AGRICULTURAL LANDS VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE JIRAPA DISTRICT OF TH UPPER WEST REGION, GHANA

Abstract

Climate change is a serious environmental threat facing human kind worldwide. It affects agriculture in several ways, one of which is its direct impact on crop production. Ghana, like any country in sub-Saharan Africa, is vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This vulnerability is as a result of the fact that Ghana’s economy is dependent on agriculture especially in rural areas where about 90% of the population depend primarily on agricultural related activities for survival. The main objective of the study is to examine the vulnerability of agricultural lands to climate change in the Jirapa District of the Upper West Region. This study employed the mixed method design and 180 sample respondents were randomly selected. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using household survey, field observation, and interview methods. Accordingly, the study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyse the data. Rainfall and temperature trends were analysed using Simple Linear Regression (SLR) and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). Livelihood vulnerability index was used to analyse the levels of agricultural lands vulnerability to climate change supported with percentages, averages, maximum and minimum values. The results revealed an increasing temperature, decreasing rainfall and abnormal precipitation distribution over the past 57 years. Likewise, the livelihood vulnerability indices (LVIs) calculated for agricultural land and climatic exposure indicators revealed that households are increasingly vulnerable to climate change risks. It is therefore recommended that policy measures and development efforts should focus on improving adaptive capacities of smallholder farmers including enhancing optimum land management mechanisms and provide climate change information, training, education, and required agricultural land inputs to the community.