Majeed Abdul-Razak|Sylvia Kruse
The adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers to climate change in the Northern Region of Ghana
University of Freiburg|University of Freiburg
climate change expected adversely affect agricultural production particularly subsaharan africa agricultural sector forms backbone countries economies thus holds true agriculture sector northern region ghana largely rainfed dominated smallholder farmers minimal livelihood alternatives main research question paper adaptive capacity climate change smallholder farmers northern region ghana characterised paper proposes indicatorbased framework assessing adaptive capacity smallholder farmers northern region ghana along six main determinants adaptive capacity economic resources social capital awareness training technology infrastructure institutions based thorough literature review qualitative interviews experts rural livelihoods agriculture study region determinants ranked three five indicators per determinant selected results expert interviews show economic resources awareness training well technological capacities seem relevant smallholder farmers adaptive capacity infrastructure social capital institutions ranked least important study operationalized indicators standardized survey questionnaire tested two agrarian communities northern region ghana survey results show aggregate adaptive capacity respondents low however disparities adaptive capacity recorded among respondents terms gender education differentiating determinants women farmer show significantly lower capacities fields economic resources technology knowledge awareness paper recommends resilience building interventions study area target individuals low adaptive capacities especially women farmers without formal education