Abstract:
The growing phenomenon of climate change poses severe threats to the livelihood of smallholder farmers in rural African communities such as in Northern Ghana. To avert this challenge, various governments have intervened to assist smallholder farmers to overcome the hurdles posed by climate change on their livelihood. Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) have played a significant part in complementing government efforts to boost farmers’ capacity to adapt to climate change in Northern Ghana. This study investigates NGO-led climate change interventions and their implications on livelihood adaptation among farmers in Northern Ghana. Situated in the general context of Ghana’s National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, the study explored factors influencing farmers’ participation in these interventions and their effects on their livelihood along with the key constraints militating against the implementation of these NGO-led interventions. Using a concurrent mixed method, the study collected quantitative data from 80 households that had benefitted from NGO interventions and 180 households which had not. This was complemented by community-focused group discussions and interviews with NGO staff and other key informants. The quantitative data was analysed using livelihood index, propensity score matching, binary logit regression and Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance while the qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis.
The study established that climate change interventions implemented in Northern Ghana after the year 2000 were mainly aimed at increasing agricultural productivity, strengthening farmers’ adaptive capacity through climate change awareness, diversification of the sources of livelihood and promoting indigenous practices. Household participation in climate change interventions was significantly influenced by gender of the householders, household income, average household farm size, households’ participation in decision-making at the community level and membership of farmer-based organisations. The major constraints to implementation of climate change interventions are high illiteracy among beneficiary households, shortage of land, difference in household needs, adverse weather conditions, short duration of interventions and corruption by NGO staff. The study recommends coordination among NGOs in the implementation of climate change interventions in the region to avoid duplication of resource and foster the achievement of all objectives of the Ghana National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. Also, farming households should form groups to promote their participation in climate change interventions. This will make it possible for them to access the market, credit sources and other farming inputs for effective climate change adaptation.
