Use of indigenous knowledge to predict rainfall in the Yendi Municipality, Ghana

Limited access to scientific climate information coupled with lack of understating of the data due to illiteracy gives farmers a good option to use indigenous knowledge to predict rainfall for the purposes of agriculture. Application of indigenous knowledge to predict rainfall has enabled farmers to prepare their lands for crop cultivation to feed themselves and sell part of the farm produce to earn income. The objectives of this paper are to examine the extent to which indigenous knowledge has been used to predict rainfall, assess the reliability of such predictions and determine the agro-climatological information sources available to farmers. The research questions investigated were: to what extent has indigenous knowledge been used to predict rainfall? Were the predictions reliable? Are there other information sources available to farmers besides indigenous knowledge? Methods used for the study include use of questionnaire to collect primary data on what farmers observed as signs of impending rainfall, use of focused group discussions and field observations to understand the role of indigenous knowledge in predicting rainfall. The study findings show multiple methods are used to predict rainfall such as observing animal and bird behaviors, observing changes in the appearance of fruits and flowers on tree in the dry season and the emergence of peculiar insects soon before the onset of the rainy season as local indicators of rainfall. The study concludes that, indigenous knowledge has its merits when it comes to predicting rainfall and should not be discarded but integrated with scientific methods in developing countries like Ghana.