This study examined the trend in climate in Ghana, how smallholder horticultural farmers perceive this changing climate and how they are responding to its perceived effects. A survey of 480 resource-constrained horticultural producers was conducted in two municipalities of Ghana. Descriptive analysis and Weighted Average Index were employed to rank identified adaptation strategies and challenges. The results showed that farmers are already experiencing increasing temperature and declining rainfall patterns consistent with trends of observed climate changing in the last two decades.
Relying on cross-sectional data from 300 smallholder rice farmers, the study examined the effects of agricultural extension on improved rice variety adoption and farm income in northern Ghana. A recursive bivariate probit (RBP) model was used to assess the effect of agricultural extension on adoption while regression with endogenous treatment effect model (RETEM) was adopted to evaluate the effect of agricultural extension on farm income. The results indicate a statistically significant effect of agricultural extension on both adoption and farm income.
The paper makes significant contribution to the body of literature on the possible role of adaptation by farmers in Ghana particularly the fragile savannah ecological zone. The study explored smallholder farmers' responses to climate and ecological change effects on their livelihood activities that have emerged since the mid-1980s within the savanna agro ecological zone of Northern Ghana using an ethnographic approach.
Despite the positive attributions ascribed to Digital Platforms (DPs), empirical studies that explore the role of DPs in smallholder credit access are lacking, particularly that which takes into account the dynamics of trust in complex actor interactions in the value chain. Consequently, it remains unclear whether, and how DPs influence trust and actor cooperation in value chain financing of maize production in Ghana.
Agricultural extension in sub-Saharan Africa has often been criticised for its focus on linear knowledge transfer, and limited attention to systemic approaches to service delivery. Currently, the region is experiencing a new-ICT revolution and there are high expectations of new-ICTs to enhance interaction and information exchange in extension service delivery. Using an innovation systems perspective, we distinguish the roles demand-articulation, matching demand and supply, and innovation process management for innovation-intermediaries.
Maize production is of critical importance to smallholder farmers in Ghana. Various factors limit the productivityof smallholder maize farming systems undergirded by the lack of capital for critical investments both at the farmand at national policy levels. Using a value chain approach, this diagnostic study explains how a complex configuration of actor interaction within an institutionally and agro-ecologically challenged value chain leads tothe enduring absence of maize farming credit support.
The importance of extension services in helping smallholder farmers to address the many challenges of agricultural production cannot be over-emphasized. However, relatively few studies have been conducted that investigate how the capacities of agricultural extension agents can be built to more effectively assist smallholder farmers in managing climate risks and impacts. As climate change is a key threat to smallholder food production, addressing this issue is increasingly important.
Traditional approaches to innovation systems policymaking and governance often focus exclusively on the central provision of services, regulations, fiscal measures, and subsidies.
Over the years, CTA has contributed to building ACP capacity to understand innovation processes, strengthen the agricultural innovation system and embed innovation thinking in agricultural and rural development strategies. The CTA Top 20 Innovations project set out to prove that innovation is taking place in ACP agriculture and in the process has demonstrated that smallholder farmers are beneficiaries as well as partners in agricultural innovation.
In this paper, was used a case study approach to investigate the patterns of employment and income generation in cotton and rice value chains in Senegal and Benin. The purpose of the paper is to provide a comprehensive description of both value chains in both countries, emphasizing export potential and innovation entry points with the goal of assessing capacity to generate income, create jobs, and bring about food security.