The Dagomba families are large and range from 6 20 people. Intercropping and mono-cropping were both practised by farmers. Cereals and rice were usually planted on the same land, and never rotated with other crops.Legumes, cereals, and vegetables were intercropped in the compound or backyard farms.Dickson detailed the farming process in this quote “preparation of land for sowing began with burning the bush, after which the charred bush was slashed with cutlasses and thrown, together with tree trunk…”.When crops get into the barn especially cereals, the men are in charge of giving it out to their different wives or sister-in-laws assigned to cook. A woman cannot help herself to cereals in the barn without permission from the household head.Other forms of labour existed apart from family labour like communal labour.It involves people working communally without monetary rewards on the farms of another. This communal form of labour was organised amongst groups of families, friends or lineages. The host farmer was expected to provide food and drinks like pitofor all during the period they worked in his field.

This system of farming was rotatory and was sometimes extended to the sick or very old in the community,who at one time was part of this scheme.This is seen clearly in Fortes and Fortesethnographic data which stated that chiefs and headmen had food even in hard times due to community labour. This is further reflected in Weissdiaries, where locust invasion destruction was less on the farms of the chiefs than the villagers as the chiefs mandated their subjects to kill locust on their farms first before theirs. Chiefs as the heads of their communities had considerable power over decisions that touched on the socio-economic and political structure of the communities. There was a defined set of rules in matters of tributes from the people to their chiefs, giving the chieftaincy institution prestige in the communities. For example, a prescribed quantity of yams, maize,hydroponic grow table and other foodstuffs was provided by the head of a compound to the local chief to safeguard use rights over land for farming and maintain a cordial relationship that permits continual access to land. In this way, the Dagombas recognised the right of their chiefs, as caretakers of land on behalf of the community, who as allodial owners gave land to those who needed it to farming and development.In the pre-colonial era, the hierarchy of subspontaneous tree species was from the african locust/dawadawa to the shea ,kapokand the neem tree .

The fruits or seeds of all these trees were considered to be of great value and their collection and processing the subject of some competition . These trees were relied on for different purposes; as a food spice, cooking oil, bathing soap, energy, stuffing for pillows, clothes and cream for the body. Women could access these four important economic trees only through the men in their lineages . The sub-chiefs owned the dawadawa, so one needed to obtain permission before it could be accessed. Blench supported this assertion when he said that “in a feware as, major trees, such as dawadawa, belong not to the farmer but to the chief who has the right to harvest them and give a portion to the farmer.”The processing of dawadawa and shea were mainly in the hands of the women.These products were consumed in the household, and the surpluses sold, for the purchase of other household basic needs. Shea nuts were also processed and used as candles . The shea butter trade existed long before colonialism in West Africa. Sutton description of goods traded at the regional markets during the pre-colonial era states that “the amount of yams, cattle and shea butter passing south was directly related to the amount of salt going to north” through the trading links between the Sahelian kingdoms in the North and the Ashante kingdoms.Apart from crop farming, the Dagomba’s also reared livestock for many reasons;as sacrifices to the gods in demand for a request, annual rites to appease the earth god, for payment in exchange for farming services. During the rainy season, animals were enclosed, to avoid crop destruction as agriculture was mainly rain-fed. Their feeding and care were primarily in the hands of women and children. During the dry season, animals are allowed out of the pens to roam and feed. At this time ploughs were unknown, and animals were not used for farm work nor integrated into the farming economy .