Socioeconomic Impacts of Climate Change on the Livelihood and Adaptation Strategies of Smallholder Farmers in the Upper White Volta Basin of Ghana

Abstract

Climate change and agriculture affect each other. Climate change affects the agroecological and growing conditions of crops and livestock. Conversely, agriculture engenders climate change via its role in greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration. In the rain-fed agricultural systems of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the effects of climate change on precipitation and temperature are the major causes of crop failure and low yields, although these problems are often attributed to small farm sizes and the low uses of fertilizers, improved seeds, and pesticides. However, empirical evidence for the economic impacts of climate change on smallholder farmers in SSA is lacking. In this study, I use the trade-off analysis minimum data model to estimate the effects of climate change on farmers in the Upper White Volta Basin of Ghana by 2050. The analysis, which was based on surveys and simulated crop and livestock yields from 300 farms, aims to determine the sensitivity of current agricultural production systems to climate change without adaptation and to ascertain the benefits of implementing adaptation strategies. The findings reveal varying levels of negative impacts of climate change on the net per farm revenues, per capita incomes, and poverty rates of farmers under climate change. When adaptation was accounted for, the scale of the negative impacts was reduced; the gains to most farmers increased by as much as 36%, per capita income increased, and the poverty rate declined. The benefits of adaptation indicate that climate change is not necessarily bad and that possibilities exist for farmers to benefit given the right measures and incentives and the adoption of climate-smart technologies.