Changes in Rainfall Characteristics in Wenchi and Saltpond Farming Areas of Ghana

Abstract

See, stats, and : https : / / www . researchgate . net / publication / 315728027 Changes and Article DOI : 10 . 4236 / ijg . 2017 . 83015 CITATIONS 0 READS 72 5 , including : Some : Climate . (CCRL) View Dynamics Kwesi University 3 SEE Nana Ghana (GAEC) 22 SEE Francis University 3 SEE Kwadwo University 37 SEE All . The . Abstract Ghana ' s economy heavily relies on agriculture , which is predominantly rain - fed across its agro - ecological zones . As a result of this , it is vulnerable to rain - fall variability , which tends to have a major impact on the industrial and agri - cultural production sectors of the country . This study investigates the varia - tions occurring across two major farming areas (Wenchi and Saltpond) within the Transition and Coastal Savannah agro - ecological zones of Ghana respec - tively . Rainfall variations are studied with rainfall data from 1968 - 2011 from Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) . The rainfall analysis is done over two Climatological Periods (CP) , 1968 - 1989 as CP1 and 1990 - 2011 as CP2 . This study uses two climatic extreme indices as well as rainfall amounts and onset over these two agro - ecological zones to investigate the changes that have oc - curred in rainfall . The study found that in the Coastal agro - ecological zone , CP1 had a decreasing rainfall trend as compared to CP2 with higher varia - tions in Saltpond . In the Transition agro - ecological zone , Wenchi , CP1 also exhibited a decreasing trend as compared to CP2 . In addition , onset of rains in Saltpond mostly occurred in May for CP1 but for CP2 , it oscillated between April and May . For Wenchi , onset of rains was in March for CP1 and predo - minantly April for CP2 . In going forward , farmers in these agro - ecological zones should be supported to practice effective adaptation and mitigation measures so as to improve their yields in this challenging climate .