FOHCREC

This study sought to examine the effects of rising food and oil prices on rural households in Ghana in relation to their food, access to healthcare and education, changes in their work situations, their financial management practices, and their recreational and leisure practices using three selected communities in the Dangme West district of the Greater Accra region -Dodowa, Ningo, and Prampram. A total of 300 households were interviewed. The households were divided concerning the issue of whether their standard of living was better, worse or had remained the same. In general, households that indicated they were worse off currently than they were last year slightly outnumbered those who had seen improvements in their lives.

Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) are consideredto be engines of economic growth worldwide. Their efficiencyand competitiveness is critical to the creation of employment,income generation and poverty reduction and thereby to generalgrowth of the economy. However, studies on MSEs inGhana have mainly focused on the financial performance withlittle or no attention paid to the contribution of environmentaland socio-demographic factors to entrepreneurial success.The data for this study was obtained from Micro and SmallEnterprises (MSEs) in some twenty districts across Ghana.A total of 2899 entrepreneurs were interviewed. A binary logitregression was used in determining the impact of socio-demographicand environmental factors on entrepreneurial businesssuccess. As shown by the results, the odds of business successincrease by 67% if the formal education period is extendedby one year. Supportive environmental factors also significantlycontribute to business success. This study recommendsa ...

Northern Ghana is noted for perennial low and varying agricultural production and this is manifest by persistent vulnerability of inhabitants (mostly farmers) to food insecurity. The low agricultural production has been linked to effects of climate change. New technologies and cultivation practices aimed at enabling farmers to maximise their production to reduce risks associated with changes in climatic conditions in agriculture have been introduced in Northern Ghana. The nagging question is ‘“what influences the adaptive capacities of farmers to innovations introduced to them with the advent of climate variability’? This study has therefore been motivated by the interest in finding the determinants of adaptive capacity of farmers to various innovations targeted at adaptation to climate change and variability. The influence of education on the adaptive capacity of farmers to dugout construction and improvement suggest education will only make a difference for those with low adaptive...

This paper uses cross sectional data which were collected from 200 smallholder rice producers in Ghana, to examine the factors influencing the adoption and extent of use of NERICA rice varieties in Ghana. About 57.93 per cent of the sampled rice producers allocated 35.77 per cent of their land to NERICA accounting for about 33.13 per cent of seeds planted. The Tobit regression model suggests fertilizer use, existence of other complementary projects in the area, proportion of active persons in household, access to alternative income sources, distance to seed source and education as key factors influencing the quantity of seeds planted as well as the proportion of land allocated to the NERICA varieties. With the exception of distance to seed source, all the other factors positively influenced the extents of adoption. The findings suggest the need to ensure availability of NERICA seeds within acceptable distances to farming communities. This could be achieved through identification of ...

Farm households in Ghana have benefited from the programs that promote high-yielding crop varieties and other complementary technologies. The use of these improved agricultural technologies is expected to enhance performance through increased yields and incomes. Despite the expected gains, these households operate at low levels of productivity. Evidence of the impact of such interventions on performance and livelihood in the country is limited. With data from 489 randomly selected rice producers, the study applied the average treatment effect (ATE) methodology to examine the impact of adoption of new improved rice varieties on yield. Profiling the rice-producing households, it was discovered that the rate of adoption varied by location. The rate of adoption of improved rice varieties is estimated at about 46%. Adoption had positive impact on farmers’ rice yields. Experience, gender (male) and expectations about the yield and performance of improved technologies had positive effect o...

The novel Corona virus disease which was discovered in 2019 posed a worldwide threat when WHO declared it as pandemic. This brought many woes to the people across the globe and Ghana was no exception. To ascertain the impact of the corona virus on the ordinary Ghanaians, secondary data was collected on the incidence of the virus on the Ghanaian economy and trend analysed. It was found that there was an exponential increase in incidence of the virus. Also, using a structured questionnaires data was collected from Ga East Municipal of the Greater Accra on the socioeconomic activities of the individuals and how the corona virus affected them. It was found out that the income levels of these people were both positively and negatively affected. Probit regression results shows that those who are educated and enlightened, male respondents, those with children and those who are self-employed had their income negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Only those who employed in a particul...

The sustainable development of the rice sector in Ghana is constrained by environmental, socioeconomic, research and development factors. Productivity is generally low, about 1 mt/ha under upland and rain-fed lowland rice ecologies which dominate rice production systems in the country. The release and diffusion of the New Rice for Africa (NERICA) varieties across many countries in Africa (including Ghana) brought renewed hope to both farmers and the research community because of the desirable qualities associated with the NERICAs, and therefore their potential to improve food security on a sustainable basis. This study therefore sought to assess the extent of exposure and adoption of the NERICA varieties across the rice growing districts in Ghana, and determine the key factors that affect adoption. A total of 489 rice producing households from three districts (Ejura-Sekyedumase, Hohoe and Tolon-Kumbungu) were involved in the study. The study employs the average treatment effect (ATE) methodology which provides an appropriate framework for the identification and consistent estimation of the population adoption rate and that of the determinants of adoption. The study finds that exposure to NERICA varieties is generally low in Ghana with an average rate of about 6%. Similarly, the adoption of improved rice varieties is low, and the adoption of NERICA varieties is about 6% of the total sample surveyed. The study shows that experience, education and location are important determinants of exposure, while age and access to extension also affect adoption. It is therefore recommended that much effort and resources should be invested in promotional activities to facilitate both the exposure and adoption of the NERICAs among farmers in Ghana.

Over the past few decades, scientists have discovered Aquaponics as an innovative method for growing food that may hold the key to e ciently and sustainably feeding the world's population and serving as a job avenue for young graduates. Although many studies have shown aquaponic food production to be technically feasible, there are relatively few studies in Ghana concerning its economic feasibility. A pilot experiment was implemented, and observations and surveys were carried out to obtain views from stakeholders from 2017-2023 in the University of Ghana. The aquaponic system was composed of a plastic pond (for growing tilapia/cat sh species), connecting pipes, aerators, polytanks and soiless media for growing lettuce. We studied the nancial impact of the nexus between tilapia and lettuce aquaponics, and the institutional support system. Aquaponics is pro table, the production rate can be high-three cycles a year for the tilapia, and harvesting lettuce every ve weeks. Yet, the initial nancial costs is high, the engineering experts to install the system to run e ciently and the extension o cers to provide technical information consistently at the local level are lacking. The implications of the ndings are that the interest of young people who are the target, may be lost; nding the investment capital to take advantage of an otherwise pro table venture should go hand-in-hand with available experts in installation and technical information provision. There are national level governmental and private institutions that are ready to support enterprises in aquaponics to work; they should be motivated to engage and provide the local support e ciently.