Economic Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and Food Security: A Comparative Study of Smallholder Farmers in Nigeria and Ghana

Climate change therefore brings a threat of poor production and food production in the Sub-Saharan region, especially in Nigeria and Ghana, to the smallholder farmers. This paper seeks to compare the economic losses resulting from climate variability on these farmers with regards to crop yields, farm income, and food security. The study uses both a survey with 200 smallholder farmers, 100 of them from Nigeria and the other 100 from Ghana, and in-depth interviews as a method of data collection. Reports indicate that climate change has caused fluctuating rainfall patterns, reduced rainfall duration, high temperatures, and severe weather, which all affect agricultural productivity. Temperature and irregular rainfall were cited as having the more negative impacts on the crop yields, and farmers from both countries also complained of reduced yields. The study also confirms the availability hypothesis, a hypothesis stating that there is a strong positiverelationship between low yields of agricultural production, famine, high prices, and low food supply in the household. Secondly, fluctuating prices, crop failures, and now a decline in farm incomes imply that many farmers are leaving farming in search of other employment, which increases the level of poverty within the rural regions. Even though some strategies like the use of drought-resistant crops, mixed cropping, agroforestry, and rainwater management have been put into practice by many smallholder farmers, they lack climate information, adequate support both from the government and NGOs, and capital to support them in the matter of climate change. The research finds that policy advocacy is compelling to promote policy innovations that would encourage and sustainably build up on climate change resilience in agriculture, increase the availability of climate change resources, and support institutions for small-scale producers. The following recommendations were made; Extend Climate Information Services, Strengthen Climate Adaptation Policies, Government and non-government organisations should supplement funding and technical assistance to the smallholder farmers to improve their capabilities, more on Climate Change Training and Securing Diversified Farmers’ Income. The social aspect comprises improving irrigation systems for climate-smart farming, capacity development, and financial support to enhance food production and the steadiness of the economic state in the concerned region.