Climate Change in Ghana, Global Warming and Food Insecurity Looms – USDA Report

The impacts of climate change are beginning to manifest on the entire globe and particularly on developing countries like Ghana. The country is vulnerable to rising sea levels, droughts, increasing temperatures, and erratic rainfall which adversely impacts infrastructure, hydropower production, food security, and coastal and agricultural livelihoods. To address these challenges, Ghana will need to rely on international donors to fund climate change interventions as the current economic climate in the country will not allow for Ghana to self-fund activities to address climate change according to the United States Department of Agriculture – USDA report.

The report cited by Certified News Gh indicated that Ghana is experiencing changes in temperature, rainfall patterns, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and storms. These impacts have significant implications for the country’s economy, food security, and the livelihoods of its people. To address these challenges, the Government needs appropriate action, an integrated approach to agriculture and environmental management, increase risk preparedness, promote sustainable energy production, modernize transport systems, and build more resilient infrastructure systems. The World Bank estimates that the yearly cost to fund and maintain interventions like the ones mentioned above will be approximately $2 billion a year.

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Currently, Ghana is dealing with an economic recession and is under an IMF financing program worth approximately $3 billion to lift itself out of its economic trouble. Rising inflation, which reached 52.8 percent in February 2023, coupled with the rapid depreciation of the Ghanaian Cedi (an estimated 55 percent to the U.S. dollar in 2022), along with global supply chain constraints and fiscal deficits have affected Ghana’s economic outlook. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine worsened these strains, causing food and gas price hikes. The cost of fertilizer, now in short supply, has tripled. After fervently rejecting the notion of turning to the IMF for support, the GOG made a U-turn in seeking assistance to alleviate the economic hardships the country is currently facing. For Ghana to self-fund interventions that address climate change is not realistic the report said.

Ghanaian Agricultural Production & Impacts from Climate Change

Ghana has two broad ecological zones, the Forest Zone, which covers 30 percent of the southern region, and the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone, which covers the remaining 70 percent of the country.

More than 55 percent of the country’s land area is dedicated to agriculture, 18 percent is considered arable while 14 percent is used as pasture. The Ghanaian agriculture sector is dominated by smallholder family farms that are predominantly rain-fed and therefore sensitive to changes in the climate. Erratic precipitation patterns have severe consequences on productivity as only 2 percent of the country’s irrigation potential is in use. An estimated 80 percent of farms are rain-fed, with few functioning irrigation systems. Most of these are small farms with an average size of less than 1.2 hectares. The agriculture sector plays an important role in the Ghanaian economy and provides employment for about 45 percent of the labor force on a formal and informal basis. Agriculture accounts for almost 20 percent of GDP and almost half of export earnings. Among the leading agricultural food crops harvested are cassava, corn, yam, peanuts, and sorghum while commercial crops include cocoa, palm oil, rubber, sugar cane, cotton, and tobacco. Ghana is the world’s second-largest cocoa producer and exporter behind neighboring Côte d’Ivoire. These two countries alone account for over two-thirds of the world’s cocoa supply.

Rising temperatures are projected to lower yields in major staple crops, for example, cassava yields are projected to fall by 29.6 percent by 2080 and corn yields by 7 percent by 20502. Rising temperatures are also likely to increase the presence of pests and diseases which can also lead to crop failure and reduced yields. Suitable areas for cocoa production, mainly along the coast, are also decreasing due to temperature increases, floods, soil salinization and continued coastal erosion. Additionally, yield losses may become more severe as the likelihood of inconsistent rainfall and the length of growing seasons shorten. Reduced rainfall will shorten growing seasons and bring on the desertification of agricultural land brought about by unsustainable farming practices such as limited crop rotation and poor soil management that further inhibit production. Agriculture and livestock, two of the sectors most impacted by weather-related threats, constitute the foundation of Ghana’s economy and a major employer of the economically active population. Climate change is already affecting Ghana’s water resources as damage and flood exposure is projected to result in damages worth $160 million annually.

Ghana’s fisheries sector is also a major local industry for the economy and Ghanaian diet. The fisheries sector includes oceanic fishing and inland freshwater fisheries in Lake Volta, Lake Botsumtwi and other reservoirs. Rising sea surface temperatures will continue to alter the migratory patterns and reproductive cycles of key species such as anchovies, sardines, tilapia, and catfish. A decline in the fisheries productivity because of climate change (along with overfishing) has forced Ghana to substantially increase seafood imports to satisfy local demand.

It is very clear that food insecurity looms if nothing is done to curtail the threat of climate change in Ghana.

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