Farmers In Northern Region Research Articles

Impact of village saving groups on adoption intensity of sustainable agricultural practices among smallholder farmers in Northern region, Ghana

PurposeAccess to formal financial services is one of the main obstacles to the adoption of agricultural technologies such as Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAPs). In order to increase financial inclusion and lessen farmers' liquidity restrictions, Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) are being promoted in rural farming communities. However, there extent to which VSLA contributes to the acceleration of agricultural practices, such as SAP, remains little explored in existing literature. The objective of this study was to quantitatively assess the impact of VSLA on the intensity of adoption of SAPs.Design/methodology/approachThis study used cross-sectional data from 376 farming households in the East Gonja district of Ghana. An Endogenous Poisson Treatment Regression (EPTR) was applied to correct for self-selection bias that might emanate from both observed and unobserved differences in household characteristics.FindingsThe empirical results indicated that farmers' engagement in non-farm economic activities, ownership of land and size of agricultural land under cultivation positively and significantly influence the intensity of SAPs adoption. Moreover, participation in VSLA improves the adoption of SAPs, and that VSLA-participants adopted about three more SAPs than they would have if they did not participate in VSLA.Practical implicationsThis study re-affirmed the significance of VSLA in rural farming communities and recommend that it should be promoted as an alternative to formal financial services to enhance financial inclusiveness, and consequently boost the uptake of SAPs.Originality/valueIn the search of literature, this study is the first to estimate the impact of VSLA on adoption of SAPs. The use of EPTR helps to bring out the true treatment effects of VSLA on SAPs.

Comparative Proximate Nutraceutical Study of Poor Man’s Pulse, Horsegram [Macrotyloma uniflorum] with the Other Common Legume Crops: A Review

Horsegram is an underutilized drought hardy crop and mainly neglected by the farmers in Northern region of India. However, the present study reveals the hidden comparative analysis of nutraceutical use with well-known legumes like Phaseolus vulgaris, Vigna mungo, Cicer arietinum, Vicia faba, Cajanus cajan, Vigna radiata, Pisum sativum and Lens culinaris. This pulse crop is an excellent source of carbohydrate, protein and dietary fiber. This present study shows that amount of energy in horsegram falls in the range of 376.12-377.21 Kcal/100 g which is maximum than the other legumes. The ash, protein, dietary fibres, carbohydrates, fat and starch content of horse gram falls in the range (2.24% to 5.16%), (18.15% to 28.8%), (5% to 16.3%), (50% to 63.4%), (1.10 to 1.9%) and (31.86% to 47.5%) respectively. Horsegram is found to be less fat and more dietary food fibers than the most common legumes. Hence, it is an excellent source of food for diabetic patients and useful in weight management. The unique anti-uroliathiatic activity of horsegram is well known against calcium oxalate crystals, calcium phosphate crystals and uric acid crystals. Anticholelithiatic, Anti-histaminic, Hemolytic, Larvicidal, Proteinase inhibition and Anti-HIV are among other unique medicinal properties of horsegram which are not reported in any other legumes.

English

This study examines the effect of fertiliser subsidy on application rates of fertiliser among maize farmers in Northern Region. The study uses cross-sectional data from 301 households in the northern region of Ghana. The Probit and Tobit models were respectively used to analyse the determinants of participation in the subsidy programme and the effect of participation on fertiliser application rates. The results of the study show that farm size, price of the subsidised fertiliser, distance to input dealers, amount of credit borrowed and off-farm income are key determinants of farmer’s participation in the subsidy programme. Participation in the subsidy programme was found to exert a positive effect on the quantity of fertiliser farmers applied on their farms. The study recommends among other things, the inclusion of cash credit schemes in the subsidy programme as smallholders still found the down payment 79% of the cost of fertiliser high. The study also suggested restructuring in the subsidy programme to allow for channelling of fertiliser through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) in order to curb exploitation by politician and elite farmers. Key words: Fertiliser subsidy, fertiliser use, Ghana.

Impact of Farmer Mentorship Project on Farm Efficiency and Income in Rural Ghana

This paper examines the impact of participation in Agricultural Value Chain Mentorship Project on farm efficiency and income of soybean farmers in Northern Region of Ghana. Due to the exogenous and non-random assignment of the intervention, propensity score matching analysis was used to estimate impact on a cross-section of 200 smallholder farmers. Participation in farmer mentorship project impacts positively on farm technical efficiency by 28 percent. However, participation did not significantly translate into higher farm income. This finding suggests that exposing farmers to agricultural development projects may directly increase their technical capability wtihtin the short term but does not guarantee higher income. The design of any agricultural development project must incorporate the specific needs of farmers to ensure ownership, increased participation and sustainability.

Resource-Use-Efficiency among Smallholder Groundnut Farmers in Northern Region, Ghana

The study analyses the efficiency of resource use by collecting cross-sectional data from 120 groundnut farmers in the Tolon district of the Northern region, Ghana, during 2013 major cropping season. It focuses on identifying the determinants of groundnut output growth, measuring the technical efficiency level of the farmers as well as how efficient farmers are with respect to the allocation of their inputs. The stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) was employed to examine the determinants of output and measure the technical efficiency level of farmers while the marginal value product marginal factor cost (MVP-MFC) approach was used to ascertain whether farmers are efficiently allocating their resources or not. The results from the stochastic frontier analysis indicated that labour and quantity of seeds exerted significant and positive effects on groundnut output whilst the area of land allocated to groundnut cultivation had negative and significant effect on groundnut output. Groundnut farmers in the study area had a mean technical efficiency score of Original Research Article Danso-Abbeam et al.; AJEA, 6(5): 290-304, 2015; Article no.AJEA.2015.087 291 about 84% indicating an output loss of 16% due to inefficiency. Various sources of efficiency include; education, farming experience, household size, membership of farmer-base-organization and farmers contact with extension personnel. Allocatively, farmers were over-utilizing labour and seeds sown while under-utilizing quantities of herbicides. The study therefore recommends that an effective farm level training programmes for rural farmers through an effective extension services could increase farmer’s efficiency level and hence increase their profit level.

Risk and agricultural systems in northern Côte d'Ivoire

In the Savannah region of West Africa, the highly variable rainfall and poor soils have been shown to differentially affect the yield potential of various crops. The paper applies a simple risk programming model to assess the effects of price and yield risk on the incomes of smallholder farmers in northern region of Côte d'Ivoire. The analysis showed that by considering price and yield risks, it would be possible for farmers to improve their incomes. Considerable evidence has been gathered to show that smallholder allocative inefficiency is a common place in Côte d'Ivoire. This study also found that farmers were operating at sub-optimal levels. This could be due to several factors, including multiple market failures, lack of information on prices, price and yield risks, labor market search costs or high transaction costs. The results from this paper suggests that when such price series information on the risks of different crops are considered, farmers would be better off re-allocating their cropping to a more optimal cropping plan. In evaluating cropping systems in the Savanna zone it is important to consider not only the yield of alternative crops, but also the yield risk, price risk, and income risk that farmers face in adjusting their cropping patterns. Second, to reduce production risks faced by farmers, emphasis should be placed on yield-stability of technology interventions intended for farmers in this zone. Lastly, policy makers should focus efforts on achieving farm income stabilization for farmers in this zone by: (1) developing effective market price information transmission system; (2) providing low-cost but high-resolution climatic information; and (3) developing risk-management institutions. Unless policy makers improve the availability of information that allows farmers to improve their managerial capacity for making more risk-efficient cropping decisions, it is unlikely that farmers in the zone will be able to cope with the pervasive risks that affect their welfare and livelihoods.