The percieved impact of climate change and adaptation on smallholder farmers in the Sevelugu Nanton district in the northern region of Ghana.

Abstract

This study assessed Smallholder farmers’ perceived impact of climate change and adaptation on agriculture in the Savelugu Nanton district in the Northern Region of Ghana. A non-probability sampling technique was used to obtain a sample size of 123 smallholder farmers and a structured questionnaire was used to elicit data from the respondents. The data collected from the farmers were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results of the study showed that majority of the smallholder farmers’ perceived decreasing precipitation and increasing temperature. Farmers’ level of adaptation was found to be relatively high with majority of the farmers using irrigation, changing crops, changing planting dates and planting short season varieties as the major adaptation measures to decreasing precipitation and increasing temperature. Findings of the study also indicate that the major barriers to climate change adaptation by smallholder farmers in the district are lack of information about climate change, lack of knowledge about adaptation, lack of credits, no access to irrigation water and poor soil fertility. The study concludes that smallholder farmers in the district perceived changes in climate and employ adaptation strategies and socio-economic characteristics are important in determining farmers’ adaptation to climate change.