Improved Technology and Land Productivity among Smallholder Cocoa Farmers in Ashanti Region, Ghana

The study assessed the effect of improved technology on land productivity of smallholder cocoa farmers in Ashanti Region, Ghana. With data from 366 smallholders cocoa farmers productivity was shown to be linearly related to and the use of improved cocoa technology in the study area. Both the decision to use improved technologies and the proportion of cocoa land allocated to cocoa production are all significant determinants of increased productivity. In addition, farm level factors characteristics as well as idiosyncrasies are shown to affect productivity. These including age, household size, participation in programs related to cocoa production, access to virgin lands, size of cocoa farm, labour resource use and nativity affect productivity at various levels of significance. Strategies to improve the productivity of the smallholder cocoa farmers must include the promotion of improved cocoa technologies as it evidently enhances productivity of the smallholders. These must not come alone but with appropriate training on their use.Crop Production/Industries,

Evaluating the environmental-technology gaps of rice farms in distinct agro-ecological zones of Ghana

Open Access Journal; Published online: 8 April 2019Rice (Oryza sativa) is an important food staple and a cash crop, which is cultivated in all the ten regions of Ghana under varying agro-ecological conditions. These conditions also reflect the production technologies used and the total farm output. In an attempt to determine the potential sources of production shortfalls on rice farms in Ghana, this paper estimates the production efficiency and the environmental-technology gaps of rice-producing households in the forest-savannah transition and guinea savannah agro-ecological zones of Ghana. The paper adopts the stochastic metafrontier framework, which permits technology-related inefficiency effects to be extricated from managerial inefficiency effects for appropriate policy formulation. In contrast to past studies, the empirical findings reveal that farms in the two agro-ecological zones adopt heterogeneous production technologies due to differences in their production environments. This is indicated by the estimated mean environmental-technology gap ratios of 0.95 and 0.50, and mean metafrontier technical efficiencies of 0.56 and 0.42 for farms in the forest-savannah transition and guinea savannah zones, respectively. These findings call for agricultural policy formulation in Ghana to be targeted at the prevailing environmental conditions of the various agro-ecological zones rather than being all-inclusive in addressing the extant inefficiencies in the rice production systems of Ghana

Characterization of maize producing communities in Benin, Ghana, Mali, and Nigeria: West Africa Regional Synthesis Report

Maize is becoming increasingly important as a food security crop in West Africa. However, recurring droughts constitute a continuous challenge to its production. Attempts at addressing the drought problem resulted in the conduct of a participatory community survey of maize production systems with about 20–40% probability of drought risk in four DTMA countries (Bénin Republic, Ghana, Mali, and Nigeria). The project is part of an initiative to develop and disseminate appropriate drought tolerant maize varieties in sub-Saharan Africa. The main objectives of the community survey were to complement household survey data, capture essential qualitative information and data that are difficult to obtain through formal household surveys, and serve as a pilot application for potential expansion through the African region. The survey was conducted in selected communities in two districts with high levels of maize production in each of the DTMA countries. Results show that maize is a major source of food and cash for smallholder farmers. Community members indicated that both positive and negative changes have taken place in the subregion over the 10-year period. Among these, the introduction and adoption of new DT maize varieties have contributed to achieving food security and poverty reduction, as well as enhanced livelihoods for the people. However, appropriate and adequate provision of production inputs (such as fertilizers, good quality seeds, and herbicides) is essential for achieving the optimum yield of DT maize. Constraints to production include long distances to input markets and the consequent high costs of transportation that make it very difficult for most farmers to get access to inputs. Bad road networks, lack of good quality drinking water, and poor health facilities which are common problems faced by farming households are also detrimental to agricultural productivity. Women in the subregion are also committed to farming but constrained by cultural and religious factors. Women have special roles such as in the cultivation of oil seed crops and vegetables on small parcels of land to provide additional income to the household. Thus, making men within farmers’ organizations more aware and appreciative of the value of women’s contributory role in the household will further help to achieve improved food security in the region

Prospects and potential of bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens based bio-inoculants on soybean production in different agro-ecologies of Mozambique

Open Access Journal; Published online: 08 Jul 2022Soybean production in sub-Saharan Africa is increasing as farmers open more land areas for cultivation and replace other crops, such as tobacco, in favor of this legume crop. Despite the production is increased in Mozambique, demand for animal feed and oil is not satisfied. As such, farmers explore ways to improve yield per unit area of soybean by using bio-inoculants from various sources and agroecological adaptability. These bio-inoculants are seldom available during planting time, and retail at almost similar prices although yield varied based on the product source, handling, and the rhizobia strain carrier. Mozambique does not produce bio-inoculants, so it obtains the product from neighboring countries or as far as the South American continent. In this study, we evaluated the performance, ecological adaptability, and soybean productivity of seven Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens strain-based bio-inoculants from several countries with different carrier materials: Biofix, Masterfix, Nitrofix, NitroZam, N-Fixer, Soygro Peat, and Soygro Liquid against a control (non-inoculated) on two soybean varieties Storm and TGx 1904-6F. The trial was conducted in the 2016 and 2017 growing seasons in three agroecologies of Mozambique at Angonia, Nampula, and Ruace. Data on nodulation, plant growth, biomass nitrogen content at beginning of podding (R3) stage, yield, and yield components of soybean were evaluated. Analysis of variance and contrast comparisons were performed on the Statistical Analysis System® 9.4. Nodule weight per plant variedly increased from 7.7 to 167.6mg with inoculation of both varieties across environments. Plant tissue nitrogen content at the R3 stage was higher in inoculated non-promiscuous variety at 3.9% than the promiscuous counterpart with 3.7%. Storm, a non-promiscuous short-maturity variety of soybean, responded to inoculation and accumulated more N than the medium-to-late maturity promiscuous TGx 1904-6F. Higher N tissue content is an indicator of better nutritive value, as well as high-quality recyclable biomass of inoculated soybean. Both Storm and TGx 1904-6F responded to all inoculants variedly with NitroZam yield of 2,750 kg ha−1 being highest, while Soygro Liquid was lowest with 2,051 kg ha−1 but more than the check with 1,690 kg ha−1 across sites. There were varietal differences in 100-seed weight after inoculation where Storm (15.4 g) had heavier seeds than TGx 1904-6F (13.1 g). The results show that inoculation improved plant growth and development, increased nodulation, and gave higher yields for better economic returns among farmers. Inoculation has the potential of increasing soybean yield, nutritive value, and biomass quality within Mozambique

Evaluating the heterogeneous impacts of adoption of climate-smart agricultural technologies on rural households' welfare in Mali

Open Access Journal; Published online: 04 Nov 2022Climate change is negatively affecting agricultural production in the Sahel region. Climate-Smart Agricultural Technologies (CSATs) are disseminated to reduce these negative effects, and particularly those on resource-poor farm households. This article investigates the distributional impacts of the adoption of CSAT on-farm households’ welfare using a dataset that covers four regions, 32 communes, 320 villages, and 2240 households in Mali. Using an instrumental variable quantile treatment effects model, the paper addresses the potential endogeneity arising from the selection bias and the heterogeneity of the effect across the quantiles of the outcome variables’ distribution. The results show that the adoption of CSAT is positively associated with improved households’ welfare. The farmers’ decision to adopt any CSAT is influenced by access to credit, contact with extension agents, participation in training, access to information through the television, and being a member of any organization such as a cooperative society. Moreover, the effect of the adoption of CSAT on household welfare varies across the different households. In particular, the results show that the impact of the adoption of CSAT on households’ welfare is generally higher for the poorest (farmers located at the bottom tail of the distribution) end of the welfare distribution. The findings, therefore, highlight the pro-poor impact of the adoption of CSAT in the rural Malian context, as well as the need to tailor the CSAT interventions toward specific socio-economic segments of the rural population in Mali

Establishing the link between market orientation and agricultural commercialization: empirical evidence from Northern Ghana

Published online: 24 June 2017This paper established a positive relationship between market orientation and intensity of commercialization among rural farm households in northern Ghana. The IV Tobit regression estimate suggests that intensity of maize commercialization is significantly determined by education, agro-ecology, household size, total livestock units, farm size, access to formal markets and market orientation. In addition, a highly and unbiased significant positive effect is observed between market orientation and intensity of maize commercialization after controlling for endogeneity in market orientation. Intensity of maize commercialization increased by 0.86% for a 0.1 unit increase in the market orientation index. The empirical implications of the results are discussed

Improved Technology and Land Productivity among Smallholder Cocoa Farmers in Ashanti Region, Ghana

The study assessed the effect of improved technology on land productivity of smallholder cocoa farmers in Ashanti Region, Ghana. With data from 366 smallholders cocoa farmers productivity was shown to be linearly related to and the use of improved cocoa technology in the study area. Both the decision to use improved technologies and the proportion of cocoa land allocated to cocoa production are all significant determinants of increased productivity. In addition, farm level factors characteristics as well as idiosyncrasies are shown to affect productivity. These including age, household size, participation in programs related to cocoa production, access to virgin lands, size of cocoa farm, labour resource use and nativity affect productivity at various levels of significance. Strategies to improve the productivity of the smallholder cocoa farmers must include the promotion of improved cocoa technologies as it evidently enhances productivity of the smallholders. These must not come alone but with appropriate training on their use

Computer vision coupled with laser backscattering for nondestructive colour evaluation of papaya during drying

Published online: 19 July 2017Colour change is a common physical phenomenon observed during drying, which need to be controlled since it directly affects consumer acceptance of dried products. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of using computer vision, combined with laser light backscattering analysis at 650 nm in order to predict colour changes of papaya during drying. The results revealed that each image-processing factor obtained can potentially be used to describe every colour attribute change, except for chroma value. The multivariate correlations of measured backscattering parameters as well as the digital image properties were found to yield the best fitting for colour validations. Interestingly, the use of computer vision technique coupled with laser backscattering methods provides a reliable tool for quality control based on a rapid, consistent, and nonintrusive method for in-line quality measurement in established fruit drying processes