Smallholder Farmers’ Knowledge, Perceived Risks, and Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Nandom Municipality, Ghana

Abstract

This study explored smallholder farmers' knowledge of climate change, perceived risks of climate change on smallholder farming, and adaptation strategies in the Nandom Municipality of Ghana's Upper West Region. The study was guided by the assumption that farmers’ knowledge of climate change and its impacts on smallholder farming activities influence farmers' adaptation strategies. The study draws on the cultural theory of risk to changing climate, the Action Theory of Climate Change and adaptation and the sustainable livelihood framework and progresses with the development of a conceptual framework that illustrates the interplay between climate change manifestations and agricultural practices. Subsequently, the study employed a qualitative research approach for data collection and analysis. Multiple sampling techniques were employed to select the participants for the study. An interview guide was used as the data collection tool. The data collected were analysed thematically. The findings of the study revealed that male and female smallholder farmers in the Nandom Municipality exhibit knowledge of climate variability and change which they revealed manifest in delays in rainfall, erratic patterns, prolonged droughts, and flooding as manifestations of climate change. The findings also indicate that climate change affects men and women differently because of disparities in their roles, responsibilities, and power relations. Additionally, the study revealed that women employ more off-farm adaptation strategies such as shea-butter extraction and processing, pito-brewing, cake-making, soap-making, tailoring, and hairdressing and men employ more on-farm strategies such as cultivating early yield crops, using organic and inorganic fertilizers, and ploughing in ridges. Farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies is influenced by the socio-cultural, economic, political, education, asset control and social capital of farmers. The study recommends that farmers be provided with climate-resilient animal breeds and crop species at subsidized prices and that communities should come up with gazette bylaws to protect the natural environment.