Environmental sustainability of smallholders’ adaptation practices to weather variability and climate change in the forest-savannah transitional agro-ecological zone of Ghana

Abstract

Smallholders have long been adapting to climate change and have significantly been resilient to environmental changes long before the phenomenon attained societal recognition. The study uses the qualitative approach to data collection and analysis to explore how smallholders’ adaptation practices negatively impact on the environment. The results indicate that the various adaptation practices adopted both indigenous and now modern practices are aimed at improving yield, increasing income and sustaining household food supply in a small farming community in the Wenchi Municipality of Ghana. Farmers’ adaptive capacity were influenced by biophysical, socio-economic and institutional/political factors mainly soil fertility, financial resources, age, gender and access to extension services. Even though smallholders are considered as the custodians of the natural environment, the chosen adaptation practices of farmers in the study area have been threatening to the environment. The practices adopted were found to have led to change in plant and animal ecology and soil nutrients with repercussions on farming activities and food security. The unintended environmental impacts caused by smallholders’ adaptation practices in Wenchi were found to be driven by poverty, ignorance and inadequate information from extension services. Even though smallholders have some environmental concerns about their chosen practices, the need to maximize profit has hindered their intention of maintaining the natural environment. For smallholders to successfully adapt to climate change and still be custodians of the natural environment, specific factors that affect adaptation to climate change and sustainable agricultural practices among them should be properly tackled. This calls for collaboration between various stakeholders as smallholders remain central to the provision of food and the sustenance of the ecosystem both in the short and long term.