RICE PRODUCTION AND MARKETING: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF WETA (AFIFE) AND AVATIME TRADITIONAL AREAS

ABSTRACT 

This study focuses on rice production in two areas, Weta/Afife and Avatime in the Volta region of Ghana. It compares rice production under two distinct farming systems: one using indigenous seeds under rain-fed agriculture (Avatime); and the other improved seeds under modern irrigation system (Weta/Afife). At Avatime farms are not mechanized, farm sizes are small, farmers do not use modern farm inputs and cultivate indigenous glaberrima rice varieties in addition to some modern rice varieties. Rice is primarily cultivated for domestic use. In contrast, at Weta/Afife rice is cultivated under a modern irrigation system with modern farm machinery and inputs. Farmers cultivate aromatic Asiatic varieties as a cash crop. However they do not purchase certified seed but multiply modern open pollinated varieties. Although they have adopted modern technology they have adapted it to their conditions and existing constraints. These two farming styles show distinct strategies developed by farmers, both responding to agricultural intensification by adopting strategies based on:  

•  Investment in labour and labour saving technologies (Avatime) 
•  Investment in high inputs and seeds for increased productivity (Weta) 

However agricultural policy in Ghana does not recognise the autonomous attempts of farmers to modernise their agriculture or the significance of investments in labour but seeks to promote a single production system driven by high external input usage that may not fit into the farming system and farmers’ objectives, including the play-off between investment in labour and labour-saving technologies, new seed and inputs, or in other ways of raising fertility and productivity. Agricultural policy in Ghana does not assist farmers to develop their distinct farming systems but promotes use and dependence on commercial inputs.