Abstract
Different options of enhancing household financial status are explored by farmers in Ghana in order to cope with fast changing economic conditions. These include intensification of traditional crop production, diversification into new high value crops and off-farm activities. This paper examines small-farmer commercialisation (SFC) activities in the forest and transition zones of Ghana. Participatory appraisal methods including wealth ranking, livelihood analysis and interview of key informants and opinion leaders were used. The wealth ranking exercise resulted in the identification of three household categories as rich, intermediate and poor. Vegetable production was found to be an important commercialisation activity and pepper production was very successful in one subsidiary village in the forest zone, where the farmers formed a group for production and marketing of the produce. Adopters of SFC are motivated by profitability, regular flow of income from quick maturing crops, and important for women was the desire for financial independence and change in social status. A major barrier to participation in SFC is lack of credit as the adoption is both labour and capital intensive though large land holdings may not be required. Key words: Women farmers and gender equality, farming systems, wealth ranking, small-scale farmer commercialization, participatory appraisal methods.
Highlights
The starting point of structural transformation is broadbased smallholder-led agricultural growth and commercialisation, integrating traditional smallholder farmers into the exchange economy (Jayne et al, 2011; Heltberg and Tarp, 2002)
Interactions and interconnectedness of rich farmers and poor farmers can result in effective rural development and growth, without which many poor households can be left out completely
The outcome of small-farmer commercialisation in two farming system zones reveals that entire communities benefit from SFC due to inter and intra-household relations
Summary
The starting point of structural transformation is broadbased smallholder-led agricultural growth and commercialisation, integrating traditional smallholder farmers into the exchange economy (Jayne et al, 2011; Heltberg and Tarp, 2002). Commercialisation of subsistence agriculture in developing countries has led to different levels of production and consumption changes for men and women (Adenegan et al, 2013). According to Berhanu and Jaleta (2010), commercialisation entails market orientation and market participation, and enhances the links between the input and output sides of agricultural markets. Men and women in Ghana are faced with changing roles as a result of the transformation of agricultural enterprises from subsistence-based farming to market-oriented production systems and activities. The efforts of moving from subsistence-based production to more market oriented production is known as small-farmer commercialisation (SFC), the impact of which has not been rigorously ascertained
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