Contract farming and the adoption of climate change coping strategies

This study examined the effect of contract farming and the adoption of coping strategies of climate change on crop farmers output in the Northern region of Ghana. It involved 230 crop farmers selected through multi-stage sampling procedure. Majority of the farmers perceived that climate change was increasing, and as a result, crop outputs were reducing. The major coping strategies to climate change were spraying of farms, sowing in rows, mixed farming, mixed cropping, and crop rotation. Contract farming had a positive influence on the adoption of coping strategies. Older farmers, male farmers and farmers who had more contacts with extension and research staff had a higher probability of going into contract farming. Among the contract farmers, adoption of more coping strategies, hired labour and ploughing cost significantly and positively influenced crop output. Also, among the non-contract farmers, larger quantities of seed and ploughing cost were required to increase crop output. The study recommends that development actors should encourage farmers to enter into contract farming as it impacts positively on the adoption of coping strategies and for that matter crop output.