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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Climate-Smart Food Systems
Volume 8 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2024.1357355
This article is part of the Research Topic Increasing Resilience and Adaptability to Climate Change of Vulnerable Groups in Agriculture View all 8 articles

Reducing vulnerability to climate change among millet and sorghum farmers in Ghana: examining the contribution of climate-smart agriculture in the Lawra Municipality

Provisionally accepted
Gordon Y. Yiridomoh Gordon Y. Yiridomoh *Samuel Z. Bonye Samuel Z. Bonye Emmanuel K. Derbile Emmanuel K. Derbile
  • SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Bamahu, Ghana

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Reducing vulnerability of smallholder farmers to climate change is a global issue. One approach viewed as important in reducing farmers' vulnerability to climate change is Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA). CSA is often seen as an approach to redefine, reposition and sustainably manage agriculture. Given the importance of CSA practices in sustaining the food needs of many farm households in sub-Saharan Africa and Ghana, this study investigates CSA practices that were introduced to farmers by Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Development (CIKOD), interrogates the contributions of CSA to reducing farmers vulnerability to climate change and established the relationship between CSA and climate change adaptation. The study employed a mixed method approach, using 146 smallholder millet and sorghum farmers. Questionnaire and interviews were used to generate primary data for analysis. Descriptive statistics, involving Chisquare test and Relative Importance Index were used to analyze the questionnaire while thematic analytical approach was used to analyze the interviews. The results of the study revealed that CSA practices such as crop rotation, weed control, contour farming and land rotation are deployed by smallholder farmers to respond to drought, dry spell and flood in the Municipality. Asset holding capacity, credit, access to climate information and extension services were found to be key determinants of farmers' adoption of CSA practices. The study recommends the need for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to provide some technical support to smallholder farmers to successfully adopt these practices for sustainable farming. Again, the study recommends the need for non-governmental organizations and development partners, which over the years have shown interest in promoting CSA practices among farmers, to continuous to support and promote the adoption of CSA by farmers.

    Keywords: Commented [GY1]: Examining Commented [GY2]: the Lawra Municipality Climate-smart agriculture, Climate vulnerability, Cereal crop, Climate Change, Food security

    Received: 17 Dec 2023; Accepted: 29 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yiridomoh, Bonye and Derbile. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Gordon Y. Yiridomoh, SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Bamahu, Ghana

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