Some data between 1983 and1987 were unavailable and so were not used for the analyses. Rainfall data over the last five years as well as temperature data from 1983 to 2014were analysed in determining current rainfall trends in the study area. Maize production data was also obtained from the assembly of the Municipality for analysis. The study relied on survey, qualitative interviews and focus group discussions to obtain essential field data from the selected farming communities. The survey was administered among some selected maize farming communities in the Municipality of which purposive and accidental sampling techniques were used to enhance diversity of the respondents. The purposive technique was used to obtain the farming communities, percentage of male and female farmers as respondents, and selection of key informants. The key informants were made up of the aged, chiefs, a meteorologist and an agricultural officer. Any farmer chanced upon was also given the opportunity to answer the questionnaire .
The survey questions included close-ended as well as a few open-ended questions,most of which sought information on respondents’ perception on climate change and variability, farm size, variety of maize cultivated, farming system,application of fertiliser and other coping strategies meant to reduce the effects of low yields. The survey was conducted face-to-face with the respondents in different locations and in different communities. The questions were read and translated into Akan for the respondents to answer.In all, 12 key informants were interviewed to gain information about their views on climate change and variability impacts on maize farming in the Municipality.Seven of the respondents were maize farmers; three were elders from the chief’s palace whose ages were between 65 and 73 years and the rest were farmers. At least, one respondent came from each of the five farming communities in the study area. Apart from these key informants, one of the Municipal Agricultural Officers was also interviewed. Lastly, a staff of Ghana Meteorological Agency was interviewed. The questions in these qualitative interviews were unstructured, but were administered with the help of an interview guide. The themes covered were similar to those in the questionnaire survey, but were more interactive and probing, seeking information on climate change and variability of the study area, adaptation of the farmers,etc. with ample opportunity for the informants to provide extensive personal narratives.
The interviews were done in the participants’ homes or residences and were tape-recorded with their permission and later transcribed.Two FGDs were organised at the end of the data collection in two communities.Averagely the two FGDs were made up of three females and seven male farmers. The focus groups dealt with the changing climate and variability in the area, its impacts both positive and negative on their livelihoods, their adaptive capabilities to alleviate the challenges posed by the changing climate and economic/financial assistance they received elsewhere to support themselves.All the deliberations were videoed with the permission of the discussants and later transcribed. The selection was made based on how well they answered questions during the survey . Twenty-nine percent of the respondents had not received any formal education with only 5.5% of the respondents having attained tertiary level education.Most of the respondents were Junior High School /Middle School graduates,representing 40.9% of the respondents. Data from the survey indicated that males were better educated than females. About 34.8% of the female farmers had not received formal education, whereas 26.6% of the males had no formal education. A study in Pakistan revealed that if producers are educated,it enhances the application of best farming practices in tomato production.
According to 39.1% of the respondents, the major challenge which confronted the farmers in the transitional zone was rainfall. This challenge had to do with the late onset of the major and minor rainy seasons and the early cessation of the minor season. Challenges with regard to climate affecting farming might not necessarily be increasing temperatures since the monthly annual air temperatures for the study area from GMet was between 29.5˚C -34.3˚C which is within the optimal range for lowland maize in the tropics according to . It was rather the erratic rainfall pattern characteristic of both seasons that had affected crop yields as it was also reported by .Apart from rainfall irregularity, another challenge militating against farming was capital/money according to 30.0% of the respondents. Financial institutions feared the risk of farmers not being able to repay their loans due to erratic or failure of rainfall and thus were not prepared to finance the farmers. For financial support from the banks, farmers needed to provide two guarantors who were on government pay roll but these government workers were also not sure about whether the farmers would be able to pay back the loans due to the uncertainty of rainfall .Another challenge facing farmers in the field was pest and disease infestation according to 15.0% of the respondents.