Record Details

Ghana

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/10797/
 
Title Ghana
 
Creator Nutsukpo, D K
Jalloh, A
Zougmore, R B
Nelson, G C
Thomas, T S
 
Subject Ghana
Climate Change
African Agriculture
West Africa
 
Description Including inland water bodies, Ghana covers 238,539 square kilometers and
is located on the south central coast of West Africa. The country shares borders
in the east with Togo, in the north with Burkina Faso, and in the west
with Côte d’Ivoire. The topography of Ghana is mainly undulating, with most
slopes less than 5 percent and many not exceeding 1 percent. The topography
of the high rainforest is, however, mainly strongly rolling. The uplifted edges
of the Voltarian basin give rise to narrow plateaus between 300 and 600 meters
in elevation (Boateng 1998). Moving from the rainforest zone in the south to
the Sahara Desert in the north, rainfall generally decreases and temperature
increases. Rainfall is the most important climatic factor influencing vegetation
in Ghana. The wettest area is in the extreme southwest, where the rainfall is
over 2,000 millimeters per year. In the extreme north, the annual rainfall is less
than 1,100 millimeters. The driest area is at the southeastern coastal tip, where
the rainfall is about 750 millimeters. Much of the rain falls in intense storms
of short duration, especially at the beginning of the season, resulting in heavy
runoff and erosion. The annual mean relative humidity is about 80 percent in
the south and 44 percent in the north (Dickson and Benneh 1988). The mean
monthly temperature for the entire country is 25°C. Although temperatures
are uniformly moderate, there are important variations over different parts of
the country, reflecting altitude and distance from the sea...
 
Publisher International Food Policy Research Institute
 
Contributor Jalloh, A
Nelson, G C
Thomas, T S
Zougmore, R B
Roy-Macauley, H
 
Date 2013
 
Type Book Section
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/10797/1/CHAPTER%206.pdf
Nutsukpo, D K and Jalloh, A and Zougmore, R B and Nelson, G C and Thomas, T S (2013) Ghana. In: West African agriculture and climate change: A comprehensive analysis. IFPRI’s climate change in Africa series . International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, pp. 141-172. ISBN 978-0-89629-204-8