Cocoa farmer���s perception on climate variability and its effects on adaptation strategies in the Suaman district of western region, Ghana

Dennis Sedem Ehiakpor,Justice Edward Baah,Gideon Danso-Abbeam,Fatih Yildiz

doi:10.1080/23311932.2016.1210557

Cocoa farmer��s perception on climate variability and its effects on adaptation strategies in the Suaman district of western region, Ghana

Dennis Sedem Ehiakpor, Justice Edward Baah + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2016.1210557

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Abstract

AbstractClimate Change has gained global attention due to its adverse impact on agriculture. Cocoa production in Ghana is also under threat following climate change. This study, therefore, examined farmers’ perception on climate variability and its effect on adaptation strategies in the Suaman district of Western Region, Ghana. It involved 240 cocoa farmers. The study estimated Heckman’s treatment effect model that corrected the presence of selectivity bias in the sample. From the result, 69.5% of the farmers perceived an increase in the average temperature while 22.5% perceived an increase in the average rainfall over the years. The factors that significantly influenced farmers’ perceptions were farm size, farm management training, household size and farmer-based organization (FBO) membership. The major adaptation strategies adopted by the farmers were pesticides application, planting improved varieties, mixed planting and changing planting dates. Farmers’ perception was found to have a positive impact o...

Highlights

Peoples all over the world who depend on nature for their well-being are exposed to climate variability or change and its effects
Analytical framework In this study, we model the effects of climate variability or change perception on adaptation strategies adopted by cocoa farm households and correct the problem of selected bias that may arise in the data-set
The major adaptation strategies adopted by the farmers were pesticides application, planting improved varieties, mixed planting and changing planting dates

Summary

Introduction

Peoples all over the world who depend on nature for their well-being are exposed to climate variability or change and its effects. Agriculture in Africa been weather-dependent activity is most vulnerable to climate change and its effects. Rural dwellers in Sub-Saharan Africa heavily depend on the natural resource base for the provision of food and income for the survival of themselves and their family, and such resource availability is dependent on favorable climatic conditions (Solomon, Snyman, & Smit, 2007). In most parts of Sub-Saharan Africa where dry land farming is very common, over reliance on rain-fed agriculture increases farmers vulnerability to adverse effects of climate change (Mertz, Mbow, Reenberg, & Diouf, 2009; Thomas, Twyman, Osbahr, & Hewitson, 2007). There is no doubt that agriculture is a major contributor to climate change on one hand, and a key victim of climate change on the other hand and, Ghana’s agriculture is no exception

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