Why “formal” climate adaptation strategies fail in sub-Saharan Africa: Ignoring adapters’ agency in the case of smallholding agriculture farming practices in Bono East Region of Ghana
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Date
2022
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RMets
Abstract
This paper reviewed a body of literature on climate adaptation options in sub-
Saharan Africa’s (SSA) smallholding agriculture and complemented it with a
case study involving experts interviews, focus group discussions, large-scale
household surveys, and farmer practices observation while drawing insight from
the concept of “everyday adaptation and interrupted agency” and agency theory
to assess farmer perceived limitations with climate-smart agriculture (CSA)
and climate-wise food systems (CWFS) practices for climate adaptation in the
SSA. The study noted that the narrow focus on CSA and/or CWFS as a silver bullet
for climate change adaptation suitable for smallholding agriculture ignores
food producers’ agency to undermine sustainable and inclusive adaptation solutions.
Moreover, smallholder farmers’ everyday climate adaptation practices
could be grouped into three categories; on-farm adaptation, off-farm adaptation,
and Indigenous agroecological adaptation options. The on-farm adaptation
options are usually agriculture intensification and extensification. The off-farm
adaptation options include livelihood diversification activities, petty trading,
seasonal labor jobs, and migration. The Indigenous agroecological adaptation
strategy uses observing nature and weather elements to predict the onset of
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This article is published by RMets and is also available at https://doi.org/10.1002/cli2.53
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https://doi.org/10.1002/cli2.53