Professor Samuel Donkor, Dean, School of Applied Economics and Management Sciences at University for Development Studies, has urged government to address the negative impact of climate change on agricultural productivity in rural areas.
He said, “The uncertainty inherent in rainfall and extreme climate events is affecting food security, especially in rural communities.”
Professor Donkor made the call at a multi-
stakeholder dialogue on climate change in Tamale on the theme: “Building Inclusive Climate Mitigation and Adaptation in Northern Ghana”.
It was organised by Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung in collaboration with Youth Advocacy on Right and Opportunities (YARO) and General Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU).
It was to provide a platform to generate new strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change in the northern part of the country.
Professor Donkor said climate induced events were on the rise, and concrete steps needed to be taken to deal with the human aspects that contributed to climate change effects.
He called on the citizenry to adopt green energy sources such as gas and solar energy and climate smart agriculture in their communities to reduce the effects of climate change on humans.
Mrs Emeliy Ghansah, Head of Education and Training at GAWU, noted that mostly women were the vulnerable and had difficulty to access land and security livelihoods due to inheritance rules and land tenure relations in the rural areas.
Mr Edward kareweh, General Secretary of GAWU, called on civil society organisations to support government for extension training programmes on the impact of climate change for farmers in rural areas.
He added that government should also enforce the policy on climate change and to educate communities on the effects of climate change.
Ms Eunice Asiedu, Programmes Coordinator of Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung, expressed need for government to develop climate smart agriculture and subsidise seeds, inputs and equipment to farmers in rural areas to enhance food security in the country.
Mr Bennin Hajel, Director of YARO, advised government to pay more attention to northern Ghana’s economy, which he indicated was highly dependent on agricultural production.
