Factors Influencing Sustainable Land and Water Management Technologies Uptake in Northern Ghana

Climate change continues as a threat to smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana, which is arid in nature and prone to draught conditions. Sustainable Land and Water Management (SLWM) technologies have been introduced to smallholder farmers in the area as adaptation strategies to mitigate the negative effects of climate change. Adoption of the SLWM technologies have the potential of reducing the negative impact of climate change, and also improve crop yield. There is a death in knowledge in understanding factors that influence the uptake of the SLWM technologies in Northern Ghana. The study therefore, examined the factors influencing SLWM technology uptake in Northern Ghana. The study was undertaken among 300 smallholder farmers in the three Northern Regions of Ghana through a multi-stage sampling technique. Data were gathered through a survey and a Poisson model was employed to assess the drivers and intensity of adoption. Results showed that factors such as support received, labour, water availability, exposure, access to information and farm size influenced the uptake of the SLWM technologies. The study recommends that policy makers should work towards improving the factors that influence the uptake of the SLWM technologies. It is also important to adopt private-public partnership model in the implementation of the SLWM technologies.