Climate-Smart Agriculture and Poverty Reduction in Ejisu-Juaben Municipality of Ghana

Climate change has emerged as a worldwide development issue affecting many sectors of the global economy, especially agriculture. Expected effects of climate change on agriculture, food security, and poverty are raising global concerns. The increase in agricultural production over the past years has been due to land area expansion with very little change in production strategies. Agriculture is the most important economic sector of Ghana, and central to the survival of most people, especially in Ejisu-Juaben Municipality where agriculture is the mainstay of most inhabitants. However, crop cultivation in the municipality is primarily subsistence and rain-fed, but changing climate affects harvest and food production. For sustainable food security, and for agriculture to feed the world in a way that can ensure sustainable rural development, it must become ‘climate-smart’. This, therefore led the researcher to assess the farmers’ adaptation strategies used for climate change and to assess the climate-smart on-farm land-use and water management strategies that can be adopted by smallholder farmers in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality. Attention would be given to farmers’ climate-smart adaptation strategies and poverty reduction linkages in the municipality. The mixed approach was employed and a sample of 406 respondents was used. Mixed sampling techniques comprising stratified and multi-stage sampling methods were employed for the study. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics embedded in SPSSv20. Results confirmed that farmers in the municipality employed several Climate-Smart Agriculture practices which helped in reducing the incidence of poverty and food insecurity