Intra-household decision-making and perceived climate change resilience among smallholder farmers in semi-arid northern Ghana

Keywords: Climate change resilience; household decision-making; smallholder farmers; UWR; Ghana
Session Type: Virtual Paper
Day: Wednesday
Session Start / End Time: 4/7/2021 11:10 AM (Pacific Time (US & Canada)) - 4/7/2021 12:25 PM (Pacific Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 12

Abstract

Climate change vulnerability remains a major challenge for smallholder farmers. There is consensus that the climate change resilience of smallholder farming households could be enhanced if agricultural decision-making incorporates the perspectives of all household members. Yet in smallholder farming communities such as northern Ghana, deep-seated socio-cultural and intra-household structures continue to influence joint decision-making. Although smallholder climate resilience has received enormous research attention, the role of household decision-making arrangements on climate resilience remains underexplored. Using cross-sectional data (n = 1100) from the Upper West Region of Ghana (UWR), we examined the relationship between smallholder household decision-making arrangements and their perceived resilience to climate change impacts. Findings from a regression analysis indicate that households practicing joint decision-making were more likely (OR=3.74, p≤0.001) to report good resilience compared to households with only male head decision-makers. Moderately food insecure (OR=3.45, p≤0.001) households were also more likely to report good resilience. In contrast, households with primary farmers aged between 46 to 59 (OR=0.36, p≤0.05) and formally educated (OR=0.47, p≤0.01) were less likely to report good resilience. In a context with age-long sociocultural beliefs and practices, our findings highlight the importance of joint decision-making in climate change resilience, and the need for practical programs that are aimed at encouraging intra-household decision-making toward climate change resilience.