Dr Emmanuel Tachie-Obeng, the National Focal Person on Climate Change Education and Awareness, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on Wednesday said the country’s rainfall pattern has changed and become unpredictable over the past 30 years.
“Statistical analysis over the years shows that the change has occurred significantly in the savannah zone, which is the country’s breadbasket,” he said.
The savannah zone, over the past 30 years, did not record any rains in January and February; but used to experience few rains in April and May until the main raining seasons starts in June and ends in November, Dr Tachie-Obeng said.
He explained, however, that in recent years the raining season, which goes with the planting period, had been pushed to the end of June or early July and ends in November.
Dr Tachie-Obeng said this at a workshop organised in Accra by the EPA, in collaboration with the Ghana News Agency, for a cross section of journalists on the overview of climate change in Ghana.
The EPA/GNA media training aims at equipping journalists, especially those of the GNA, with the tools and skills in the reportage of climate change issues.
Touching on the shift in the rainfall pattern in the southern sector of the country, Dr Tachie-Obeng said there had been a decline in the volumes of rain in the months of February and March.
“A critical study of data over the period shows that generally the volume and distribution of rains has reduced. In the past, we experienced some drizzling in May but now all these have stopped,” he said.
The impact of the change is being felt by the country in many sectors including economic, energy, health, water, and agriculture, especially food production.
While describing the trend as worrying, Dr Tachie-Obeng said the decline in rainfall had a direct effect on the production cycle of maize, rice, cassava and cocoa.
He said due to the changes, studies had projected that the number of regions where the country’s main cash crop cocoa was cultivated would reduce from five to two.
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