Factors influencing resilience to climate variability among smallholder lowland rice farming households in northern Ghana

Abstract

The ability of smallholder farmers to adapt to changing climatic conditions is crucial in achieving domestic and global food security. The study  analysed the resilience of smallholder lowland rice farmers to climate variability and the factors influencing the resilience of  smallholder rice  systems in the Savelugu municipality of the northern region of Ghana. The data was obtained using a cross-sectional  questionnaire administered to 241 households and focus group discussions. A multi-dimensional Climate resilience index (CRI) was  calculated for household  resilience and used to determine relevant factors influencing household resilience through multiple regression  analysis. Overall household CRI  averaged 0.49, with transformative capacity, a major contributor with an index of 0.69, while adaptive  and absorptive capacities were 0.45  and 0.33, respectively. The resilience analysis shows that income and food access, regular access to  health, reliable access to improved water,  agroecological conditions, resource governance and access to basic services are essential to  household resilience against climate variability. The  regression analysis results suggest that farmers’ age, cropping diversity,  households’ primary income, plot position, soil quality, flooding, market access and FBO membership influence household resilience to  climate variability. To be effective, policies to improve smallholder farmer  resilience to climate variability must include diverse strategies  allowing farmers the flexibility of selecting a combination of strategies that suits  their socioeconomic and contextual situations; depart  from farm-specific and technology-centric interventions to include other value chain dimensions and must address the climatic and  non-climatic stressors confronting farmers concurrently to achieve the desired impact.