Climate Change Adaptation in Akropong, Ghana: Experiences of Female Smallholder Farmers

Abstract

This article examines smallholder women farmers’ awareness of climatic factors and the adaptation strategies to climate change events and how they influence their farming methods. A household survey was conducted on 50 smallholder women farmers at Akropong in the Nkoranza South Municipality in the forest-savannah transition zone of Ghana. The survey was complemented with in-depth and semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that women farmers use multiple adaptation strategies such as creating fire belts to prevent fire outbreak in the dry season, creating channels on their farmland to prevent erosion, planting crops that can withstand excessive rain and drought and mixed cropping to overcome livelihood challenges resulting from climatic factors. The article therefore argues for an in-depth research and intensive education as a targeted intervention in understanding climate change and training women smallholder farmers on adaptation strategies to overcome climatic elements affecting farming and food production which serve as their main livelihood.