Climate change and variability awareness and livelihood adaptive strategies among smallholder farmers in semi-arid northern Ghana

Abstract

This study examined smallholder farmers' observation of climate change and variability, its effect on agricultural output, and the livelihood adaptive strategies being used in response to such dynamic changes. A total of 121 smallholder farmers were randomly selected from three vulnerable rural farming communities in northern Ghana through a mixed methodological approach involving household surveys, interviews and focus group discussions. Data were analysed using descriptive and binary logistic regression with the help of IBM SPSS statistical software package integrated with qualitative thematic analysis involving transcription, categorization and interconnecting. The results show that majority (95.9%) of the smallholders have observed climatic changes in their local ecology with manifestations involving protracted drought (95.9%), unpredictable rainfall pattern (94.2%), high temperature (99.2%), strong winds (66.9%) and frequent flood events (99.2%). As a consequence, smallholders have observed that changes in temperature (99.2%) and rainfall patterns (97.5%) result in decreased agricultural output. In resolving the impacts, these smallholders employ preferred livelihood adaptive strategies involving non-farm diversification (51.2%), crop diversification (75.2%), changes in farm location (76.9%) and agrochemical application (100%) with moderate or high levels of effectiveness across space. The logistic regression results revealed that factors such as age, gender and access to credit significantly influenced smallholder farmers’ observation and adaptation to climate change and variability. The findings suggest the need for a location-specific climate adaptation policy. By this, the local knowledge, adaptive capacity and resilience of smallholder farmers could be built upon to mitigate their vulnerability to food insecurity and poverty.