EFFECTS OF TRADITIONAL AND MODERN CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION STRATEGIES ON FARM HOUSEHOLD WELFARE

Abstract

The study was set to investigate the effects of climate change adaptation strategies on farm household welfare in northern region. Drawing its roots from the sustainable climate change adaptation strategies, it first identified climate shocks faced by farmers in northern region, examine factors that influence farmer choice of climate adaptation strategies employed by farmers in Northern Ghana, examine the Effects of climate change information on adoption intensity, as well as determine the strength of traditional adaptation strategies against the modern strategies in promoting the welfare of farmers in the northern region. A lot of studies is been done in the climate change adaptation strategies and livelihoods of farmers, this research sought to segregate the climate change adaptation strategies into modern and traditional and their effects on the farm household welfare. The novelty in this research was the categorization of the climate change adaptation strategies into traditional and scientific adaptation strategies and testing the strength of the two in promoting the welfare of farmers in the northern region. The study discovered that traditional adaptation strategies of CAS had a beneficial impact on food diversity at home with a 1% level of significance starting with HDDS. Therefore, individual farmers who practice the traditional methods of climate change adaptation strategies saw an improvement of roughly 40% in their food diversity. Farmers who use the modern climate change adaptation strategies outperformed non-adopters by roughly 19% in their food diversity. Similar to joint adopters, non-adopters' dietary preferences decreased by roughly 13%. This outcome demonstrates how traditional food diversity is promoted by the introduction of traditional and scientific (improved) CAS. The Household Food Insecurity Access Score is another element of the Food Security S measure. Only traditional adopters, according to the findings, had a statistically meaningful impact on the 1% of HFIAS. As a result, it is anticipated that the number of traditional CAS adopters who experience food insecurity will drop by roughly 43%. Although scientific and joint climate Adaptation strategies are statistically insignificant, The results show that severe drought and high temperatures were the main climate shock faced by farmers in the northern region of Ghana. According to the study's descriptive data, climate shock is a significant factor that adversely affects output and productivity at the farm level. Severe drought was listed as the climate shock that occurs most frequently during the season. Rarely do wildfires break out in the studied area. Mulching, crop rotation, mixed farming, and reduced burning are adaptation measures that are frequently used in the region. To verify the methods' complementarity and substitutability, a correlation matrix was created The farmers that use the indigenous CAS also enhanced their dietary diversity and decreased their risk of food insecurity, which brings us to the livelihood outcome. This was ascribed to the length of the practice as well as to its constant accessibility and availability.