Sustainability responses to climate-smart adaptation in Africa: implication for food security among farm households in the Central Region of Ghana

Abstract

PurposeThe consequences of extreme climatic events that threaten food security have created the urgent need to properly adopt climate-smart adaptation techniques to improve productivity. The study examined the sustainability responses to climate-smart adaptation and the implication it has for explaining the food security situations among farm households in the Central Region of Ghana.Design/methodology/approachWe estimated Heckit treatment effect model to analyse cross-sectional data collected from randomly selected farmers in the Central Region.FindingsAnalysis of farm sustainability index suggests that farmers' agricultural practices in response to climate change are lowly or moderately sustainable. We further found that while majority of the farm households are severely food insecure or food insecure with hunger, only about one-third are food insecure without hunger and the remaining few being food secure. The sustainability of farm practices is being impacted by the farmers’ choice of climate smart adaptation measures at the farm level. Consequently, the farm households' food security situation is found to be improved when sustainable farming practices are employed in the face of managing climate change effects.Practical implicationsConclusions drawn from the study findings give rooms for policy implications that suggest responsibilities for policymakers, farmers and other stakeholders to promote CSA practices in food crop production in Ghana. These policy implications will contribute to improve crop productivity, increase incomes and thus enhance food security among farm families. Awareness campaign about benefits of CSA practices and technologies need to be strengthened among farmers in Ghana by government and NGOs that matter in promoting farm resilience to climate change. Given the important impacts of sustainable farm practices on household food security situation, policies that seek to build the adaptive capacity of farmers to climate vulnerability impacts should take into consideration the sustainability dimensions of the adaptation and mitigation measures to be advocated for use at farm levels.Originality/valueOur paper contributes to literature knowledge on climate-smart adaptation practices effect on food security as evidenced in some recent literature. The paper makes a unique contribution by highlighting the food security implication of the sustainability impact of CSA practices, thereby exploring sustainability as an impact pathway between climate smart adaptations practices and food security in a developing country like Ghana. We approached our study aiming at making new contribution by introducing in the study implementation a quasi-experimental research design which future studies on impacts of climate smart adaptation practices can replicate.

Climate change: a friend or foe to food security in Africa?

“…A large proportion of the African population relies on rain-fed farming for their livelihood (Adhikari et al, 2015 ; Cooper et al, 2008 ; Muchuru & Nhamo, 2019 ), so extreme climate variability poses a significant threat to food production (Boko et al, 2007 ; Etana et al ., 2021 ; Lobell et al, 2011 ; Schlenker & Lobell, 2010 ). Climate change and variability also raise food production costs, translating to high consumer prices (Berrera & Hertel, 2021 ; Dadzie et al, 2021 ; FAO, 2008 ). Evidence shows that climate change could decrease agricultural output in SSA by 8% by 2080, compared with a decrease of about 4% in Asia (Shah et al, 2008 ).…”

Promoting clean energy adoption for enhanced food security in Africa

“…Additionally, it was observed that forced relocation brought on by global warming results in individuals experiencing malnutrition or less availability of food. Dadzie et al (2021) evaluated the food safety circumstances of farmer families in Ghana's central zone to assess the durability of climate-savvy changes and their consequences. The cross-sectional data that were statistically obtained from a selection of farmers in the central area were analyzed using the approximated Heckit treatment effect theory.…”

A Long Way toward Climate Smart Agriculture: The Importance of Addressing Gender Inequity in the Agricultural Sector of Guatemala

“…In particular, it is expected that low-latitude countries will experience adverse and consistent effects on crop production in the near future, especially for crops such as maize, wheat, and rice [6]. In this context, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) emerged as an approach to transform agricultural systems with the aim of supporting sustainable food production, food security, and sustainable development [7,8]. Even when there is no universally accepted definition of sustainable Land 2022, 11, 1268 2 of 16 development or sustainability, there is a general agreement regarding the three pillars or dimensions of sustainability: economy (human welfare), ecology (environmental integrity), and society (human relationships, equity, and social justice) [9].…”

“…Another study on the adoption of CSA approaches conducted in Somalia in 2019 revealed that women largely performed key crop production practices and, therefore, identified this group as key players in implementing CSA practices and adaptation actions [34]. Since access to climate services (climate information based on scientific data that is useful to assist decisionmakers) is a fundamental component of CSA approaches [35], and it is generally limited to rural women [8], it is another important factor that should be considered when designing CSA strategies.…”