Cocoa-Based Information and Knowledge Acceptability and Rural Poverty in the Eastern Region of Ghana

This study examines cocoa-based information and knowledge acceptability and rural household poverty in East Akim and Atiwa Districts in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Weighted mean score was used to rank the degree of acceptability of the cocoa-based information and knowledge. Foster Greer Thorbecke (FGT) poverty measures were used to access the poverty level of farmers. Cocoa production messages were well disseminated and acceptable to farmers with regards to attributes of practicability, user-friendliness, reliability and relevance. Cocoa marketing information was moderately disseminated whereas messages on cocoa financing as well as ICT were poorly disseminated. The study recommends that information and knowledge packaged for farmers should be realistic, practical and relevant to encourage high adoption to improve the lives of the rural farm families.  Government, NGOs and private business organizations should implement programmes which aim at increasing the household income through access to production credit, ease of access to land for increased farm size and timely supply of farm input will go a long way to bail the farm households out of poverty. Keywords: Cocoa Farmers, Information Acceptability, Rural Poverty, FGT, Eastern Region, Ghana

Climate Change Awareness and Coping Strategies of Cocoa Farmers in Rural Ghana

The study assessed the perception of farmers on the awareness, causes and impact of climate change on their farming activities. The study further identifies and describes the various coping strategies adopted by farmers and ways of improving upon them to effectively tackle change in climatic conditions. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, such as frequencies, and percentages. The other key technique that was employed to address the objective includes the Chi square analysis. The findings indicates that, the ( ) calculated (25.846) is greater than critical (18.307); implying that, respondents (cocoa farmers) in all the cocoa growing regions in the country are much aware of climate change and its impact on their farming activities ranging from the time of planting cocoa to the time of harvesting and drying cocoa beans. Main causes of climate change by farmers’ perception include God’s plan signifying the end of time, usage of heavy machines on land, air and water, deforestation, indiscriminate bush burning before farming or in search of game, farming alongside river bodies and illegal mining. Amongst the coping strategies identified include the soil fertility strategy, shade management strategy, land preparation strategy, farm size strategy and lining and pegging strategy.  It evident that the existing agencies and government bodies have not been responsive enough in addressing the climatic problems, forecasting skills and opportunities facing cocoa farmers as crucial factors of risk posed by climate change. The study advocates that government and stakeholders should put up educational programmes tailored to meet the climatic information needs of farmers especially the causes to enable them cope with the emerging challenges to enhance their production. This could be realized through effective extension services. Keywords: Cocoa Farmers, Climate Change, Chi square, Coping strategies, Rural Ghana.