Abstract
This paper assesses smallholder rice farmer's perceptions about climate change in the Upper East Region of Ghana. We used a pretested questionnaire to understand farmer's experiences about climate hazards from fifteen communities in the eastern corridor of the region. We also used cross-tabulation and Chi-square in exploring the relationships between respondents' socio-demographic characteristics and perceptions about climate change. Results from field survey shows that more than 60% of respondents have experienced climate hazards in the form of increasing temperature, decreasing rainfall and changing planting time. The Chi-square analysis indicated that female and male perception regarding drought events were significantly different. Farmer's perception about climate change in this study positively correspond with previous studies in Ghana and the Upper East Region. Surveyed respondents have demonstrated high level of awareness and knowledge about climate change hazards which can serve as a basis for enhanced climate change adaptation. We argue that farmer's perceptions and experiences about climate change hazard can be used where climate data is not available. It could also serve as complementary information to climate data for adaptation planning and decision making.
Author Information
Abdul-Razak Zakaria, University of Tsukuba, Japan
Kenichi Matsui, University of Tsukuba, Japan
Paper Information
Conference: ACSEE2018
Stream: Environmental Sustainability & Human Consumption: Food and Water, Hunger and Thirst
This paper is part of the ACSEE2018 Conference Proceedings (View)
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