Ghana is one of the better-researched West African countries in terms of its natural resources. Since the 1920s, active Departments of Agriculture and Forestry have both undertaken and encouraged research into all aspects of natural resource management and this tradition continues up to the present, albeit in a more collaborative mode than in the colonial era. Part of the impetus for such detailed studies has been the severe problems of erosion and land degradation and consequent chronic food deficits, especially in the North. There is a strong tradition of interaction between research and action; Northern Ghana has been the focus of numerous development projects and shelters a surprisingly large number of NGOs.