When the Rain Doesn’t Come: Small Farmers Battle Climate Change

By Baaba

Wa, Upper West Region — For 60-year-old farmer Alhaji Iddrisu, the sky used to be a dependable clock. By early May, the rains would arrive — nourishing his maize and groundnut fields in the village of Wechiau. But this year, like many before, the clouds gathered and passed. No rain. No crops. No income.

“I planted twice,” he says, staring at a cracked patch of land. “The seeds died both times. Now, I have nothing.”

Across Ghana, especially in the northern savannah regions, climate change is no longer theory — it’s daily life. And for the country’s smallholder farmers, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

A Fragile Backbone

Smallholder farmers — those working on less than 2 hectares of land — produce over 80% of Ghana’s food supply. But their work is increasingly under threat from:

Delayed or erratic rainfall
Rising temperatures and soil degradation
Increased frequency of floods and droughts
Pest outbreaks like armyworms and locusts

According to the Ghana Meteorological Agency, the average rainy season is now 15–30 days shorter than two decades ago — often disrupting planting and harvesting cycles.

The Human Cost

For families like Alhaji’s, the impact is brutal:

Food insecurity — with some farming households eating only once a day during the lean season
Economic instability — due to poor harvests and lost income
Rural-urban migration — as youth leave villages for jobs in cities
Emotional strain — tied to the loss of identity and land-based traditions

“I’ve been a farmer all my life,” says 45-year-old Amina Fuseini, who grows millet in Savelugu. “But now, I’m thinking of selling my land and starting a provisions shop.”

A Broken Calendar

Traditional knowledge, once reliable, is now failing.

“Elders used to predict rain from the moon and wind,” says Alhaji. “Now the signs lie.”

Agricultural calendars are out of sync:

Seeds rot when planted too early
Fertilizer timing is off
Crops flower during dry spells
Harvests clash with sudden rains

Farmers are now forced to gamble with planting — hoping the skies will cooperate.

Fighting Back: Community Innovations

Despite the challenges, some farmers are adapting:

Zai pits — small planting holes that conserve moisture in arid soils
Composting and mulching to restore degraded land
Rotating crops to reduce pest infestations
Forming cooperatives to pool resources for irrigation or bulk-buying inputs

In Bawku, a group of women farmers has collectively installed a solar-powered drip irrigation system for their tomatoes and onions — allowing year-round cultivation.

“It’s expensive at first,” says Amina, “but cheaper than planting and losing.”

The Role of Government and NGOs

Various interventions have emerged:

The Planting for Food and Jobs program distributes seeds and subsidized fertilizer
The Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) supports small-scale water schemes
NGOs like CARE Ghana and ActionAid run climate adaptation workshops
Pilot programs are testing climate-smart agriculture in vulnerable zones

But gaps remain:

Access to irrigation is still limited
Many rural farmers lack knowledge about insurance or weather apps
Inputs arrive late or don’t suit local conditions

“We need more than handouts,” says Alhaji. “We need systems that work.”

Women at the Frontlines

Women, who make up about 70% of agricultural labor in northern Ghana, are often hardest hit — yet also most innovative.

Amina, for instance, now teaches others how to make organic pesticides from neem leaves and pepper.

“Climate change doesn’t respect gender,” she says. “But we won’t sit and cry. We adapt.”

The Bigger Picture

Ghana signed the Paris Agreement and has pledged to reduce carbon emissions while protecting agriculture. But real solutions require:

Investment in irrigation infrastructure
Climate education in local languages
Early warning systems for extreme weather
Research and development of resilient seeds
Market access and fair pricing for farmers

Climate scientist Dr. Ebenezer Kofi of the University of Development Studies puts it bluntly: “Without adapting smallholder farming, we risk national food security.”

Final Thought

When the rain doesn’t come, it doesn’t just dry the soil — it drains futures, upends traditions, and drives entire communities to the brink.

But from zai pits to solar pumps, Ghana’s small farmers are refusing to give up.

“I don’t know what tomorrow will bring,” says Alhaji. “But I’ll still plant. Because hope grows even where rain does not.”