CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON SMALLHOLDER AGRICULTURE AND ADAPTATION STRATEGIES IN THE SISILI-KULPAWN BASIN OF THE NORTHERN REGION OF GHANA

Abstract

This study analyzes the impacts of climate change on smallholder agriculture with and without adaptation in the Sisili-Kulpawn Basin (SKB) of the Northern Region (NR) of Ghana. The study used the Cobb-Douglas production function approach to analyze the significant effects of the production inputs used on output levels under the current production systems assuming no climate change. In addition, we estimated the economic outcomes of climate change on farmers’ livelihood indicators namely, net returns per farm, net income, and poverty rates using Trade-Off Analysis Minimum Data (TOA-MD) approach. The study took place in the 2013/2014 production season and was based on a sample size of 200 farm households randomly selected from the catchment area of the SKB. The study combined simulated and expected crop and livestock yields under three different climate scenarios and projections made for the year 2030. An intensive and expanded irrigation technology was introduced as climate change adaptation strategy. The findings reveal that smallholder farmers in the SKB were producing in the first stage of the production function having a return to scale value of 0.82 and therefore had the potential to scale-up their input usage per an acre of land in order to reap the maximum gains from the inputs. Also, livelihood outcome variables like income and poverty levels were sensitive to the different climate scenarios, whereby climate change will reduce yields, income, mean net revenue and resilience of farmers in the study area without appropriate adaptation strategies to offset such effects. The use of adaptation to climate change as an entry point is therefore crucial for the improvement of farmers’ resilience and disaster preparedness and also for the sustainability of the agriculture sector in the SKB, Northern Ghana and the country as a whole. The study recommends policy focus on improving irrigation access to smallholder farmers including water harvesting and better soil management techniques.