To diversify or not to diversify, that is the question. Pursuing agricultural development for smallholder farmers in marginal areas of Ghana.

Mauricio R Bellon,Bekele Hundie Kotu,Carlo Azzarri,Francesco Caracciolo

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104682

Abstract

Many smallholder farmers in developing countries grow multiple crop species on their farms, maintaining de facto crop diversity. Rarely do agricultural development strategies consider this crop diversity as an entry point for fostering agricultural innovation. This paper presents a case study, from an agricultural research-for-development project in northern Ghana, which examines the relationship between crop diversity and self-consumption of food crops, and cash income from crops sold by smallholder farmers in the target areas. By testing the presence and direction of these relationships, it is possible to assess whether smallholder farmers may benefit more from a diversification or a specialization agricultural development strategy for improving their livelihoods. Based on a household survey of 637 randomly selected households, we calculated crop diversity as well as its contribution to self-consumption (measured as imputed monetary value) and to cash income for each household. With these data we estimated a system of three simultaneous equations. Results show that households maintained high levels of crop diversity: up to eight crops grown, with an-average of 3.2 per household, and with less than 5% having a null or very low level of crop diversity. The value of crop species used for self-consumption was on average 55% higher than that of crop sales. Regression results show that crop diversity is positively associated with self-consumption of food crops, and cash income from crops sold. This finding suggests that increasing crop diversity opens market opportunities for households, while still contributing to self-consumption. Given these findings, crop diversification seems to be more beneficial to these farmers than specialization. For these diversified farmers, or others in similar contexts, interventions that assess and build on their de facto crop diversity are probably more likely to be successful.

Highlights

The conventional narrative of agricultural development, referred here as market-based agricultural specialization, foresees a pathway of increased specialization at the farm level associated with enhanced market participation (Timmer, 1997)
This paper examines the relationship of crop diversity to: (i) the contribution of food crops to self-consumption; and (ii) the cash income derived from crops sold, of smallholder farmers in areas targeted for the implementation of an agricultural research-fordevelopment project in northern Ghana
This paper aims to investigate if crop diversification strategy employed by smallholder farmers is associated with household food self-consumption—measured as the imputed value derived from the purchase price times the quantity of crops allocated to self-consumption—and cash income based on market sales

Summary

Introduction

The conventional narrative of agricultural development, referred here as market-based agricultural specialization, foresees a pathway of increased specialization at the farm level associated with enhanced market participation (Timmer, 1997). Supporting this process has been an important objective of agricultural policies in developing countries for many decades, under the Green Revolution (Evenson & Gollin, 2003). Crops and/or livestock with the aim to increase household income and profit (Asante, Villano, Patrick, & Battese, 2018; Petit & Barghouti, 1992) Both narratives are grounded on a strong participation of farmers in markets (Emran & Shilpi, 2012).

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Conclusion