Daniel Bruce Sarpong

Improving the productivity and income of Ghanaian cocoa farmers while maintaining environmental services: what role for certification?

Ghana, as the second largest global producer of cocoa, is strategically positioned on the world market. Consumer concerns over ethical and environmental issues associated with cocoa production are a potential threat to its position. These concerns have given rise to certification. Certification dictates the way cocoa can be produced and consequently affects producers’ incomes and environmental services. The expected profitability, yield, and environmental impact of Rainforest Alliance certified shade-grown cocoa production (RA-Cocoa) is estimated and compared to an extensive shaded production system (Ext-Cocoa) and an intensified full sun production system (High-Tech). Ext-Cocoa represents most cocoa production systems in Ghana, while High-Tech is promoted by the government as a tool for attaining its target output of 1 million tons. Under the baseline assumptions High-Tech was the most profitable; RA-Cocoa generated positive returns, while Ext-cocoa was a break even proposition. Simulation of different policy scenarios did not affect the rank order of the baseline outcome. The Ext-Cocoa yield was 28% of the RA-Cocoa yield, which was 78% of the High-Tech yield. The environmental services maintained at the plot level of RA-Cocoa production system are greater than those of the High-Tech production system. However, the 228,000 ha of additional forest land required to produce 1 million tons with RA-Cocoa questions which system would impact environmental services the least.

Improving complementary feeding in Ghana: reaching the vulnerable through innovative business--the case of KOKO Plus.

Reaching vulnerable populations in low‐resource settings with effective business solutions is critical, given the global nature of food and nutrition security. Over a third of deaths of children under 5 years of age are directly or indirectly caused by undernutrition. The Lancet series on malnutrition (2013) estimates that over 220,000 lives of children under 5 years of age can be saved through the implementation of an infant and young child feeding and care package. A unique project being undertaken in Ghana aims to bring in two elements of innovation in infant and young child feeding. The first involves a public–private partnership (PPP) to develop and test the efficacy and effectiveness of the delivery of a low‐cost complementary food supplement in Ghana called KOKO Plus™. The second involves the testing of the concepts of social entrepreneurship and social business models in the distribution and delivery of the product. This paper shares information on the ongoing activities in the testing of concepts of PPPs, social business, social marketing, and demand creation using different delivery platforms to achieve optimal nutrition in Ghanaian infants and young children in the first 2 years of life. It also focuses on outlining the concept of using PPP and base‐of‐the‐pyramid approaches toward achieving nutrition objectives.

Assessing Program Coverage of Two Approaches to Distributing a Complementary Feeding Supplement to Infants and Young Children in Ghana

The work reported here assesses the coverage achieved by two sales-based approaches to distributing a complementary food supplement (KOKO Plus™) to infants and young children in Ghana. Delivery Model 1 was conducted in the Northern Region of Ghana and used a mixture of health extension workers (delivering behavior change communications and demand creation activities at primary healthcare centers and in the community) and petty traders recruited from among beneficiaries of a local microfinance initiative (responsible for the sale of the complementary food supplement at market stalls and house to house). Delivery Model 2 was conducted in the Eastern Region of Ghana and used a market-based approach, with the product being sold through micro-retail routes (i.e., small shops and roadside stalls) in three districts supported by behavior change communications and demand creation activities led by a local social marketing company. Both delivery models were implemented sub-nationally as 1-year pilot programs, with the aim of informing the design of a scaled-up program. A series of cross-sectional coverage surveys was implemented in each program area. Results from these surveys show that Delivery Model 1 was successful in achieving and sustaining high (i.e., 86%) effective coverage (i.e., the child had been given the product at least once in the previous 7 days) during implementation. Effective coverage fell to 62% within 3 months of the behavior change communications and demand creation activities stopping. Delivery Model 2 was successful in raising awareness of the product (i.e., 90% message coverage), but effective coverage was low (i.e., 9.4%). Future programming efforts should use the health extension / microfinance / petty trader approach in rural settings and consider adapting this approach for use in urban and peri-urban settings. Ongoing behavior change communications and demand creation activities is likely to be essential to the continued success of such programming.

Agricultural credit rationing in Ghana: what do formal lenders look for?

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of agricultural credit rationing by formal lenders in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach - – This study employed descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Heckmans two-stage regression model to identify types of rationing faced by farmers and investigate factors that influence agricultural credit rationing by formal financial institutions. Data used in this study are gathered through a survey of 595 farmers in seven districts within Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. Findings - – The result reveals that farmers face three types of rationing. Evidence from the Heckman two-stage models shows that engagement in off farm income generating activities, increase in farm size, positive balances on accounts and commercial orientation of the farmers has the potential to reduce rationing of credit applicants by formal lenders. Practical implications - – The results provide information on the factors that need to be considered as important in an attempt to reduce agricultural credit rationing by formal lenders. Originality/value - – The value of this study is that farmers would use the results of this study to improve access to required amount of agricultural credit from formal financial institutions. The information would also benefit stakeholders in the agricultural sector, particularly youth in agriculture program organized by Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Ghana as how to improve access to credit and reduce rationing of program participants by formal financial institutions.

Farmers’ perceptions of irrigation and constraints on rice production in Benin: a stakeholder-consultation approach

ABSTRACT This article examines rice farmers’ perceptions of irrigation and constraints on rice production in the municipality of Malanville, Benin. Farmers’ positive perceptions of irrigation include the use of irrigation for insurance against drought, crop yield improvement, higher income, food security and poverty reduction. Analysis of constraints reveals that farmers face major constraints such as lack of agricultural credit, poor access to production inputs, inadequate knowledge of water resources management, poor access to agricultural information and markets, and flooding of fields. Specific constraints in the irrigation scheme of Malanville include the high cost of irrigation and unavailability of water.

Consumer Expenditures on Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

The majority of consumers across the globe do not eat the WHO daily recommended amount of fruits and vegetables. Actual consumption is influenced by a multitude of factors. This chapter focuses on household income and expenditure to illustrate the variation of fresh fruit and vegetable consumption using primary and secondary data from household surveys in Ghana, Poland, Republic of Korea and Uganda. Income importance is examined by tracking fresh produce expenditure by quantile or income category suggesting that low income households tend to limit fresh fruit purchases more than fresh vegetables. Households with the highest income disproportionately outspend all other households regardless of the country’s economic development and present special postharvest requirements. Illustration of other socio-economic factors and their relevance to fresh produce consumption is provided. There are similarities in terms of the most frequent consumption of vegetables across countries, but there is variation in the frequency of fresh fruit consumption, opening opportunities for trade.

Input Policies and Crop Diversification: Evidence from the Collines Region in Benin

Formulating policy to strengthen rural livelihood in a country like Benin may be very challenging. This paper investigates the effect of input policies on crop diversification in rural Benin. Multistage sampling techniques have been used to collect primary data from 522 households in the Collines Region. Considering access to fertilizer and seed policies, we used a linear regression analysis to find that access to fertilizer and seed negatively affect the extent of crop diversification. Although some factors (household size and access to extension services) have a positive relationship with crop diversification, we maintain that if the government wants to promote crop diversification as a farmers strategy to manage risk and uncertainty, there is a need to rethink the input policies. Nevertheless, making fertilizer and seed accessible to farmers is a great opportunity in a country where access to inputs is the major agricultural constraint.

The effect of integration, global value chains and international trade on economic growth and food security in ECOWAS

Abstract This study analyzes the potential of regional integration through the advantage of global value chains in accelerating economic growth and achieving food security. This study examines whether countries must develop strategies to raise international trade or adopt policies to reinforce regional trade. The study estimates two models with panel fixed effects. The findings support that regional integration needs to strengthen and better promoted to stimulate the potential of each country to move from discontinuous to sustained growth. International trade is not the better solution for ECOWAS countries to boost economic growth.

Measuring the Affordability of Nutritious Diets in Africa: Price Indexes for Diet Diversity and the Cost of Nutrient Adequacy

This methodological note describes a novel approach to measuring changes in the affordability of nutritious diets in low-income settings, using price indexes to monitor how trade policy or market infrastructure and other factors influence the cost of reaching a standard threshold of dietary diversity. We provide preliminary results for a new Cost of Diet Diversity (CoDD) price index in Ghana, contrasted with existing Cost of Nutrient Adequacy indexes as well as the standard Consumer Price Index concept for foods actually consumed, or world food price indexes for commodities that enter international trade. Acknowledgements: This note aims to disseminate methods developed in 2016-17 for a project on Indicators of Access to Nutritious Diets in Africa (IANDA), funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) through its program on Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture-Nutrition Actions (IMMANA) as Tufts University grant number PV1337. Preliminary results were presented at the FAO Expert Consultation on Trade and Nutrition, 15 November 2016, and more complete data will be presented at the annual meetings of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA), 31 July 2017.Policies and programs often aim to improve the affordability of nutritious diets, but existing food price indexes are based on observed quantities which may not meet nutritional goals. To measure changes in the cost of reaching international standards of diet quality, we introduce a new Cost of Diet Diversity (CoDD) index based on the lowest-cost way to include at least five different food groups as defined by the widely-used Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W) indicator, and compare that to a Cost of Nutrient Adequacy (CoNA) indicator for the lowest-cost way to meet estimated average requirements of essential nutrients and dietary energy as defined by Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) values for an adult woman. We demonstrate application of both indexes using national average monthly prices from two very different sources: an agricultural market information system in Ghana (2009-14), and the data used for national consumer price indexes in Tanzania (2011-15). We find that the CoDD index for Ghana fluctuated seasonally and since mid-2010 rose about 10 percent per year faster than national inflation, due to rising relative prices for fruit, which also drove up the cost of nutrient adequacy. In Tanzania there were much smaller changes in total daily costs, but more adjustment in the mix of food groups used for the least-cost diet. These methods can show where and when nutritious diets are increasingly (un)affordable, and which nutritional criteria account for the change. These results are based on monthly national average prices, but the method is generalizable to other contexts for monitoring, evaluation, and assessment of changing food environments.

Impact of Formal Financial Market Participation on Farm Size and Expenditure on Variable Farm Inputs: The Case of Maize Farmers in Ghana

The study examined maize farmers’ participation in the formal financial market and its impact on farm size and expenditure on variable farm inputs. A multistage sampling method was used in selecting 595 maize farmers from the seven districts in Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions of Ghana. A structured questionnaire and interview schedule were used to elicit information from the respondents. The impact of formal financial market participation on farm size and expenditure on variable inputs was estimated using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method. The results of the study showed that formal financial market participation has the potential to significantly increase expenditure on variable inputs by farmers and consequently use of improved technology. Therefore, formal financial market participation should be encouraged through education and promotional activities.