CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE AND TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF MAIZE PRODUCTION AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN THE WA-EAST DISTRICT OF GHANA

Abstract

Climate change imposes risk on the livelihood of smallholder farmers in most rural communities since farmers depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Climate variability over the years has resulted in low productivity and poor livelihood outcomes among smallholder farmers. In response to the threats presented by climate change and variability, smallholder farmers have adopted a number of traditional climate change adaptation strategies to improve their resilience to climate related risk. Some of these traditional adaptation strategies however have not been able to effectively assist farmers to contain the risks of climate change and variability leading to repeated calls for the adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices. The CSA aims to increase productivity, adaptation, and mitigation of climate change and ultimately, enhance the sustainability of smallholder agriculture. However, the level of adoption of CSA particularly in Africa remains low despite its potential benefits for enhancing production efficiency of farmers. Given the increasing effort in promoting CSA in Ghana, this study aimed at examining the adoption of CSA practices (CSAPs) and how adoption intensity of CSA affects technical efficiency of smallholder maize producers in the Wa-East District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. A mixed-method research design was used for data collection and analysis. Data were collected using Key Informant Interviews, Focus Group Discussions, and a survey involving 350 maize farmers from six communities in the district. The quantitative data was analyzed using Generalized Poisson regression to estimate the rate of adoption of CSA practices. Also, the stochastic frontier production function was used to estimate the effect of intensity of CSA adoption on technical efficiency. The qualitative data was analyzed using content analyses to understand the traditional climate change coping strategies and the changes smallholder farmers are making in coping with climate change in their maize production. The qualitative results revealed planting maize along river banks, cultivating multiple maize farms, traditional weather prediction, maize seeds staggering, planting of drought-resilient indigenous crops, and engagement in off-farm businesses as the indigenous climate change adaptation measures adopted by the respondents. The empirical results show that age, sex, educational years, cattle ownership, distance to local market and years of awareness about CSA influence the intensity of adoption of CSA. Again, the results showed that participation in CSA training enhanced the adoption intensity of CSAPs and led to a reduction in technical inefficiency of maize production. The study recommends that agricultural extension programmes should target efforts at educating and training farmers on the importance of adoption of climate smart agriculture on maize production through field demonstrations. The study further recommends that smallholder maize producers should be encouraged to intensify their adoption of CSA practices to improve their maize production efficiency. Adoption of multiple CSA practices tends to have complementary benefit of improving maize productivity.