The following information covers only events that were recorded in the 1980s (Nsiah-Gyabaah 1996). There are few records on bushfires, especially fires ignited by lightning. Data on anthropogenically caused fires dating back to the pre-independence era are also lacking. However, occurrence of bushfires in Ghana is closely linked to drought periods. Droughts are naturally occurring events, but it was only after 1970 that the problem of drought and associated bushfires came to the forefront of concern for the environment. Available records show that during the 1982-1983 harmattan season about 35 per cent of the country’s crops were destroyed by bushfire. In 1984-1985, about 145 bushfires were reported in the northern savannah zone alone. The crops most affected were rice and maize. The average size of farms affected was ca. 50 ha, with the largest covering about 10 ha. Ghana experienced serious bushfires during the catastrophic Sahelian drought of 1973-1974 and again in the period 1984-1985. Available data on the 1984-1985 bushfires for all the country's ecological zones show clearly that the Guinea and Sudan savannah areas suffered the most impact with loss of vegetation, standing crops, farms, wildlife, habitat, human lives and property.
