ABSTRACT Contract farming is emerging as a promising way to upgrade domestic rice quality in Togo. The Non-Government Organisation ‘Entreprise Territoir et Développement’ (ETD) has started promoting a kind of contract farming scheme called ’Entreprise de Service et Organisation de Producteurs’ (ESOP) in the country. The rewards from contract farming could be substantial for smallholder farmers; yet there is a serious concern about the farmers’ ability to stay in the partnership for...
ABSTRACT This study examines the extent to which farmers trained by the Food Research Institute have taken up mushroom farming and also determines the profitability of mushroom production. Specifically, the study describes trends in the levels of mushroom production since 1995, the rate of adoption and dis-adoption of mushroom farming by trainees, the profitability of mushroom cultivation and identifies constraints to mushroom farming from the perspective of farmers. Trend description involve...
ABSTRACT The Northern Region of Ghana is important agriculturally and contributes significantly to the livestock sub-sector. Livestock production in the region is, however, bedevilled with many constraints such as animal diseases and inadequate feed and water for livestock during the dry season. Among animal diseases, trypanosomosis is identified as the most important constraint and the sustainability of the control of tsetse, which is the main vector of this disease, is the focus of this stu...
ABSTRACT The aim o f this study among others, was to analyse the value additions o f three cassavabased products namely, High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF), gari and kokonte and to determine the profitability o f HQCF bakery products in Atebubu. A value added analysis was used to determine the profitablity o f the three cassava-based products. Three profitability measures were used to determine the profitability o f HQCF bakery products. These were, operating profit, profit per unit product an...
ABSTRACT An assessment of the sustainability of food crop production in the fadamas of southern guinea savanna of Niger State, Nigeria was carried out within the framework of small-scale farming households utilizing fadama for the cultivation of food crops. The study identified the pattern of land use and management, estimated technical efficiency, identified determinants of technical inefficiency and determined productivity and profitability of food crop production in the fadama. It also de...
ABSTRACT This study assesses the effect of income diversification of rice farmers on household food security in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region of Ghana. By income diversification, the study implies the different combination of activities that rice farmers indulge in to earn income. Information on personal as well as household characteristics was obtained from 204 rice farmers in the North Tongu District by the use of semi-structured questionnaires. Depending on their income port...
Abstract The Nigerian economy over the past few years grew at one of the highest rates in Africa. Yet, this growth has not led to substantial reduction in inequality and poverty, particularly in the rural sector. This was partly attributed to redistributional problem of national wealth which has not been adequately investigated. Therefore, the study assessed the contribution of growth and wealth distribution to poverty reduction in rural Nigeria from 1996 to 2004. Data from the National Cons...
ABSTRACT Poverty remains the major obstacle to economic emancipation and achievement of development agenda in Nigeria. Worse still, rising food prices pose a major threat to feeding the teeming population in Nigeria. Declining food production, high population growth, and negative food trade balance combine to worsen the food and poverty situations in Nigeria. We stand on the premise that surging and volatile food prices could have a hardest hit on those who could not afford it – the poor. T...
ABSTRACT Adoption of yield increasing technologies among farming households is one way of reducing poverty and food insecurity. In Nigeria, Root and Tuber Expansion Programme (RTEP) was implemented to develop improved technology of root and tuber crops. However, the impact of RTEP technology on poverty and food security has not been fully established. Therefore, the effect of RTEP technology on poverty and food security status of cassava-farming households in southwestern Nigeria was investi...
ABSTRACT Grain marketing requires considerable investment of fund but traders are often plagued with inadequate capital to run their enterprises. The inadequacy of fund prevents traders from expanding their businesses resulting in low profit margin. However, social capital is increasingly recognised as a bridge for the gap in credit availability which can help in business expansion and profitability. There is little empirical evidence on the extent of the effectiveness of social capital and ...
ABSTRACT Social capital is trust and willingness to live by the norms of one’s associates. This household welfare asset has the potential to break the poverty cycle. However, there is little evidence on gender sensitivity of the effect of social capital on welfare status in Nigeria. Hence, gender dimension of social capital and its effects on rural household welfare in Osun and Ondo states, Nigeria were investigated. A multistage random sampling technique was employed for the study. Osun a...
ABSTRACT Inconsistent trade policies have characterised Nigeria’s rice importation, leading to planning and decision-making challenges for producers and consumers, and with fluctuating consequences on welfare status. However, studies on Rice Trade Policy (RTP) have been carried out within the partial equilibrium framework which do not reveal the welfare effects on all sectors and households in the economy. For effective RTP, an understanding of the economy-wide welfare effects is necessary...
Abstract Understanding relationships, opportunities and bottlenecks in a commodity value chain is crucial to the determination of the contribution of a commodity to economic development. The objective of the study was to Map Plantain Value Chain in order to identify the key players, their roles, value added along the chain as well as constraints. Personal Interview and Focus group discussions were used to collect primary data from the actors along the chain. Data were analyzed using descript...
ABSTRACT There have been investments in the infant food sector in Ghana in recent times. This is as a result of the introduction of cereal foods fortified appropriately for children aged five and below aimed at eradicating or reducing malnutrition. However, competition from transnational and multinational companies with branded and certified products is hindering progress of local companies in the sector. This study seeks to assess local processors’ willingness to pay (WTP) for product qual...
ABSTRACT The study was conducted to analyse production risk and technical efficiency of lowland rice farms in Ashanti region using adjusted stochastic production frontier. Cross sectional data for 2014 cropping season was collected from 200 sampled rice farms using multistage sampling technique. The results of the study revealed very low utilization of improved seed (42.8 kg/ha) by famers as against the standard quantity of 100kg/ha. Among the farm inputs used, fertilizer and improved seed we...