IMPACT OF RAINWATER HARVESTING ON LIVELIHOOD OUTCOMES IN NORTHERN GHANA

Abstract

At the heart of the global community, the commitment to end hunger, poverty, and malnutrition at all levels remains a dominant target. This remains a difficult task without improved livelihoods. However, improved livelihoods largely depend on climate-smart agricultural practices (CSAPs) that draw together sustainable productivity, resilience, and emissions reductions under one umbrella. Yet, empirical information focusing on how CSAPs affect livelihoods remains scanty despite its policy relevance. In this study, the perceived benefits, adoption, and effects of rainwater harvesting (RWH) - one of the CSAPs - on livelihood outcomes in northern Ghana are examined using a dataset from the Ghana Agricultural Production Survey. The results revealed diverse perceptions as the farmers associate RWH with production increase (68.4%), reduction of drought effects (36.6%), seasonal crop failure (24.6%), erosion from runoff (24.0%), and quantity of inputs used (13.1%) and thus, indicate the underlying reason behind the adoption of water harvesting as CSAPs. Further, the results revealed farm size, labour, gender of farmer, level of education, credit access, membership to FBO, extension access, tenure security, number of irrigation sites accessible to the farmer, soil type, and farmer’s perception as the main factors influencing the uptake of RWH in northern Ghana. Concerning the livelihood effects of adoption, RWH was found to improve yields and food security. It is therefore recommended that CSAPs including RWH techniques should remain a policy focus in drought-prone areas of Ghana. Government can focus on developing or improving existing infrastructure for rainwater harvesting in these areas.