The Terms of Trade of Food Producers as a Mechanism of Rural Differentiation

SUMMARY The seasonal and spatial structure of the barter of trade of food producers can create systematic economic disparaties both within and between rural communities. The argument is based on prices in Ghana but the patterns described recur in many poor countries. RESUME Les conditions de I'échange des producteurs de produits alimentaires en tant que m;écanisme de diff;érenciation rurale La structure saisonnière et spatiale de l'échange ou commerce des producteurs de produits alimentaires peut créer des disparités économiques systématiques tant au sein des communautés rurales qu'entre elles. L'argument est basé sur les prix au Ghana mais les mêmes schémas se retrouvent dans beaucoup de pays pauvres. RESUMEN Las condiciones comerciales de los fabricantes de comestibles como un mecanismo de diferenciación rural La estructura estacional y espacial del comercio por canje de los productores de comestibles puede crear desigualdades dentro de y entre las comunidades rurales. El argumento está basado en los precios en Ghana, pero las tendencias descritas se repiten en muchos países pobres

Assessing the technical efficiency of maize production in northern ghana: the data envelopment analysis approach

Maize is a major source of food and cash for smallholder farmers. However, average yield in Ghana is less than a third of the achievable yield and thus the need to close this gap by improving the technical efficiency of farming households through employing the right combination of productive resources to achieve food sustainability. This study used the input-oriented data envelopment analysis to examine the technical efficiency of maize production in northern Ghana1 using cross-sectional data for the 2011/2012 cropping season. The mean technical efficiency was 77%, giving credence to the existence of production inefficiency. Technically, efficient farmers used an average of 395.80 kg of chemical fertilizer, 27.04 kg of seed, 4.04 l of weedicides and hired labour of three persons to produce a yield of 2.34 tons/ha of maize. Largely, maize production exhibited increasing returns to scale. Agricultural mechanization and level of formal education did not have positive effects on technical efficiency, whereas agricultural extension had a positive effect on technical efficiency. Technical efficiency in maize production could be improved through informal and non-formal educational platforms where farmers without formal education learn improved cultivation practices. The agricultural extension department should be strengthened to provide effective extension services to farmers to improve on their technical efficiency. Animal and other non-mechanized power sources are complementary technologies and as such should be allowed to co-exist in Ghanaian agriculture

Opportunity or necessity? Conceptualizing entrepreneurship at African small-scale mines

This article critically examines the policy environment in place for artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) – low-tech, labour-intensive mineral extraction and processing – in sub-Saharan Africa, with a view to determining whether there is adequate ‘space’ for the sector's operators to flourish as entrepreneurs. In recent years, there has been growing attention paid to ASM in the region, particularly as a vehicle for stimulating local economic development. The work being planned under the Africa Mining Vision (AMV), a comprehensive policy agenda adopted by African heads of state in February 2009, could have an enormous impact on this front. One of its core objectives is to pressure host governments into Boosting Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining by following a series of streamlined recommendations. It is concluded, however, that there is a disconnect between how entrepreneurship in ASM has been interpreted and projected by proponents of the AMV on the one hand, and the form it has mostly taken in practice on the other hand. This gulf must be rapidly bridged if ASM is to have a transformative impact, economically, in the region. © 2017 Elsevier Inc