Browsing by Author "Osei, Sampson"

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    Analyzing the intersection of climate vulnerability and household food insecurity in northern Ghana: a sustainable livelihoods approach
    (University of the Western Cape, 2024) Osei, Sampson; Karriem, Abdulrazak
    Achieving food security in the face of accelerating food demand, competition for depleting resources, and the failing ability of the environment to buffer increasing anthropogenic impacts is globally accepted as the foremost challenge of the present time. Without doubt, climate change is one among a set of interconnected trends and risks facing agriculture and food systems, especially in the rural settings of developing countries. In Africa, rural households are adversely impacted by climate change. This is because, besides institutional challenges regarding effective implementation of adaptation policies, rural households depend on natural resource-based livelihoods, and have the weakest ability to adapt to the impacts, rendering them more vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. The Northern Ghana region is characterised by high incidence of poverty and food insecurity among rural households, due to among others, biophysical factors such as the unimodal nature of rainfall, and the socio-economic, institutional and political factors that affect the livelihoods of the people. Among the six questions, the principal question is, what are the intersections between climate vulnerability and food insecurity at the rural household level? In answering this and other questions, the study draws on the sustainable livelihoods framework and other theories to ascertain the state of climate vulnerability and the food security status of rural households, and how local institutions can enhance their adaptive and coping capacity through effective implementation of adaptation policies in Northern Ghana. The study was positioned within a combined strategy of concurrent triangulation and concurrent nested strategy, a mixed methodology approach that utilized interviews, focus group discussions, cross-sectional surveys and secondary data. Data was collected from 363 households and 11 institutions in Northern Ghana. In assessing rainfall anomaly, the Standard Precipitation Index was computed using Rain-Based Drought Indices Tool (RDIT) Software. Further, with the composite indicator approach, the extent of vulnerability of the municipalities and households in relation to livelihoods, climate change and food security was computed. With formative-formative higher order construct, smart PLS-SEM was used to estimate the extent to which food availability, accessibility, utilization, stability and other resilient factors influence rural household food security. Institutional diagnostics was carried out using online survey data and interviews. The Standard Precipitation Index showed that there has been high climate variability leading to series of droughts in Northern Ghana over the past 30 years. This implies that local communities have a high probability of being vulnerable to the impacts of drought because most smallholder farmers practice rainfed agriculture. As hypothesised, the estimation of the vulnerability indices showed that climate change contributes significantly to vulnerability in Northern Ghana due to high level of exposure as opposed the adaptive capacity. The overall livelihood effect index (0.512) was greater than the overall livelihood vulnerability index (0.495), leading to a percentage change of 3.43. This suggests that in the study region, households’ level is affected by 3.34 percent more than if we consider the livelihood in the sight of the entire region. The overall level of vulnerability due to climate change was 0.052 and this differs across the four sampled municipalities. Using the assets pentagon, about 45 percent of the households fall within the cluster of “high vulnerability”. The level of vulnerability is reflected in the coping behaviour as households engage in food-acquiring activities and often change their eating behaviour to combat food insecurity. Out of the 12 coping strategies identified in this study, the three strategies employed by more than 70 percent of households are “consume less preferred and less expensive foods”; “borrow food or rely on friends or relatives for food” and “ration the money you had to buy prepared food”. Skipping the entire day without eating was employed by about 16 percent of households to cushion the food insecurity situation. Estimating rural food security as unobservable variable, the results of the smart PLS showed that there are diverse biophysical, socio-economic, political, and institutional factors that intersect to influence food security, directly and indirectly. Food availability, accessibility, utilization and stability have positive and significant effects on rural household food security. Among these, food utilisation is the most important dimension that influences rural household food security, followed by food stability. Besides, there are other resilient factors that significantly influence all four dimensions of food security. Local institutions including microfinance, were found to have significant role in improving the livelihoods and food security at the both the community and the household level. However, institutions are constrained by key factors, thereby impacting on the efficiency of the implementation of climate change adaptation policies and strategies. Based on the findings, it is recommended, among others and in broad terms, that relevant stakeholders should support community economic empowerment programmes and transform rural policy environments.
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    Social capital and climate change adaptation strategies : the case of smallholder farmers in the Central region of Ghana
    (University of the Western Cape, 2016) Osei, Sampson; Karriem, Abdulrazak
    Agriculture in Ghana is dominated by smallholder farmers who are faced with unpredictable rainfall and extreme weather events. Climate modelling forecasts that the rate at which precipitation will decrease in the country is far more than the rate at which it will increase during the wet season. It is predicted that rain-fed maize output will decrease below 25 percent in all the ten regions of the country by 2020 if nothing is done. To mitigate the effect of climate change and safeguard food security, the country must undertake measures to adapt to the changing climate. The process of adaptation, therefore, involves the interdependence of agents through their relation with each other. This includes the institution in which the agents reside and the resource based on which they depend. The resource embedded in such relationship has been termed social capital. Empirical studies on social capital and climate change adaptation is lacking, especially in Ghana. Based on this, the study assesses the influence of social capital on climate change adaptation strategies among smallholder farmers in the Central region of Ghana. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. Primary data was collected using household questionnaires, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. K-means cluster analysis was used to identify weak and strong ties and four individual social capital variables. Twenty-year maize and rainfall data were analysed using trend analysis. The influence of individual social capital and other controlled variables were analysed using Multinomial logit model. Using 225 sampled households the results of the study showed that all the four identified individual social capital variables differ by sex. The perceptions of climate change among smallholder farmers also differ significantly by location. The four individual social capital variables as well as other controlled variables influence at least one indigenous adaptation strategy and one introduced adaptation strategy. The study recommends, among others, that transfer of climate change adaptation techniques or technology to smallholder farmers should not be solely accomplished through the usual technology transfer network of agricultural researchers and extension agents. Rather, it will be imperative to increased contact with a wide variety of local actors who provide information and resources for agricultural production.