Cost and benefit analysis of Climate-Smart Agriculture interventions in the dryland farming systems of northern Ghana

Felix KPENEKUU; Philip ANTWI-AGYEI; Fred NIMOH; Andrew DOUGILL; Albert BANUNLE; Jonathan ATTA-AIDOO; Frank BAFFOUR-ATA; Thomas Peprah AGYEKUM; Godfred ADDAI; Lawrence GUODAAR

doi:10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100196

Regional Sustainability >

2025 , Vol. 6 >Issue 1: 100196

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100196

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Cost and benefit analysis of Climate-Smart Agriculture interventions in the dryland farming systems of northern Ghana

Felix KPENEKUU ,
Philip ANTWI-AGYEI ,
Fred NIMOH ,
Andrew DOUGILL ,
Albert BANUNLE ,
Jonathan ATTA-AIDOO ,
Frank BAFFOUR-ATA ,
Thomas Peprah AGYEKUM ,
Godfred ADDAI ,
Lawrence GUODAAR

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^aDepartment of Environmental Science, College of Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, AK-385-1973, Ghana
^bDepartment of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, AK-385-1973, Ghana
^cDepartment of Environment and Geography, University of York, Heslington, YO105DD, the United Kingdom
^dDepartment of Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, AK-385-1973, Ghana
^eIndustry Skills Advisory Council, Parap, 0820, Australia
^fDepartment of Geography and Rural Development, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, AK-385-1973, Ghana

* E-mail address: maaliri516819@gmail.com (Felix KPENEKUU).

Received date: 2023-09-07

Accepted date: 2024-12-31

Online published: 2025-03-13

Copyright

2666-660X/© 2025 Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd., 2025, This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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Abstract

There is a need for more focus in understanding the economic benefits of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) interventions, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where extreme climate events are significantly affecting agriculture and rural livelihoods. This study used the Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR), and payback period to evaluate the economic viability of the adopted CSA interventions in the three villages (Doggoh, Jeffiri, and Wulling) of the dryland farming systems of northern Ghana, where CSA interventions were mostly practiced. Data were collected from 161 farm households by the questionnaire survey. The results showed that CSA interventions including livestock-crop integration, mixed cropping, crop rotation, nutrient integration, and tie ridging enhanced crop yield and the household income of smallholder farmers. The five CSA interventions selected by smallholders were in the following order of priority: livestock-crop integration (BCR=2.87), mixed cropping (BCR=2.54), crop rotation (BCR=2.24), nutrient integration (BCR=1.98), and tie ridging (BCR=1.42). Results further showed that livestock-crop integration was the most profitable CSA intervention even under a pessimistic assumption with a long payback period of 5.00 a. Moreover, this study indicated that the implementation of CSA interventions, on average, was relatively profitable and had a nominal financial risk for smallholder farmers. Understanding the economic viability of CSA interventions will help in decision-making process toward selecting the right CSA interventions for resilience development.

Key words： Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA); Economic viability; Internal Rate of Return (IRR); Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR); Payback period; Climate change

Cite this article

Felix KPENEKUU , Philip ANTWI-AGYEI , Fred NIMOH , Andrew DOUGILL , Albert BANUNLE , Jonathan ATTA-AIDOO , Frank BAFFOUR-ATA , Thomas Peprah AGYEKUM , Godfred ADDAI , Lawrence GUODAAR . Cost and benefit analysis of Climate-Smart Agriculture interventions in the dryland farming systems of northern Ghana[J]. Regional Sustainability, 2025 , 6(1) : 100196 . DOI: 10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100196

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