Land tenure, information sources and climate variability adaptation strategies: evidence from southern Ghana

ABSTRACT

This article makes two central arguments to advance inconclusive literature in relevant extant research related to agriculture adaptation and climate change in the global south. First, it argues a relationship exists between land tenure and climate variability adaptation strategies. Second, it argues climate information sources influence climate variability adaptation strategies. Drawing on 150 smallholder farmers in southern Ghana, using a mixed methods paradigm, we answer two research questions: What is the relationship between land ownership and climate variability adaptation strategies? What are the sources of climate variability information that inform adaptation strategies? The findings show that land ownership positively correlates with mixed cropping, use of organic manure, and irrigation. Radio, agricultural extension agents, peer farmers, and families constitute major sources of climate information that influence climate variability adaptation strategies. Governments in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) can implement land administration initiatives that ensures secured land tenure and engender long-term capital-intensive agricultural investments.

KEYWORDS:

• Adaptation
• climate change
• smallholder farmers
• mixed cropping
• global south

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the technical assistance offered by Mr. Emmanuel Oduro Okata, University of Saskatchewan, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Canada, and Mr. Stephen Prah, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana, with statistical analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).