ABSTRACT Low output of cocoa has resulted in Ghana losing out to Cote d‟Ivoire as the leading producer. The aim of this study was to explore farm households‟ adoption of inorganic fertilizer and technical efficiency, using cross-sectional data collected from 305 cocoa producing households in the Western Region of Ghana. The Heckman two-stage model was used for both the discrete decision to adopt fertilizer and intensity of fertilizer use while the stochastic frontier framework was used t...
ABSTRACT The high cost of sausage production coupled with the need to impede rancidity without the use of artificial ingredients is a major concern. Of all the various processed meats, sausage is the most appetizing and widely consumed. This study investigated the effects of three varieties of sweet potatoe: orange, purple and white-fleshed sweet potato purees on the sensory, nutritional and oxidation rate of beef and frankfurter sausages. A complete randomized design was used for the experi...
ABSTRACT This study assesses consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for safer vegetables in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 350 vegetable consumers selected through a multi stage sampling procedure from ten districts of the capital city, Ouagadougou. Descriptive statistics was used in identifying the mean Willingness to Pay (MWTP). Ordered probit and Multinomial logit were used to estimate the factors influencing consumers’ WTP and consumers’...
ABSTRACT Stable and affordable food commodity prices are important for food security. Higher food prices reduce a family‟s expenditure on other life sustaining expenditures such as health and education. In 2007/8, the world experienced an unexpected rise in both food commodity prices and fuel (petroleum products) prices, which drew the attention of world leaders and researchers. The effect of this continues increases in gasoline prices on the price of maize have implications for Ghanaians ...
ABSTRACT This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the possible causes of production volatility that has characterized rice production in the Greater Accra and Volta Regions of Ghana. The output gap that exists between actual yield and achievable yield presents an opportunity for output growth. Using cross sectional data, this study presents an empirical analysis of production risk and technical efficiency of 356 irrigated rice farms from the two regions. This study adopts t...
ABSTRACT This research work was carried out to update information on nature, the identity of the causal agent and the importance of mango anthracnose disease in Ghana. It was also to determine the effect of the disease on the juice quality of fruits and come up with appropriate control measures in the country. A field survey was carried out in 12 administrative districts of Ghana in 2010 and 2011 to assess the disease incidence and severity. The effect of the disease on yield/fruit quality w...
ABSTRACT Sorghum is a staple crop and a major source of food and energy for the World’s developing countries. However, its utilization as human food is constrained by the low availability of its proteins after wet cooking which could lead to malnutrition, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. West Africa has a great diversity of sorghum yet, its study and use for improved protein digestibility remains unexplored. To provide knowledge on the characterization of West African sorghum germplasm fo...
ABSTRACT African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious viral disease that affect domestic pigs and it is characterized by fever, blotching of skin, and haemorrhage of the lymph nodes, internal organs and the gastrointestinal tract. The prevention and cure of ASF will depend on management practices by farmers, observance of biosecurity measures, the immune system of the pig, and the control of secondary infections. This study was therefore, carried out to determine the knowledge and manage...
ABSTRACT National data on post-harvest loss of mango fruits is estimated to be between 20% to 60%. This constitutes a huge financial loss to all actors. The major obstacles in dealing with this challenge are little knowledge of the nature of the marketing channels, absence of exact estimates, stages along the marketing channel where the losses occur as well as the socio-economic factors that lead to the losses. The study assessed the nature of the marketing channel, estimated losses at each ...
Abstract Carbon is a major constituent of all living things and the cycling o f carbon between the atmosphere and the biosphere is one of the bases for life on earth. However, as a result of m an’s exploitative activities such as deforestation, automobile emission and power generation to increase productivity to m eet energy demands, the quality of the natural environment has and continues to deteriorate in many parts o f the world at a time when the human population is growing at an accele...
ABSTRACT This study presents an analysis of spatial price transmission and market integration of major maize markets in Ghana over the period 1995-2013. Monthly wholesale maize prices for the various markets were used for the analysis. The Augmented-Dickey Fuller test was used to test for the stationarity of individual price series and was confirmed by the KPSS test. All the price series data that were used tested for Unit Root. They were found to be non-stationary at levels but stationary a...
Abstract Maize, the most important cereal in Ghana, is consum ed in alm ost all parts of the country. To ensure food security in Ghana, adequate availability of m aize m ust be ensured. However, w hether or not farm ers should devote their resources to the production of more maize is a question to be addressed. Since food security has more to do with availability than with production or self-sufficiency in the product, it was necessary to investigate w hether it is better for farm ers to gro...
ABSTRACT The potential benefits of local chickens to the rural economy is compromised annually by regular outbreaks of Newcastle Disease (ND). Every year over 80% of the local chicken population is lost to ND, depriving the rural people of the much needed protein and income from chicken. In an effort to reduce the effect of Newcastle Disease on local chicken production, this study was conducted to determine if there is variation in the genetic resistance to NDV in three local chicken ecotype...
Agriculture accounts for a lot of land use in most of the developing countries; hence it is probably the single most powerful influence on environmental quality. Agriculture remains the principal livelihood of the rural poor (Malik, 1999). Agriculture has been the backbone of the Ghanaian economy. Agriculture is very vital to society. It helps to alleviate poverty, provide food security and economic growth. It is the backbone of many African economies especially Ghana (World Development ...
Nitrogen (N) is known to be a major limiting crop nutrient which is required in large amounts as compared with other major nutrients. In rice (Oryza sativa L.) cropping, urea is the main source of N which is applied to the crop because of its relatively low cost and its high N concentration (46%). However, low N use efficiency is always associated with urea application under paddy fields because of its high N loss, mostly through ammonia (NH3) volatilization. The split application of pri...