Off-farm Climate Change Adaptation Strategies and Farm Performance: Empirical Evidence from Northern Ghana

Off-farm Climate Change Adaptation Strategies and Farm Performance: Empirical Evidence from Northern Ghana | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Off-farm Climate Change Adaptation Strategies and Farm Performance: Empirical Evidence from Northern Ghana Safianu Chakilia, Maxwell Anandare Asale This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9125302/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Climate change adaptation has been progressively expanded in the literature with various attempts made at understanding the main drivers of adaptations and how such practices affect farm performance. However, our current understanding stems primarily from climate adaptation practices at the farm level where adaptation decisions directly impact farm performance outcomes. This study investigated whether off-farm adaptation practices increase farm performance. Using primary data from 412 maize farmers across Northern Ghana, we applied a multivariate probit model to account for interdependent adaptation choices and an exponential conditional mean model to identify the causal impact of off-farm adaptation intensity on maize farm performance. We found that adoption of off-farm strategies is determined by household socio-economic characteristics (sex, age, marital status, household size, education, experience, and access to good road network), wealth and asset indicators (farm size and livestock ownership) and institutional affiliation variables (access to climate smart training, climate information, and extension service). Additionally, our results indicate that combining multiple off-farm CCAS such as livelihood diversification, NGO support, remittance and crop weather insurance, is expected to decrease maize production by 15%. Based on these findings, we suggest that efforts to promote off-farm CCAS adoption should be designed with complementary measures such as labor-saving technologies to avoid potential tradeoffs in farm performance. Off-farm Climate Adaptation Multivariate Probit IV Poisson Maize farmers Northern Ghana Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Ethics approval This study involving human participants was conducted in accordance with ethical research standards. Ethical approval for the study was granted by the appropriate academic review authority at the University for Development Studies, Ghana. Statement of Participants' Consent Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to data collection. Respondents were informed about the purpose of the study, assured of confidentiality and anonymity, and participation was entirely voluntary. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9125302","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":606588070,"identity":"b5850d6a-1f41-422f-ba95-df84c9a1b2c0","order_by":0,"name":"Safianu Chakilia","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA20lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACxgcHQJQBewOItCBGC7MBRAsPiDKQIE4LmDKQSABRRGiRbz/MeODnjsPy5pLPr274USDBwN/enYBXi8GZZIaDvWcOG+6cnVN2swfoMIkzZzfg18KQf+AAb9vhBIPbOWk3eIBaDCRy8WuR73/McPAvSMvNM2k3/xCjheFGMsNhsC032I/dJsoWgxuPGQ7LtqUbbjiTw3ZbxkCCh6Bf5PuTmT++bbOWNzh+/NnNN39s5Pjbewk4DAF4wBHEQ6xyEGB/QIrqUTAKRsEoGEEAAIyeTEFvXanUAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"University for Development Studies","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Safianu","middleName":"","lastName":"Chakilia","suffix":""},{"id":606588071,"identity":"92f34410-ff4f-41fe-b6b7-bbb58f4ad740","order_by":1,"name":"Maxwell Anandare Asale","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University for Development Studies","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Maxwell","middleName":"Anandare","lastName":"Asale","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-14 23:08:01","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9125302/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9125302/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106947930,"identity":"65d35985-579c-4c71-b8ec-73532b160b11","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-15 06:57:38","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":552225,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ManuscriptOffFarmCCASSpringer1.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9125302/v1_covered_fd85a178-7284-4e8f-ae48-4f809b8df544.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003eNo competing interests reported.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEthics approval This study involving human participants was conducted in accordance with ethical research standards. 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