Climate change in Upper East Region of Ghana; challenges existing in farming practices and new mitigation policies

Abstract

Countries and international organizations are making conscious effort to address climate change threat to humanity. Rising fossil fuel burning and land use changes to meet human demands continuously emit large quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere thus causing climate change. The research used Talensi District as a case study to determine factors influencing farmers’ adaptation response and the actual practices used to avert climate change impact. A total of 225 small-scale farmers were sampled for survey and 100 key informants were used in focus group discussions. Utilizing the logistic regression model, the study indicated that education, transportation, inputs cost and extension services were the factors with high tendency of undermining farmers’ ability to adapt to climate change. In addition, Weighted Average Index used to measure weather extremes revealed that drought and temperature had the highest level of occurrence. Climate change adaptation practices assessed in the study showed that change in planting date, improved crops varieties and land rotation were the most preferred practices. The study concluded that farmers resilience could be enhanced if governments and concerned organizations intensify adaptation campaigns, increase access to weather information, and train farmers on adaptable practices including, timely planting and alternative sources of livelihood. In addition, intensifying government support for agriculture including input subsidies, and provision of irrigation facilities were also good interventions to improve climate change resilience.

A scoping review of adoption of climate-resilient crops by small-scale producers in low- and middle-income countries

“…Several papers mentioned that cost was even more challenging for women and farmers with fewer assets, smaller parcels of land or lower economic status. At least four papers suggested seed subsidies as a strategy to improve access to seed [35][36][37][38] .…”

Drought Influences on Food Insecurity in Africa: A Systematic Literature Review

“…According to [33], the main problem encountered by farmers and which leaves them extremely vulnerable and unable to plan is the inadequate weather. [34] made similar observations in Zimbabwe's Seke and Murewa Districts where a significant proportion of farmers had no access to early weather forecasting information.…”

“…Crop variety diversification and drought-resistant crops or breeds are highlighted as coping strategies. For example, in a study in Malawi [33], researchers found that Malawians increasingly prefer short-season maize as a strategy for adapting to drought. They, therefore, suggested the adoption of maize cultivars that are tolerant to climatic extremes and variability as one possible solution.…”

“…This interesting study had implications regarding the public-private partnership policy on farmers, and recommended climate change adaptation policies be included in governments' development programs, investments in resilience programs, and monitoring and reporting systems. In addition, farmers with a higher level of education and years of formal education have been found by a plethora of researchers [31,33,35] to be able to adapt better to climate change, to be able to diversify to non-farming activities, to adjust planting periods, and to easily utilize agricultural technologies as compared to their counterparts who are less educated.…”

“…Meanwhile, Kebede, Atlin, and Melchinger [63] noticed people's inability to grow food and rear livestock. Numerous authors have recommended strategies to reverse the above, such as farmers diversifying in the dry season, for example, beekeeping, rearing livestock, weaving, and dry season gardening [33]. Instead of the temporal rural-urban migration in search for non-existent jobs, the sale of fuel, wood, and charcoal could be considered to be diversification adaptation strategies for their livelihoods, as suggested by Kumasi, Antwi-Agyei, and Obiri-Danso [32].…”