Adoption of Conservation Agricultural Practices Among Maize Farmers: An Alternative Livelihood to Mitigate Climate Change Impact in Bawku Municipality, Ghana
Alhassan Bawa,
Abu Tia Jambedu
Issue:
Volume 8, Issue 1, March 2022
Pages:
1-8
Received:
22 November 2021
Accepted:
9 December 2021
Published:
16 February 2022
Abstract: Background and Objective: The plight of farmers are worsening by the impact of climate change. This is evident in all agro-ecological zones in Ghana. Warming and variability in rainfall pattern is causing floods and long dry spells of drought with resultant effects of reduced food crop and livestock production. Conservation Agricultural (CA) practices was therefore introduced to address the challeges of conventional tillage. CA has therefore been identified as a substitute to conventional agriculture for sustainable agricultural productivity. The objective of the study was to assess the rate of adoption of CA practices in the Bawku Municipality in the Upper East region of Ghana. Methodology: The study was conducted in the Bawku Municipal area of Ghana. The research design used for the study was the mixed methods. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the Bawku Municipality as the major area where agricultural conservation practices occurs in the Upper East region. The simple random sampling technique was used to select ten (10) communities in the Municipality, whilst the systematic random sampling was used to select forty (40) respondents from each community for the study. The target population for the study was maize farmers in the Bawku Municipality. In all, a total of 358 respondents were interviewed for the study. Data was taken on socio-cultural and socio-economic characteristics of respondents. Data analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics, such as frequencies, percentages, and means were computed. Cross tabulations of variables were also computed and the chi-square tests used to establish relationships. Results: The study revealed that age, sex, level of education, religion, household size, government policy, access to credit, source of income, farm size, and access to extension services were found to have significantly influenced adoption of CA practices. The results of the study indicated that majority of farmers were aware and had knowledge about CA practices. “No-tillage with cover crops, minimum tillage with cover crops, and crop rotation with cover crops” were the main practices of conservation agriculture in the study area. The study further revealed that majority of the farmers indicated that the practices of conservation agriculture reduces soil erosion, increases soil fertility, increases soil organic matter and improves agricultural productivity. Conclusion: Majority of farmers adopted CA practices in full. It is recommended that the Ghanaian government should boost CA practices by instituting an annual national award scheme to award hardworking CA practioners in Ghana.
Abstract: Background and Objective: The plight of farmers are worsening by the impact of climate change. This is evident in all agro-ecological zones in Ghana. Warming and variability in rainfall pattern is causing floods and long dry spells of drought with resultant effects of reduced food crop and livestock production. Conservation Agricultural (CA) practi...
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Integrating Local and Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) Systems into Climate Adaptation Policy for Resilience Building, and Sustainability in Agriculture
Stephen Chitengi Sakapaji
Issue:
Volume 8, Issue 1, March 2022
Pages:
9-24
Received:
13 November 2021
Accepted:
29 November 2021
Published:
23 March 2022
Abstract: With the inception of global climate change and its related risks, impacts, and challenges many rural and indigenous communities across the globe are today facing tremendous cultural, economic, and environmental change which is likely going to weaken their adaptability and resilience capacities to climate change. Indigenous and local people have for centuries been known to possess the capacity to adapt to environmental change within their ecological environment. However, in the face of profound and continuous global environmental change, some scholars have argued and projected that cultural, biological diversity, as well as local resilience capacities to environmental change, will likely be severely impacted leading to the ultimate loss of these valuable sources of livelihood and survival of the many remote, rural, and local communities across the world. Despite this popular notion that local and Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) systems will disappear, the academic vision of local and IEK has progressively shifted from being viewed as a static body of knowledge to one of dynamism. Today, this knowledge is being hybridized through the accommodation of new forms of information or its exposition to external socio-economic drivers. Therefore, its relevance and the role it plays in disaster risk management, natural resource conservation, and management, and now in climate change adaptation must be clearly understood, acknowledged, and given the utmost attention, it deserves if we are to fully address the impacts emanating from a warming climate. In understanding the role and relevance of local and IEK systems in climate change adaptation and disaster risk management this paper analyzes present climate change-related impacts on agriculture in Barisal Southern Bangladesh and identifies effective local and indigenous ecological knowledge adaptation mechanisms being utilized by the local people in this region for climate change adaptation, resilience building, and sustainability. Through literature reviews, fieldwork research, interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) the findings of this research indicate that local and indigenous adaptation strategies to climate change impacts are striving and are enhancing the adaptability and resilience capacities of the many poor local people in this region. This research, therefore, recommends that the usefulness and relevance of local and IEK must be acknowledged and incorporated into the mainstream developmental and climate change policies, particularly at the local and community level where resources are scarce, and the adaptability capacity, is weak.
Abstract: With the inception of global climate change and its related risks, impacts, and challenges many rural and indigenous communities across the globe are today facing tremendous cultural, economic, and environmental change which is likely going to weaken their adaptability and resilience capacities to climate change. Indigenous and local people have fo...
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