ABSTRACT Agricultural markets offer opportunities for households to access incomes and food. Efficient food marketing systems assume a competitive structure thus enabling food distribution from surplus to deficit areas. Liberalization of agricultural markets in developing countries, Kenya included in the late 1980‟s and early 1990‟s aimed at achieving a market oriented economy. Earlier studies on agricultural market reforms have reported varied impacts on market efficiency, thus the need ...
Farm diversification is considered an optimal farm plan decision for mitigatingvarying degrees of risks and uncertainties which surround agricultural production, and also has a benefit of stabilizing or increasing income. Diversified agriculture is widely practicedin Konoin district but smallholder farmers earn low incomes asevidenced by poor living standards amongst the smallholders. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the role of on-farm diversification in poverty alleviation amon...
The study focused on the role of GlobalGAP standard on the income and technical efficiency of small-scale producers growing French beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) in Kirinyaga and Nyeri Counties in Kenya. The objectives were to determine the amount of income realized from production under a GlobalGAP farming system, establish the factors which predispose farmers into adopting GlobalGAP certification, compare the technical efficiency of production between certified and non-certified farming re...
Homa Bay County has great potential in terms of the existing arable land, availability of water, human resources base, technological options as well as market growth opportunities. A majority of household engage in fishing and agriculture as a source of livelihood with previous studies indicating that an estimate of 60% engage in sweet potato production. Kasipul, Kabondo Kasipul and Ndhiwa sub-counties have a high potential for sweet potato production. However the abundant production has...
ABSTRACT Land fragmentation is a major problem in most parts of the world as it restricts agricultural development, reduces productivity and opportunities for rural development. Kisii County shows a clear case of land fragmentation due to high population pressure and poverty. This study was conducted with the aim of examining the effect of land fragmentation on agricultural productivity by examining the technical efficiency of households in the area. The specific objectives were to determine ...
ABSTRACT Nyandarua County has enormous milk production potential and has a high amount of milk due to large population of dairy cows coupled with the huge milk market demand from within and without. Despite this potential, milk post-harvest losses have posed a major challenge to the dairy sector in the county. The objectives of the study were: to characterize the socio economic and milk handling attributes of milk producers, to estimate mean milk losses attributable to milk producers and tran...
ABSTRACT Among the major issues in the implementation of REDD+ activities is leakage or displacement‟ resulting from activity shifting associated with the process. This study aimed at assessing potential leakage in terms of carbon stock and emission difference by degradation in REDD+ pilot site and areas around REDD+ pilot project in Kilosa. Data were collected from 84 rectangular plots measuring 20×10m established within the REDD+ pilot site and around REDD+ pilot sites. The numbers of st...
ABSTRACT In recent years the contribution of rice production from northern Ghana to national production has declined, thereby raising concerns of productivity. This study is carried out to examine agricultural technology adoption and market participation among smallholder rice farmers in northern Ghana. A sample size of 429 rice farming households from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions was used for the study. Multivariate probit model was used to estimate adoption of improved r...
ABSTRACT The study was undertaken to examine the effect of clustering on profitability among small scale palm oil processing enterprises in the Birim North district of Ghana. The study sought to examine the nature of clustering among palm oil processing enterprises, the net income derived from clusters and the extent of cluster influence on profitability among small scale palm oil processors. A multistage sampling was employed to select 200 respondents for the study. Principal Component Analy...
ABSTRACT Communication in a multi-campus University is perceived to be riddled with delays, distortions, high cost or reduction in quality of information flow within and/or across campuses and consequently affect performance. The study examined the effects of organizational communication on administrative performance of staff in the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana with the application of the System theory and a developed conceptual framework. The mixed research design was used and a...
ABSTRACT Agriculture is important in developing countries because of the role it plays in attaining food security and rural economic stability. Financing the agriculture sector however, has been a challenge because of the sector‟s exposure to exogenous risk factors, limited collateral of clients and the seasonal nature of agricultural production. As a result of these risks that result in loan default, financial institutions in Ghana allocate a rather small share of their loan portfolios to ...
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 ...
ABSTRACT The ultimate goal of the study is to assess the crumbled feed technology with respect to its contribution in cost savings in per unit cost of production in broiler via a field experiment. The experiment was carried out using 294 broiler day-old-chicks divided into two groups; control and treatment, with three replications each. Each replication consisted of 49 birds. The experiment was carried out for six weeks, which means two weeks saved from the actual 8 weeks farmers keep the bir...
ABSTRACT Food security is when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Foreign income generated from cocoa production serves as the backbone of the economy of Ghana, yet the high poverty prevalence amongst cocoa farming households affect greatly their food security status which in the long run leads to low production outputs. Therefore, this study seeks ...
ABSTRACT Agriculture has been the backbone of Ghana’s economy for several decades. A continuous decline in the agricultural sector contribution to GDP over the years with increasing unemployment among graduates has raised concerns among researchers. The sector is dominated by aging and illiterate population which has negative impact on productivity and technology adoption. The educated youth who can contribute positively to the development of the sector are not taking advantage of opportuni...