Recommendation domains to scale out climate change adaptation in cocoa production in Ghana

Bunn, Christian; Läderach, Peter; Quaye, Amos Kojo; Muilerman, Sander; Noponen, Martin R.A.; Lundy, Mark

doi:10.1016/j.cliser.2019.100123

Cited by 41 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Increased land sharing in mixed forest systems resulted in fewer gains of agricultural production in poorer regions compared to the GS scenario. However, given expected climate change impacts on the region, such landscapes can offer opportunities for climate change adaptation to reduce the vulnerability of smallholder incomes through farm diversification (Schroth et al 2016;Bunn et al 2019). Besides, mixed forest systems with crop-grass-tree combinations can mimic the ecological structure of natural habitats at smaller spatial scales and can contribute to biodiversity conservation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These interventions allowed for synergies with food production, climate change mitigation, and forest biodiversity conservation at the scale of the study region but reduced the area of mixed forest with agriculture that combines landscape services at smaller spatial scales, such as agricultural diversity and access to forest mosaics. Thus, in the context of different interests in the region and expected impacts of climate change, adaptation strategies, such as sustainable intensification of agroforestry and the diversification of crops, can be useful to secure multiple interests across the landscape (Schroth et al 2016;Bunn et al 2019). In this context, there are several synergies between climate change mitigation efforts and climate change adaptation in forest systems that are inherent to forest landscape restoration and climate-smart forest management (e.g., REDD+) (FAO 2010).…”

Section: Implications For Integrated Landscape Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contextualizing local landscape initiatives in global change: a scenario study for the high forest zone, Ghana

et al. 2020

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Integrated landscape management (ILM) has received increased interest to reconcile multiple conflicting demands on a landscape scale. ILM aims at addressing major interconnected global challenges, such as poverty, food security, deforestation, and climate change. A principal element of ILM is the consideration of multiple scales, harmonizing local-level needs and ambitions with those that derive from outside the landscape. ILM initiatives are most often initiated by local actors focusing on local priorities, thereby insufficiently realizing that the landscape is embedded in a wider macroeconomic and societal context. We contextualize a landscape initiative located in the high forest zone of southern Ghana, focusing on global socioeconomic and political developments that are expected to have an influence on the region. We built two “sustainability” scenarios for the period between 2015 and 2030, reflecting the demands and ambitions of local stakeholders (bottom-up) and of global environmental policy (top-down) for the region. We find that global climate and cocoa production priorities could induce synergies between food production, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation at the scale of the case study region but could come at the cost of mixed forest systems that play an important role in livelihoods on the landscape scale. Land change scenarios can play a critical role in assessing and visualizing such interactions and provide a platform for discussion and negotiation on how to integrate different objectives in the design of landscape initiatives.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications For Integrated Landscape Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextualizing local landscape initiatives in global change: a scenario study for the high forest zone, Ghana

et al. 2020

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“…The fragile cocoa crop is particularly vulnerable to all of these climatic changes. Irrigation can be used as a 'climate-smart' technique, however irrigating cocoa is rare since poorly-resourced smallholders are impeded by a variety of social, technical, and economic challenges (Bunn et al, 2019b), and likely 0.5% or less of Ghanaian cocoa is irrigated (Carr and Lockwood, 2011). Given irrigation's impracticability, those who farm cocoa must employ other adaptive techniques to minimize the impact that decreased and erratic precipitation will have on their cocoa yields.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural Information's Impact on the Adaptive Capacity of Ghana's Smallholder Cocoa Farmers

Maguire‐Rajpaul

Khatun

Hirons

2020

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Ghanaian smallholders grow one quarter of the world's cocoa, but climate change, individual extreme weather events, such as droughts, as well as deforestation increasingly threaten cocoa production. Pertinent information could bolster adaptive capacity. However, in Ghana's cocoa sector, relevant agricultural information is not available to all farmers, which can exacerbate power asymmetries. This paper focuses on how (i) agricultural and drought-adaptive information and (ii) socioeconomic characteristics shape a cocoa farmer's adaptive capacity. We conducted our study in the aftermath of 2015-16's prolonged El Niño-induced drought that negatively impacted the livelihoods of cocoa smallholders across Ghana. In 48 semi-structured interviews and 12 focus groups, we asked smallholders how they responded to the drought to decipher how adaptive capacity compares between farmers receiving four different sources of agricultural information, and of diverse socioeconomic status. Overall, agricultural information improved cocoa farmers' adaptive capacity compared to those who received no formal agricultural information. Smallholders detailed adaptive techniques that would be accessible to, and thus replicable by, other poorly-resourced cocoa farmers. Shade tree management and income diversification were identified as pertinent adaptive actions. However, we identified a divergence between exposure to agricultural information and its transformation into substantive adaptive action. Additionally, informal information sharing between smallholders represents an underutilized resource by extension programmes. We found that adaptive capacity is also determined by socioeconomic characteristics: particularly gender, and to a lesser extent formal education level, proximity to asphalt roads, and land tenure. Finally, we present evidence that framing adaptive techniques in relatable terms that resonate with farmers' immediate livelihood concerns could narrow the adaptation deficit prevalent in Ghana's cocoa sector.

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“…In Ghana, for example, cocoa is grown by 800,000 smallholder farmers and contributes 16% of gross domestic product. 69 Trees are important at the household level too, where benefits make up a significant fraction of household incomes in multiple countries. 70 Across Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda, tree products provide 6% of total annual income for all rural households and 17% for households that specifically cultivate trees.…”

Section: Food and Nutrition Securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Planetary Health Perspective on Agroforestry in Sub-Saharan Africa

Rosenstock¹,

Dawson

Aynekulu

et al. 2019

One Earth

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Recommendation domains to scale out climate change adaptation in cocoa production in Ghana

Cited by 41 publications

References 37 publications

Contextualizing local landscape initiatives in global change: a scenario study for the high forest zone, Ghana

Contextualizing local landscape initiatives in global change: a scenario study for the high forest zone, Ghana

Agricultural Information's Impact on the Adaptive Capacity of Ghana's Smallholder Cocoa Farmers

A Planetary Health Perspective on Agroforestry in Sub-Saharan Africa

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