The impact of climate change on cocoa production and adaptation strategies adopted by cocoa farmers in Amansie West District, Ghana

Abstract

Climate change is one of the significant environmental challenges affecting the world. The extent of the effect of climate change is present in every country but it is expected to severely affect countries in Africa. The African agrarian economy is heavily reliant on climatic elements such as sunshine, increased temperature, and humidity as such it is expected to suffer the brunt of the effects of the climate change. Climate change is not a future phenomenon as the effects are expected to be present in most countries. In this light, this study seeks to study the impacts of climate change on cocoa production in Ghana and investigate the strategies adopted by cocoa farmers in the Amansie West district, Ghana. To get deeper and varied answers to the research questions, the study employs quantitative techniques to collect and analyze data. The study established that climate change had devastating effects on cocoa production in Africa and Ghana. In the Amansie West district, farmers reported increased sunshine, increasing temperature, and erratic rainfall and this has contributed to low cocoa yields as farmers reported that the cocoa trees wilted, delays in the maturity of the cocoa beans, and the reduction in the quality of the cocoa beans. Although the farmers adopted coping strategies to curb the influence of climatic changes, the results indicate that these coping mechanisms were generally ineffective. The study recommends the intensification of farmers’ education on the appropriate means of dealing with the impact of climate variability in cocoa farming.