Victor Owusu

Perception on untreated wastewater irrigation for vegetable production in Ghana

Using household-level survey data, this study investigates farmers’ perceptions on untreated wastewater use for irrigation of vegetable farms in urban and peri-urban Kumasi of Ghana. Empirical results from an ordered probit model show that there is some relationship between personal characteristics of farmers such as age, education and gender, and perceptions of farmers on health-related risks of untreated wastewater use for irrigation. Policy efforts should be geared toward updating the knowledge, skills and attitudes of producers through frequent training and workshops so that wastewater irrigation farmers in Ghana would better appreciate health-related risks of waster irrigation and how to adopt risk mitigating strategies. Further research for a more in-depth analysis on those relationships in the short-term with immediate emphasis on improving adoption of safer irrigation technologies among wastewater irrigation farmers is recommended.

The economics of small-scale private pump irrigation and agricultural productivity in Ghana

A key policy strategy towards poverty reduction and ensuring food security in sub-Saharan Africa is to assist poor farmers who over-depend on rainfall to reduce variability in production and increase productivity through small-scale private pump irrigation. Despite the fact that the performances of large scale irrigation schemes have not been efficient and optimal in terms of anticipated economic benefits, not much evidence exist on small-scale private pump irrigation as an alternative investment option in smallholder agricultural production in Africa. Not much emphasis also has been put on the opportunity costs of family labor time in small-scale private pump irrigation, which happens to be one of the key ingredients in the decision making of smallholder farmers who engage in irrigation agriculture. This paper examines the economics of small-scale private pump irrigation and agricultural productivity using a survey data collected in four administrative regions of Ghana, including, the Northern, Upper East, Eastern, and Volta. Mixed method approach that combines both qualitative and quantitative analytical tools are employed in the study. The empirical approach involves estimating a production function in order to derive the shadow wages of family labor directly from the marginal agricultural productivity. Notably, the production functions of small-scale private motor pump irrigators using groundwater and surface water and small-scale private manual pump irrigators are estimated and compared with that of rainfed farmers and gravity flow irrigators after which, the implicit wages of family labor is computed for each irrigation farmer. The paper finds that among the entire small-scale private pumps irrigators, groundwater motor pump irrigators have significantly higher value-added output and tend to do better in terms of financial returns to small-scale private pumps irrigation. The empirical results indicate that small-scale private motor pump irrigators who use groundwater or surface water are able to generate the highest implicit wage rate of family labor, and concludes that small-scale private pump irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa would be successful if it is combined with the efficient use of inputs of production, including seeds, fertilizer, and chemical inputs. The paper contributes to expanding the existing debate on irrigation development in sub-Saharan Africa by highlighting on the potential of small-scale private pump irrigation in Ghana. Governments in sub-Saharan Africa should consider irrigation as part of a wider agricultural policy strategy by promoting farmer education and developing market infrastructure to enhance the returns to small-scale private irrigation and attract private sector investors into the irrigation sub-sector.

Adoption of organic agriculture: Evidence from cocoa farming in Ghana

Abstract Cocoa farmers in Suhum area have been cultivating conventional cocoa for several years. However, as at 2012 about 1,000 farmers had switched to the cultivation of cocoa organically. The question that arises is, what factors could have influenced this small fraction of farmers to adopt organic production practices, whilst the majority continue in conventional cocoa production? Using data on 280 organic cocoa farms and 378 conventional cocoa farms from Suhum Cocoa District in Ghana, a probit model was fitted to the data. Being male positively influenced adoption of organic cocoa production. Smaller households have a tendency of adopting organic technology. Less cocoa farming experience led to probability of adoption of organic cocoa production. Access to extension services promotes adoption of organic cocoa technology. Access to credit positively influenced adoption of organic cocoa production with a marginal effect value of 0.1295. Therefore, increased and effective extension and credit services are recommended to enhance adoption of organic cocoa production.

Accounting for the Gender Technology Gap Amongst Smallholder Rice Farmers in Northern Ghana

Narrowing the gender technology gap in agricultural production has become a critical policy issue in sub†Saharan Africa. A better understanding of the gender technology gap is essential for policy formulation and programme planning to ensure equity in resource allocation, and household†level food security in low and middle income countries, such as Ghana. We employ a metafrontier approach to analyse the differences in the efficiency of male and female farmers, recognising the endogeneity of some of the variables in the inefficiency effects model, in particular the credit constraints of the rice farmers under study. Our findings show that while the rice farms themselves are very similar, average yields for male managed farms tend to be significantly higher than female managed farms reflecting higher seeding and fertiliser application rates on male managed farms. However, there is no significant difference between the genders in either land used for rice or total output per farm household. We find some evidence that relative to the metafrontier, male managed farms are less efficient than female managed farms. The results further show gender technology gap amongst the smallholder rice farmers with females’ technology gap ratio being significantly greater than that of males, with females operating on a production frontier closer to the metafrontier. Policies that provide females more access to productive resources and other agricultural services could assist in the generation of relatively higher output.

Intersectoral labor mobility and deforestation in Ghana

This paper quantifies the effects of the determinants of intersectoral labor mobility and the effect of intersectoral labor mobility on deforestation in Ghana over the period 1970–2008. A cointegration and error correction modeling approach is employed. The empirical results show that labor mobility from the agricultural to the non-agricultural sector exerts negative effects on deforestation in Ghana in the long run and short run. Relative agricultural income exerts a significant negative effect on intersectoral labor mobility in the long run. Deforestation is influenced positively by population pressure, the price of fertilizer and rainfall, whereas access to irrigation infrastructure exerts a negative effect in the long run. In the short run, real producer prices of cocoa and maize exert significant positive effects on deforestation whereas access to irrigation infrastructure exerts a negative significant effect. Fruitful policy recommendations based on the empirical magnitudes and directions of these effects are made in this paper.

Consumer perceptions and willingness to pay for cassava-wheat composite bread in Ghana: A hedonic pricing approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for composite flour bread produced with a blend of 15-40 per cent cassava flour blended with wheat flour in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on interviews with 350 consumers in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions of Ghana to assess their awareness, perceptions and WTP for cassava-wheat composite bread. From these consumer interviews, a hedonic regression model was applied to evaluate consumers’ WTP for various attributes of composite flour bread. Price-related and health-related perceptions of consumers on cassava-wheat composite bread were investigated with perception indices. Multi-attribute preference-based contingent ratings that rate product attributes in terms of importance to consumers was employed. The implicit prices of the product attributes representing the contribution of the product attributes to the WTP amount were also computed. Findings The paper finds that consumers who are aware of cassava-blended flour bread and who like its taste and texture are willing to pay more than consumers who are unaware. This leads to a policy recommendation advocating increased advertising of the economic and nutritional benefits of cassava-wheat blended composite flour bread. Research limitations/implications Future studies should explore the choice experiments to examine preferences for the food product. Originality/value This paper evaluates consumers’ WTP for composite flour bread produced with a blend of 15-40 per cent cassava flour and wheat flour. Given widespread reliance on imported wheat flour and the simultaneously large volumes of locally available cassava, it is important to consider opportunities for import substitution (and possible cost reduction for consumers) of blended flour products such as cassava-wheat composite flours. Nigeria has imposed a 10 per cent blending requirement for this reason. Ghana has taken important measures recently for the development of high-quality cassava flour, and so research on its potential and actual uptake is welcomed and highly relevant to food security and agribusiness development.