercropped fields after yams are grown in the first year or two and before fields are left to fallow. Roadside near Nyire, August, 1994.