Climate-induced migration among maize farmers in Ghana: A reality or an illusion?

Abstract

Studies on climate change-migration nexus have generally assumed that all climatic conditions trigger migration in the same direction without a differentiated understanding of which conditions drive migration of rural farmers or otherwise. This study examines climate change-migration nexus in Ghana by using data collected from 500 maize farmers. Observed errors in the data were corrected through a propensity score matching (PSM) technique. Location was endogenously related to migration, with the unobserved errors corrected by implementing a two-stage Heckit probit model. The results show that drought and decrease in rainfall are climatic conditions likely to trigger migration. However, floods and decline in soil fertility are less likely to induce migration. Also, farming experience, access to credit, participation in climate-smart agriculture training, access to extension services, and information from extension agents influenced the present location of maize farmers. These push factors identified were corroborated in focus group discussions. The study recommends that policymakers, development partners, and other relevant stakeholders should first understand and appreciate the deafferented roles of diverse climatic conditions on migrations, and then support farmers to adopt appropriate long-term climate change adaptation strategies to address perennial climatic factors that affect livelihoods. While doing so, short-term measures such as scaling up access to climate services should be devised to adapt to climate change.