Joseph Amikuzuno

Socioeconomic Impacts of Climate Change on the Livelihood and Adaptation Strategies of Smallholder Farmers in the Upper White Volta Basin of Ghana

Climate change and agriculture affect each other. Climate change affects the agroecological and growing conditions of crops and livestock. Conversely, agriculture engenders climate change via its role in greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration. In the rain-fed agricultural systems of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the effects of climate change on precipitation and temperature are the major causes of crop failure and low yields, although these problems are often attributed to small farm sizes and the low uses of fertilizers, improved seeds, and pesticides. However, empirical evidence for the economic impacts of climate change on smallholder farmers in SSA is lacking. In this study, I use the trade-off analysis minimum data model to estimate the effects of climate change on farmers in the Upper White Volta Basin of Ghana by 2050. The analysis, which was based on surveys and simulated crop and livestock yields from 300 farms, aims to determine the sensitivity of current agricultural production systems to climate change without adaptation and to ascertain the benefits of implementing adaptation strategies. The findings reveal varying levels of negative impacts of climate change on the net per farm revenues, per capita incomes, and poverty rates of farmers under climate change. When adaptation was accounted for, the scale of the negative impacts was reduced; the gains to most farmers increased by as much as 36%, per capita income increased, and the poverty rate declined. The benefits of adaptation indicate that climate change is not necessarily bad and that possibilities exist for farmers to benefit given the right measures and incentives and the adoption of climate-smart technologies.

Looking out for a better mitigation strategy: smallholder farmers’ willingness to pay for drought-index crop insurance premium in the Northern Region of Ghana

BackgroundThe impact of climate change and variability on livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana has become severer than ever before. As a result, crop insurance has been advocated as one of the recommended risk transfer mechanisms to support farmers in coping with production risks. We used a multistage sampling procedure to select a sample of 315 farmers from 15 farming communities in the Northern Region of Ghana and obtained from this sample the data needed for the analysis. We then applied the contingent valuation method to the data and evaluated the premium amount maize farmers in the study area are willing to pay for crop insurance under a hypothetical market-based drought-index insurance regime. In addition, we used the binary probit model to identify the drivers of farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP).ResultsThe results revealed that the premium a maize farmer is willing to pay for crop drought-index insurance is GHS175.25/ha (circa USD39/ha). And while variables such as sex, level of education and perception index unexpectedly reduce farmers’ WTP for weather-index crop insurance, others such as women’s contributions to agriculture, previous farm income and landownership are significant drivers that enhance farmers’ WTP.ConclusionIt is concluded that the premium that maize farmers in the northern region are willing to pay annually per ha of a maize farm is GHS175.25 (USD). The results of the binary probit model revealed that sex, age, education, insurance awareness, regular payment of insurance premium, land ownership, farming methods, farm risk level, the nature of damage caused by an event, women contribution, income and mean perception index of crop insurance are factors that significantly influence the WTP amount for crop drought-index insurance.