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 Increase in agricultural production is essential for agricultural development since it enhances profitability and income which leads to welfare improvements. In Nigeria agricultural production and rural welfare have worsened over the years. Adequate information on the link between agricultural production and rural welfare in Nigeria is expected to better inform policy makers on implementation. Agricultural production and its impact on rural welfare in Nigeria were, therefore, investi...
INTRODUCTION The first section of this chapter states the objectives an4 the procedure adopted for the study and gives reasons for choosing the Ejura and Wenchi areas for the study and centering it around tobaccoo This is followed by brief discussions of the geography of the two areas and the characteristics of the tobacco farmers. Agriculture in the two areas is then discussed and some of the bottlenecks to increased agricultural production highlighted. The final sections of the chapter trac...
ABSTRACT Climate change and variability is one of the great challenges facing farming households in Ghana. The main objective of this study is to assess the vulnerability of smallholder maize farming households to climate variability in the Eastern region. Specifically, the study investigates the vulnerability of households to climate variability, the determinants of households’ livelihood vulnerability level, the adoption level of adaptation strategies to climate variability and the deter...
ABSTRACT This study compares the performance of two predominantly employed marine fishing technologies (purse seine and drift gill net) along the coastal stretch of central region in Ghana. Against this backdrop, productivity and technical efficiency differentials of the purse seine and drift gill net technologies is assessed. Factors delimitating fishers from achieving the maximum attainable output levels were also modeled to quantify their effect on inefficiency. A simple random sampling te...
ABSTRACT Around the developing world, poverty remains an overwhelming rural issue. Rural dwellers rely heavily on agricultural activities and related assets as main source of livelihoods. They also have widely differing capacities to combine off-farm activities in their income generation process. However, diversification makes households better-off only if it implies increased investment in high return portfolios. An important concern is that high yielding investments are either high risk or ...
ABSTRACT Understanding smallholder farmers’ behaviour in terms of adaptation to weather risks provides the means to design policies that will help farmers address weather risks and have an effective impact on farmers’ livelihoods. This study is undertaken with this perspective by analysing how smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacity affects their choice of adaptation strategies to weather risks. The research sought to, i) analyse farmers’ perceived vulnerability to weather risks, their...
ABSTRACT This study sought to find answers to the questions of whether the Food Crop Development Project improved farmers’ access to credit, changed farmers savings culture or whether small-scale maize farmers adopted the improved maize production practices. In addition, the study seeks to know whether or not there has been any significant difference in food security situation between participant and non-participant farmers. Descriptive-Correlation survey was conducted and using multistage ...
ABSTRACT Viral diseases are a worldwide problem of cucurbits and a major limiting factor for they production. A field survey was conducted through six agro-ecological zones of Côte d’Ivoire during the dry and rainy seasons in 2014 to assess disease prevalence and severity, identify associated viruses, and evaluate the effect of temperature and growing seasons on virus diseases. Viruses were detected on sampled leaves displaying virus-like symptoms using double antibody sandwich enzyme-link...