It is no secret that Africa is currently bearing the brunt of climate change impact despite its minimal contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions that have been the main driver of the global warming phenomena that accelerates climate change.
By Assan Ng’ombe
The effects of global warming, have manifested through extreme and more intense weather events such as drought, erratic rainfall, windstorms, cyclones and the consequential losses in land degradation, and soil fertility, which are exacerbated by pests and increasing temperatures pose a major threat to Africa’s health, livelihoods, and food security.
Like many African countries, Ghana is experiencing changes in temperature, rainfall patterns, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as floods that occur in high rainfall areas in the centre and towards the west and southwest of the country, droughts that have mainly affected the northern and southeastern parts of the country. Storms have similarly increased in frequency and intensity in the country over the last couple of decades. These impacts have significant implications for the country’s economy, food security, and the livelihoods of its people, particularly since most people depend on agriculture for their living.
Agriculture employs over 50% of Ghana’s workforce, provides more than 60% of rural household income, and ensures food security through smallholder farmers. The sector is central to the reduction of poverty as smallholder farmers are often among the poorest people in the country. Despite its importance, the sector remains underperforming due to several factors including limitations in capacities and limited investment.
Smallholder farmers usually face the brunt of these impacts oftentimes because they lack the resources and skills to face these unexpected crises. Smallholder farmers and adjacent communities stand to benefit from policies and practices that mitigate the impacts of climate change, such as increased investments in the adoption of technologies that will enhance adaptation capacities. It is important to note that climate change affects different communities in different ways. Adaptation efforts must therefore be localized and context-specific.
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To address these challenges, appropriate action to adopt an integrated approach to agriculture and environmental management, increase risk preparedness, promote sustainable energy production, modernize transport systems, and build more resilient infrastructure systems is needed. In this regard, the government of Ghana set out to implement several reforms to transform the agricultural sector. Notably, the flagship program “Planting for Food and Jobs” (PFJ) has been used as an investment vehicle for enhancing food security and livelihoods. Priorities include improving public expenditure in the implementation capacity of government programmes and projects, enhancing extension systems, improving market access, promoting of relevant agriculture technologies and capacity building of key actors in the sector. There have also been strategic investments in infrastructure that enhance the efficiency of the sector.
Investing in climate-resilient practices at the various stages in value chains – production, storage, processing, and marketing can be a challenge. An integrated approach, therefore, that encompasses climate change and agriculture-related interventions is needed to ensure pay off, in the long run, of stabilizing crop yields, boosting incomes, improving the nutritional value of produce, building systems that provide early warning information, building systems that integrate natural resources and ecological integrity in agriculture systems at community level that will aggregately turn into national impact.
Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and its National Adaptation Policy Framework emphasize the principle of community-led adaptation and the centrality of locally relevant and appropriate climate adaptation measures. These policy documents emphasize the need for sector players to prioritize initiatives that focus on enhancing sustainable management of forest resources, promotion of climate-resilient agriculture, expanding agriculture insurance coverage, supporting community-led conservation efforts, establishing early warning systems to mitigate impacts of events such as floods, droughts and pest infestations, and strengthening disaster risk management measures. Ghana, like many, African countries, has work to do to ensure that national policies, programmes and resources are directed towards an outcome-based integrated system. To succeed in dealing with these knowledge-intensive and unpredictable development challenges the need for evidence at policy and project level is imperative.
Africa’s development pathways therefore require a strong foundation in evidence, science, and continuous learning to be able to deal with today’s unpredictable externalities. Basing policies on data-driven experience and research, can will help us identify the most effective intervention pathways for challenges like climate change, demographic pressures and or economic instability. For example, research can pinpoint agricultural practices that are most resilient to drought, allowing policymakers and the private sector to design programs and products that support farmers in adapting to a changing climate. Similarly, scientific analysis can help us understand the root causes of economic downturns, enabling the development of targeted policies to stimulate growth and job creation. The use of science, such as in predictive modelling can allow us to assess the potential impact of policies before they are implemented. This can be particularly important in complex areas like food systems, where poorly designed or implemented policies can have unintended consequences. An evidence-based, dynamic environment in Africa that leverages science and continuous learning is key to navigating the complexities of our food systems and building a more resilient Africa.
In the coming week AGRA, ICED and its partners will be converging in Accra, Ghana, to showcase evidence in action and learning in its work across Africa in building resilience extension systems, climate-smart agriculture, seed systems development integrated soil health and regenerative systems.
Ng’ombe is a Resilience Officer at AGRA
