ABSTRACT The importance of non-traditional agricultural commodities, especially pineapple, as a major foreign exchange earner in the diversification of the economy of Ghana has long been realised. It is estimated that $5 million is added to the economy by small farmers annually from pineapple production. Despite the importance and profitability of the pineapple production and export as a good foreign export earner and an a priori expectation that increased production is directly correlated w...
ABSTRACT Rural household welfare remains low in Nigeria, as the traditional capital (physical, natural, human and financial) has not fully led to its improvement. There is increasing shift of attention to social capital as an element that explains household welfare. The nexus between social capital and rural household welfare in southwestern Nigeria has not been fully examined. The effect of social capital on rural household welfare in southwestern Nigeria was therefore investigated. Multis...
ABSTRACT Fishermen face a lot of risk and uncertainty in their fishing operations. One way of dealing with risks and uncertainties in the fishery sector is the adoption of insurance policy. Successful implementation of insurance scheme requires the need for demand analysis. This study therefore investigated fishermen’s willingness to pay for insurance in the Western Region of Ghana. A three stage sampling procedure was used to select 300 fishers and a structured interview guide was used to ...
ABSTRACT This thesis analysed the production, productivity and market participation of smallholder cowpea producers in the Northern Region of Ghana. It estimated the factors influencing cowpea production participation, productivity and market participation decisions. A multi-stage random sampling was employed in selecting four major cowpea producing districts and communities. Purposive and random sampling techniques were employed to select a sample of 300 respondents comprising of 240 cowpea ...
ABSTRACT MiDA, in March 2008, instituted a four year project in the Afram Basin with the aim of enhancing the productivity of the farmers (including maize farmers) in the basin. Although the project ended in February 2012, the question of the effect of the project on the productivity of maize farmers in the zone from the point of view of an independent body remains unknown. Therefore this study assessed the effect of MiDA intervention on the productivity of maize farmers in the Afram basin of...
ABSTRACT The study evaluated the performance of the table egg marketing system in Ghana by analysing the market, structure, price integration processes and the impediments to table egg. marketing efficiency. The methods of analysis employed included descriptive analysis, marketing margin analysis and econometric (regression) analysis. The market structure analysis, using the commodity sub-systems approach, showed that marketing channels for the table egg are moderately organised with the prod...
Weed infestation of soyabean field causes 65% yield reduction in the forestsavanna transition ecosystem of Nigeria. Single weed control method is often less effective. However, Integrated Weed Management (IWM), will ensure more effective and environment friendly control. There is little information on IWM application on soyabean field. This study was therefore aimed at investigating response of soyabean to IWM. Field study was carried out in the 2008 and 2009 planting seasons to asses t...
ABSTRACT Cocoa production, one of the most important economic activities in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, has for sometime now been bedevilled with several problems. The most important of these is the black pod disease caused by the Phytophthora megakarya strain of fungus, which is destroying pods in large quantities and thus causing substantial financial loss to cocoa farmers. Research has made available a tried and tested control technology whose adoption in the Ashanti Region is ve...
ABSTRACT This study examined youth participation and productivity in cocoa farming in the Western North Cocoa Region of Ghana using primary data from 958 respondents through the field assistance of Solidaridad West Africa. Systematic and purposive sampling techniques were used to sample 588 youth (35years) from Sefwi Bekwai, Boako, Akontombra, Bodi and Asempaneye. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the distribution in the roles played by the youth in cocoa farming in the study are...
ABSTRACT This study was carried out in some parts of the Northern and Upper East regions of Ghana with the objective of identifying the traditional soil conservation options available to farmers in the area. The study subsequently assessed the economics of the use of stone bunds as a conservation technology. To achieve the above objectives structured questionnaires were administered in selected villages from the East and West Mamprusi districts in the Northern region and the Bolgatanga distr...
ABSTRACT The analysis of women’s entrepreneurship role in agricultural value chains could help policy address challenges that women particularly face in agribusiness. Though oil palm provides several value added products, this study analysed the role of women in the oil palm value chain with particular reference to palm oil in the Akyemansa District and Birim Central Municipality in the Eastern Region. In this study, both women and men are entrepreneurs seeking to maximise profit from their...
ABSTRACT Groundnut has been identified as the most important leguminous crop in Ghana both in terms of volume of production and export. Its production has faced numerous challenges over the past decades in Ghana as the productivity of groundnut continues to decline despite the abundant resources that support its growth. The question is, what then is responsible for the declining productivity levels of groundnut in Ghana? The study sought to estimate the productivity levels and technical eff...
ABSTRACT The study focuses on improved maize technology adoption and maize yield in the Kwahu Afram Plains North District. Specifically, the study seeks to assess the maize farmers‟ awareness level on improved maize technologies and this was analyzed with simple descriptive statistics. The two-mean comparison test was used to analyze maize yield difference between non- adopters and adopters of improved maize technologies and constraints to improved maize technology adoption were identifie...
ABSTRACT Cocoa contributes immensely to Nigeria’s export earnings but it has low domestic value addition. In order to improve this, there is a need to ascertain the competitiveness along cocoa value chain. However, there’s a dearth of information on the competitiveness at each stage of cocoa value chain. The competitiveness of cocoa along the value chain in Southern Nigeria was therefore investigated. Using three-stage sampling procedure, six cocoa producing Local Government Areas (LGAs) ...
ABSTRACT The study examines the relationship between household initial asset endowment and participation in urban farming in Ibadan metropolis. A stratified random sampling method was used to stratify the city into two strata. It was followed by the random selection of two Local Government Areas from each of the two strata. One hundred and ninety-eight urban producers of high - value horticultural crops were selected from the two LGAs based on probability proportionate to size. Data on socio...