Climate Change Adaptation Strategies Adopted by Smallholder Farmers and Its Effects on Food Security at Anloga in the Volta Region of Ghana, West Africa

Agriculture remains a significant part of the economies of countries around the world as it contributes to national gross domestic product (GDP), foreign exchange earnings, and food security. However, despite these contributions, the agricultural sector globally especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, is besieged with many challenges, paramount among them being climate change-related factors such as irregular rainfall patterns, increasing temperature, the incidence of droughts, and decreasing soil fertility. These problems have been found to have led to a fall in agricultural production globally including in developing countries like Ghana. On this premise, the present study sought to access the climate change adaptation strategies employed by smallholder farmers and its effects on food security at Anloga in the Volta Region of Ghana. The population for the study was crop farmers in the Anloga District who were selected using convenience sampling under non-probability sampling methods. The data collected was analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS version 20. The study results revealed the farmers in the study area are aware of the negative effects of climate change on agricultural production and therefore adopt adaptation strategies such as using resistant crop varieties, crop diversification, intercropping/mixed cropping, changing cropping calendar and using irrigation with irrigating being stated to be widely used and most effective adaptation strategy. Based on the results it was recommended that farmers at Anloga and other communities within the District and the Region at large be educated on the importance of using adaptation strategies that are suitable for their climate to enhance their crop production.