Remittances as a Game Changer for Climate Change Adaptation Financing for the Most Vulnerable: Empirical Evidence from Northern Ghana

Abstract

AbstractEmerging discourses in the field of climate change adaptation finance contend that remittances could complement other sources of financing adaptation given their propensity to reach the most vulnerable in comparison to public expenditure. This notwithstanding, fewer empirical studies have examined this claim. Employing an Order Rank Logit (ORL) and multinomial logit structural decomposition models, this study found that remittances influenced smallholder farmers’ engagement in off-farm jobs, irrigation farming, cultivation of improved crop varieties, use of compost/animal manure, and crop rotation, but inversely predicted Indexed-based Insurance (IBI). The study concludes that remittances are vital in financing climate change adaptation and, if appropriately yoked into climate intervention policies, could strengthen and enable farmers fashion out adaptation strategies that present high-medium to long-term dividends.