Paper short abstract:

The paper analyses the knowledge systems for climate change adaptation in rice production among farmers, agricultural extension agents and researchers in the Northern Region of Ghana.

Paper long abstract:

Ghana imports about 680,000 metric tonnes of rice annually to make up the discrepancy in local production which is affected by climate change and weak linkages among the rice knowledge system actors. The linkages and interactions among researchers, agricultural extension agents and farmers is key to adaptation of climate change measures to improve rice production. The study used convergent parallel mixed methods to collect data from 340 farmers, 39 Agricultural Extension Agents (AEAs) and 34 researchers to analyse the knowledge systems towards climate change adaptation in rice production. Whilst researchers perceived level of linkages and interactions with stakeholders to be good, farmers and AEAs perceived them to be moderate. This was as a result of inadequate extension staff, inadequate involvement of farmers in research activities and knowledge generation, late compilation and submission of problems faced by farmers as well as inadequacy of funds and language barrier affecting the way and time knowledge is generated and shared. There existed a significant positive relationship between farmers' level of linkages and interactions and their yield and external sources of finance. The study recommends among others quarterly town hall meetings for farmers, AEAs and researchers to interact and share feedback information. Furthermore, hands-on experience as teaching method such as method demonstration and farmer field should be intensified to improve linkages among the knowledge system actors.