This paper argues that small scale farmers face the double exposure of climate change and unpredictable patterns of global trade. Drawing on research undertaken in Ghana it showed that although many farmers intensified production by irrigating groundwater to grow and sell vegetables at local urban markets as an adaptive strategy, when they tried to integrate into larger markets they came up against unfair and unpredictable market failures. It is argued that small-scale irrigation can play an important role in local adaptive strategies but global economic practices need to be revised to consider poorer parts of the population. |