Sustainable Land Management Practices and Technical and Environmental Efficiency among Smallholder Farmers in Ghana

Issahaku, Gazali; Abdulai, Awudu

doi:10.1017/aae.2019.34

Cited by 24 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…To achieve this, the government can support cotton companies by opening vocational agricultural schools to train more advisers. Our results are also consistent with those of Issaku and Abdulai (2020), further corroborating that the adoption of the SWC techniques is profitable to farmers regardless of their area. Cotton companies must therefore insist more on the adoption of these techniques by all farmers.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Effect of agricultural extension on cotton farmer's efficiency in arid and semi‐arid areas of Burkina Faso

Akouwerabou

2022

Natural Resources Forum

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This study shows that farmers in arid and semi-arid land can improve their efficiency if they have access to agricultural extension services. An exhaustive survey was used to obtain data from 423 cotton producers in the arid zones and 144 of wetlands in Burkina Faso. The method of the directional distance function modeling a multi-output technology was used. The results show that cotton farmers in the arid zones are not technically more inefficient than those in wetlands. On average, arid zone producers have a technical inefficiency of 0.056 while that of wetland producers is around 0.052. The agricultural extension, defined as receiving visits and advice from technical agents, is important for producers because it helps farmers choose soil and water conservation techniques and fertilizers adapted to the Agro-climatic conditions of their respective zones. Agriculture extension also helps farmers of the arid zones to reduce their technical inefficiency by advising them to cultivate small agricultural plots. On average, in these zones, the size of an agricultural plot is around 1.03 ha compared to those of wetlands which is about 1.6 ha.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Effect of agricultural extension on cotton farmer's efficiency in arid and semi‐arid areas of Burkina Faso

Akouwerabou

2022

Natural Resources Forum

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“…Overdose application of pesticide is also reported among vegetable farmers in Tanzania 22 and among smallholder farmers in Ghana. 13 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…10 Most African farmers have limited economic incentives and financial resources to afford sophisticated farm machinery to apply agrochemicals; hence they resort to the use of manual/simple farm tools such as knapsack sprayers, buckets, brushes, and brooms in the application of agrochemicals. [11][12][13] Furthermore, many farmers apply pesticides without the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as nose mask, overall coats, goggles, gloves, Wellington boots, etc., which further exposes them to chemical poisoning with grievous health and environmental consequences. 14,15 According to Northern Presbyterian Agriculture Services and Partners (NPASP) 27 of Ghana, 15 farmers died because of chemical poisoning in the Upper East region of Ghana.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agrochemicals Use Practices and Health Challenges of Smallholder Farmers in Ghana

Demi

Sicchia

2021

Environ�Health�Insights

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Background: Globally, Africa is one of the continents that uses the lowest quantity of agrochemicals in farming. However, unsafe chemical use practices are high among farmers in Africa, posing serious health and environmental consequences. This study seeks to address three questions: (1) What factors motivate/compel smallholder farmers in Ghana to use agrochemicals? (2) What safety precautions or unsafe chemical use practices can be found in the communities? (3) What are the health implications of agrochemical use among smallholder farmers in Ghana? Methodology: The study used purposive and simple random sampling techniques to select 136 individuals for the survey, out of which 31 individuals were eliminated, and 105 participants were selected for in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Additionally, participants’ observations were collected, workshops were facilitated, and documents analyses were conducted. Qualitative data were analyzed using NVivo software and the quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. Findings: The study found that environmental challenges, activities of NGOs, government policy, lack of or high cost of labor, and competition among farmers were major factors influencing farmers’ decisions to use agrochemicals. Present agrochemical use in Ghana poses a risk to health and the environment. Finally, the study discovered chemical poisoning and low self-reported health quality as major health implications of agrochemical use in the communities.

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“…In the case of Ghana, the Ghana Statistical Service [24], reveal that about 88.8% of households in Ghana rely on agricultural activities drawing on local practices. Moreover, research on local practices and climate change adaptation, have largely grown along with; the perceptions of smallholders' farmers about climate change, how smallholder farmers cope and adapt to climatic events [16,33], the vulnerability of smallholders to climate change [65], as well as the practices smallholder farmers engage in towards sustainable land management [29]. These studies have demonstrated the multiple trade-offs that smallholders in Ghana make to adapt food crops production to climate change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating complexities towards sustainable food crops production: local practices for climate change adaptation in rural Ghana

2022

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Globally, food crops production has been challenged by the impacts of climate change. Climate change scholars have argued that rural dwellers, particularly smallholder farmers who engage in food crops production, suffer the most due to their low capacity to adapt. A growing body of knowledge also suggests that local practices serve as safeguards, that enable smallholder farmers to lessen their vulnerability in food crops production. However, limited scholarly insight has been advanced about sustainable food production via the use of local practices. Through the mixed research approach, the study contributes to local practices and climate adaptation debates by examining the various local practices of smallholder farmers, the challenges they encounter with the use of such practices and the possibility for sustainable food crops production in the future in Ghana. The findings suggest that smallholders encounter multiple drawbacks in attempt to utilize local practices to adapt food crops production to climate change including the advent of modern farming inputs/practices. Even when multiple local practices (the planting of multiple crops’ varieties, switching between crops and livestock rearing, reducing cultivatable land size) are utilized, only the increment in farm size, the use of income/remittances of rural–urban migrants to support food crops production, and early cultivation offered some possibilities of sustaining improvement in food crops production for the future. Therefore, the study concluded that local practices are not necessarily panaceas for sustaining food crops production under climate change. The study recommended that further studies pay attention to the sustainability of local practices under climate change.

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Sustainable Land Management Practices and Technical and Environmental Efficiency among Smallholder Farmers in Ghana

Cited by 24 publications

References 35 publications

Effect of agricultural extension on cotton farmer's efficiency in arid and semi‐arid areas of Burkina Faso

Effect of agricultural extension on cotton farmer's efficiency in arid and semi‐arid areas of Burkina Faso

Agrochemicals Use Practices and Health Challenges of Smallholder Farmers in Ghana

Navigating complexities towards sustainable food crops production: local practices for climate change adaptation in rural Ghana

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