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This paper examines agriculture-climate change policy discussions in Ghana in the context of, on the one hand, increasing international interest and activity around climate change and agriculture, and on the other, concerns over whether climate policy and funding priorities are aligned to domestic development priorities. The paper poses the following questions: What are the contested areas and dividing lines in policy discussions and practices around climate change, which actors are supporting different viewpoints, and what traction do they have in the types of interventions that are being promoted?

The Ghanaian economy is growing fast, and agriculture is key to the country’s development ambitions (see NDPC 2010). However, despite its importance to the Ghanaian economy, agriculture has only recently become a central part of climate change policy discussions in the country. The current dominant policy framing of the climate change-agriculture nexus is that climate change is a new, externally imposed, risk that may hinder the drive for modernised agriculture as an engine for growth and poverty reduction. Ghana, according to this framing, should be helped to access funds and technologies to make the agriculture sector more robust and “climate proofed” to face climate change challenges. This dominant framing is supported by key government institutional actors (clustered around environmental units), and by key bi-and multilateral donors in Ghana. Most of climate change activities and funding arising from this framing centre on mitigating the effects of climate change.