Reducing pesticide dependence is not simply a question of replacing one input with another. Research from Ghana suggests that a more integrated approach, combining biodiversity, healthier soils, natural pest regulation and farmer knowledge, can offer another pathway.

A 2026 study in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems followed 30 smallholder farmers in Ghana’s Bosome Freho District through a seven-step participatory agroecological intervention. Farmers tested practices including intercropping and companion planting, compost and mulching, reduced tillage, flowering habitats for beneficial organisms, field monitoring and integrated pest management.

Farmers reported lower pest, disease and weed pressure, alongside perceived improvements in crop vigour, yield and quality. Habitat-enriched plots also showed increased presence of predatory arthropods, while integrated management reduced farmers’ reported dependence on synthetic chemicals. Importantly, the intervention treated farmers as active participants in monitoring, adapting and sharing the practices rather than simply as recipients of technical recommendations.

That social dimension matters. Farmers exchanged experiences through workshops and field demonstrations, and some participants subsequently shared the practices with neighbouring farmers. The study therefore points to agricultural extension not only as a channel for transferring technologies, but as a space for co-creating and adapting agroecological knowledge to local conditions.

The findings should nevertheless be interpreted carefully. This was a small qualitative study without conventional control plots, and the reported agronomic improvements were based largely on farmer perceptions and field observations rather than controlled quantitative measurements. The authors therefore call for larger and longer-term studies. Still, the research provides useful evidence of how biodiversity, ecosystem services and farmer agency can be brought together in practical crop protection strategies.