This article targets the empirical space of well-defined theoretical and conceptual frameworks connecting irrigation to health outcomes but with limited evidence affected by observed and unobserved heterogeneity. Using a doubly robust estimator and panel data in Southern Ghana, the study finds that irrigation has mixed effects on health outcomes. The results show that there is no statistically significant increase in household and individual illness incidence, while that of malaria prevalence increases marginally for all individuals and substantially for children under 5 years. In contrast, the study finds a statistically significant increase in health status as very healthy of all individuals, females and males. The analyses of the pathways show that there is a decrease in per capita bednets and self-medication, while there are large improvements in health care financing and environmental quality. The overall findings suggest the possibility of irrigation leading to improvements in wellbeing, but this may come at the expense of increasing short-term health challenges.
We analyzed the effects of urbanization on the use of arable land in the Sagnarigu municipality in Greater Tamale Area of Ghana. The study involved a random survey of 300 farming households to establish their land-use patterns and valuation, and an analysis of satellite and remote sensing data for the years, 2000, 2010 and 2020 for land-use related land cover changes in the area. Out of 300 responding household heads, 88.3% were usufruct landowners; the remaining 11.7% were tenants. The hedonic pricing method was used to analyse arable land values. The value of arable land was negatively influenced by the distance to the nearest main road, district capital town, and Tamale Central Business District, and positively influenced by its closeness to State institutions. Urbanization, proxied by the population of the community where the land was located, positively influenced the value of the land. Based on the analysis of geographic information system data, we established that the built-up area in the district increased from 13.0 km2 in 2000 to 97.5 km2 in 2020, an increase of 650%. Built-up area accounted for 48.7% of the total land available in the district in 2020.
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