Drought Disaster Profile

Causes

Climatic variability: Erratic rainfall patterns linked to El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and climate change.
Environmental degradation: Deforestation, overgrazing, and poor land use practices reduce soil’s water-holding capacity.
Socio-economic drivers: High dependence on rain-fed farming and limited irrigation infrastructure make communities more vulnerable.

Most affected regions: Upper East, Upper West, Northern, North East, and parts of Bono East and Savannah Regions.
Occasional impact: Middle belt regions during delayed or short rainy seasons.
Urban risk: Water shortages in Accra, Kumasi, and Tamale due to reduced inflows into reservoirs and dams during dry spells.

1982–1983: Severe drought coincided with bushfires, leading to widespread crop failure, famine, and socio-economic hardship.
1991–1992: Reduced rainfall severely affected northern Ghana, disrupting food security.
2015–2016: Erratic rainfall patterns linked to El Niño caused prolonged dry spells and water stress in northern Ghana.

Agriculture: Crop failure (maize, millet, sorghum, groundnut), livestock deaths, and food insecurity.
Water Resources: Drying of streams, low dam levels, and shortages of potable water.
Health: Malnutrition, increased risk of water-borne diseases from unsafe water sources.
Economy: Decline in farmer incomes, rising food prices, disruption of rural livelihoods.
Environment: Loss of vegetation cover, soil degradation, increased risk of wildfires.

Climate change projections indicate rising temperatures and increasing frequency of extreme dry spells in northern Ghana.
Expansion of irrigation schemes, climate-smart agriculture, and drought-resistant crop varieties are ongoing interventions but coverage remains limited.
Seasonal forecasts by the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) guide preparedness, but community-level coping capacity remains weak.

High risk groups: Smallholder farmers, pastoralists, women and children, and poor rural households.
Vulnerability factors: Dependence on rain-fed agriculture, poverty, limited access to irrigation, weak market access, and inadequate water storage facilities.

Government: National Drought Preparedness and Response Plan (under development), food buffer stock management, water rationing in urban centers.
Communities: Traditional coping strategies include migration, reliance on drought-tolerant crops, and small-scale water harvesting.
Partners: NADMO, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Water Resources Commission, NGOs, and international partners support resilience-building interventions.