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.
Using a case study approach to determine whether any particular resource rights regime and/or the level of security of land tenure are responsible for renewable natural resources (RNR) degradation, this paper argues that the continued use of irrelevant`Western' concepts to describe the dynamic traditional land tenure system among the Dagaaba inhabitants of the region obscures important RNR management problems associated with the dynamic ecology of semi-arid environments. Degradation has more to do with the fragile environment with which the resource users have to cope. Institutional recognition and support for the traditional land tenure system is advocated.
The study sought to ascertain how the Farmer Business School (FBS) introduced in 2012 by the Ghana Cocoa Board as an extension approach makes the Ghanaian cocoa farmer more business and entrepreneurially minded. The research methods included using the descriptive survey and multi-stage sampling techniques to cover the six cocoa regions and 600 cocoa farmers. The 600 cocoa farmers selected were made up of 230 non-participants and 370 participants of the FBS. In terms of competency, the results showed that FBS participants had greater knowledge, a more positive attitude, and better skills than non-participants. In terms of market orientation, FBS participants were more competitor oriented, had less intelligence generation, were less market responsive, had less intelligence dissemination, had more customer emphasis, and had more interfunctional coordination than non-participants. The market orientation of cocoa farmers can be enhanced by provision of relevant practical experience for attitudinal change.
Purpose: The huge gap between actual and achievable yields in Ghana’s maize production threatens Ghana’s household food security. Poor adoption of improved maize production technologies is often cited as the major cause of the low yields. This study examined the factors influencing adoption of improved production technologies by maize farmers in order to highlight the constraints and opportunities for improving adoption.Research Method: The data used were obtained through a cross-sectional survey of 576 maize farmers in Ghana using the structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and the multinomial logit model were the methods of analysis employed.Findings: The results showed that adoption of production technologies is influenced by age, educational level, initial capital outlay, agricultural extension contact, group membership, availability of ready maize market, access to credit, experience in maize farming, land fragmentation and previous year’s price of maize. For adoption of maize production technologies to be improved, technology dissemination programmes should target to literate farmers and farmers should be encouraged to join farmer groups, stakeholders should support maize farmers with credit, maize farmers should be provided with ready market and younger farmers should be encouraged to consider maize production as a business.Research Limitations: The study focused on whether or not in general, maize farmers used production technologies. It presents limited information on specific technologies in different agro-ecological zones.Originality/Value: This study provides insights into why especially some Ghanaian maize farmers adopt or do not adopt certain technological packages promoted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) of Ghana.
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