WEST AFRICAN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY PROGRAME (WAAPP), GHANA by CORAF/WECARD

WEST AFRICAN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY PROGRAMME (WAAPP), GHANA

BASELINE SURVEY REPORT

PREPARED BY JOEL SAM HARRISON DAPAAH

October, 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Executive Summary .. Acronyms .. ..

.. ..

i x

CHAPTER ONE 1.0

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Statement of the Problem

1.2

Terms of Reference ..

1.2

Objectives of the Study

CHAPTER TWO 2.0

STUDY METHODOLOGY

2.1

Survey Design

2.2

Mechanisms for Data Collection

2.3

Data Collection and Analysis

2.4

Literature Review

CHAPTER THREE 3.0

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1

Literature Review

3.1.1

Introduction

3.1.2

Cassava

3.1.2.1

Introduction

3.1.2.2

Agricultural Production Support Services

3.1.2.2.1

Agricultural Inputs and Equipment

3.1.2.2.2

Technology Generation and Dissemination ..

3.1.2.2.3

Markets Opportunities for Cassava ..

3.1.3

Yam

3.1.3.1

Introduction

3.1.3.2

Agricultural Production Support Services

3.1.3.2.1

Technology Generation and Dissemination ..

3.1.3.2.2

Marketing Systems

Page

3.1.4

Cocoyam

3.1.4.1

Introduction

3.1.4.2

Agricultural Production Support Services

3.1.4.2.1

Technology Generation and Dissemination ..

3.1.4.2.2

Market Systems

3.1.5

Sweet Potato ..

3.1.5.1

Introduction

3.1.5.2

Agricultural Production Support Services

3.1.5.2.1

Technology Generation and Dissemination

3.1.5.2.2

Market Systems

3.1.6

Frafra Potato ..

3.1.6.1

Introduction

3.1.6.2

Agricultural Production Support Services

3.1.6.2.1

Technology Generation and Dissemination ..

3.1.7

General Support Services

3.1.7.1

Human Resource

3.1.7.2

Infrastructure ..

3.1.7.2.1

Roads and Markets

3.1.7.3

Finance

3.2

Interviews with Farmers

3.2.1

Demographic Characteristics of Farmers

3.2.2

Provision of Support Services

3.2.3

Farming Systems

3.2.4

Socio-Economic Characteristics of Farming ..

3.2.5

Farm Size

3.2.6

Source of Water

3.2.7

Health ..

...

3.2.8

Access of Information Technologies ..

3.2.9

Membership of FBO ..

3.2.10

Savings Propensity

Page CHAPTER FOUR 4.0

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

References

Appendix

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction During the past four decades, food production has failed to keep pace with population growth in many African countries. One group of commodities that holds much potential for reversing this trend is the roots and tubers. But in Ghana, data compiled from the SRID/MoFA show that yields per unit area of these commodities are low. These low yields are primarily due to declines in soil fertility in the country. The National Soil Fertility Management Action Plan (1998) clearly states that ‘Increased demographic pressure, inappropriate land management practices, reduced or absence of fallow periods have caused a rapid decline in soil fertility in Ghana, lowering agricultural productivity and increased food insecurity’. Current information available from Ghana’s CSIR-CRI shows that roots and tubers account for approximately 40% of Ghana’s AGDP whilst cereals account for 7%. The (WAAPP) is a two-phase, 10-year Adaptable Programme of five years duration each, initiated by ECOWAS with the support of the World Bank to ensure a successful execution of its agricultural policy and to overcome agricultural challenges in the West African sub-region. Objectives The objective of the programme is to contribute to the increase of agricultural productivity in priority commodities in accordance with regional priorities. More specifically, the project aims to generate and disseminate improved technologies in target countries’ priority areas that are aligned with the region’s top priorities. For the first phase of WAAPP, the specific country commodities are roots and tubers for Ghana; rice for Mali and drought-tolerant cereals for Senegal. However, basic data for appreciating the improvements in agricultural productivity and food security are lacking not only in these three countries but also within the member countries of ECOWAS. Thus it becomes critical to carry out a baseline study in order to obtain baseline data on target commodities in each of three countries. These data will constitute the essential elements for measuring changes during the project lifetime and will contribute to ensuring sustainable development and poverty alleviation Methodology Two approaches were used for the baseline study. These were (i) literature review and (ii) interviews with farmers, District Directors of Agriculture (DDAs) and other stakeholders. For the interviews with farmers and DDAs

16 districts where cassava is grown were selected. Out of these 16, four (4) districts where cocoyam is extensively cultivated were purposefully chosen. For sweet potato, 7 other districts where its production is important were also purposefully selected. Similarly, 7 districts were selected for yam. Therefore the

total number of districts purposefully selected for the whole study is 30 districts (herein referred to as “30 commodity districts”). These 30 districts cover all the 10 regions and the 4 major agro-ecological zones of Forest, Transition, Guinea savanna and Coastal savanna. Four villages/towns were randomly selected for each district. In each village/town, 7 farmers were randomly selected. The total sample size of farmers selected was 840. Findings A. Cassava Production/income levels •

Output of cassava increased from 7.15 million tonnes in 1997 to 10.6 million tonnes 2008. This represents an increase of 48.3%. This is due more to expansion of area under cultivation which increased by 45.8% from 592,000 in 1997 to 840,000 ha in 2008 than from increases in yield per unit area. Yield per unit area during the period have remained almost the same. In 1997 it was 12.1 tonnes/ha and in 2008 it was 12.8 tonnes/ha. The increase in the area under cultivation may be due to (i) increasing demands for gari throughout the country and neighbouring countries (ii) the use of the cassava mechanical grater to prepare gari to meet these demands and (iii) the use of biological control of the cassava mealybug and the cassava green mite through the establishment of the Africa-wide Biological Control Programme.

•

Diao and Sarpong (2007) predict that if soil losses are not checked, cassava yields would reduce by 19% in 2015.

•

Cost of production/ha in 2008 is GH¢525.5 in the coastal savanna zone and GH¢234.6 in the forest zone. Harvesting is the most labour intensive field task contributing between 15-20% of the total cost of production.

•

43.3%, 27.8%, 14.0% and 3.8% of cassava farmers earned 1-25%, 26-50%, 51-75% and 76-100% respectively of their total income from cassava sales in 2008

Technologies •

15 improved varieties have been released. These are yet to make the desired impact on cassava production. Yield per unit area obtained has remained around 12 tonnes/ha, while achievable yield is 48.7 tonnes/ha.

•

Technology for production of high quality cassava flour (HQCF) has been developed. Country can therefore save huge foreign exchange if wheat flour is replaced with HQCF in both bakery and non-bakery industries. In 2008 as a result of rising oil prices, wheat imports cost the country US$149,297,000 about twice the amount it used to import the same volume of wheat at US$73,541 in 2007.

•

Potential exists for replacing cassava stems with cassava seedlings for establishment of cassava fields.

•

Potential also exists for partial substitution of imported barley with cassava starch. Scientists at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Ghana have found that cassava starch can be used as adjuncts for brewing beer.

Internal factors (i) Age Age of roots and tubers farmers is important because main source of power in most farming systems of sub-Saharan Africa is human labour supported by traditional hand tools like hoes and cutlasses. •

Age of 400 cassava farmers interviewed ranged from 20-75 years with a mean of 45.1 years. Age of 70 females ranged from 28-68 with a mean of 46.0 years while that of males ranged from 20-75 years with a mean of 44.9.

•

45% are below 45 years. This comprises 46.7% males and 37.7% females.

(ii) Education Basic education is critical for the adoption of technologies by roots and tubers farmers •

38.3% or cassava farmers have had no formal education. This comprises 39.1% of males and 34.7 of females.

•

Only 20.8% of respondents who are below 45 years are educated. This poses major challenges to the development of cassava, as efficiency in agricultural production may be higher for younger and educated farmers than their older and uneducated counterparts.

(iii) Socio-economic characteristics •

Most (62.0%) cassava farmers comprising 51.7% males and 10.3% females possess their own lands.

•

Majority (52.5%) of cassava farmers had family sizes in the range of 6-10 members with 28% in the range of 1-5 members.

•

Majority (79.7%) had farm sizes ranging from 1-5 acres.

•

42.8% of farmers own mobile phones.

•

36.7% of cassava famers belong to a farmer-based organization (FBO).

•

141 cassava farmers representing 35.5% of 400 interviewed had saved with banks in 2008 an amount of GH¢123,982.00.

iii

External factors (i)

Markets/prices •

The largest market for cassava is in food. Gari is the most commercialized of all cassava products. In 2008 its price was GH¢0.54 per kg compared to that of maize which was GH¢0.45/kg.

•

Fuel prices now directly affect food prices. Price of gari rose by 25% and that of maize increased by about 60% as a result of 22% increase in fuel prices.

•

Ghana earned an amount of US$1,679,719 .00 and 399,982.00 from exports of gari and HQCF in 2008 respectively.

•

39.5% of cassava farmers interviewed mentioned lack of markets as one of four major constraints.

(ii)

Credit •

49.5% of cassava farmers interviewed mentioned it as one of their four major constraints.

•

14.3% of cassava farmers interviewed had access to credit in 2008 to an amount of GH¢71,502.00.

Table i. Baseline indicators for measuring changes due to WAAPP on Cassava producers and production Area A. Demographic characteristics

Socio-economic characteristics

Indicator Mean age of farmers Gender % of female farmers % of male farmers Education % of farmers with no formal education Family size % of farmers with (i) 1-5 members (ii) 6-10 members FBO Membership % of farmers in FBOs Assets (i) % of farmers owning land (ii) % of farmers owning mobile phones Farm size % of farmers

1997

2008 41.5 years 17.0% 83.0%

38.3 (%) 28.0% 52.5% 36.7%

62.0% 42.8%

79.7%

cultivating 1-5 acres Savings % of farmers with savings

35.5%

Access to pipe borne water % of farmers

Farming systems

16.3% 96%

Incidence of malaria % of farmers A. Input/Production practices Fertilizer application % of farmers 1 Pesticide application % of farmers

46.1%

42.1% Use of improved varieties % of farmers 32.8% 51.8%

Row planting % of farmers B. Outputs Quantity of cassava produced Yield per unit area Size of area cultivated Prices per kg of product (i) Cassava (ii) Gari Production support services

Technologies generation (Production) No of improved varieties developed No and type of improved agronomic practices developed

Technologies generated (Processing) No and type of improved products developed Finance % of farmers with access to credit Training % of farmers 1

7,150,000.00 t

1,064.000.00 t

12.1 t/ha 592,000.00 ha

12.8 t/ha 840,000.00 ha

0.02 Gh cedis

0.16 Gh cedis

0.06 Gh cedis

0.54 Gh cedis

Planting distances – 1 Methods fertilizer application - 1

Planting distances – 1 Methods of fertilizer application – 1

HQCF - 1 Gari fortified soybean – 1 14.3%

Includes herbicides and insecticides

with

that received training 48.8% Farm budgets/income

Cost of production Coastal savanna Forest zone Incomes(% of total earned from cassava) % of farmers in 1-25% % of farmers in 2650% % of farmers in 5175% % of farmers in 76100%

Gh 525.5 cedis/ha Gh 234.1 cedis/ha

43.3% 27.8% 14.0% 8.3%

Exports

Imports

Product: Gari Volume exported Cash obtained Value/tonne Product: HQCF Volume exported Amount of money obtained Value/tonne Product: Wheat Volume imported Cost of imports Value/tonne Product: Starch Volume exported Cost of imports Value/tonne

4,197 t US$ 418,170.0 US$ 100.00

3,404 t 1,679,716 t US$ 443.0

118.0 t

670.0 t

US$ 26,430.0 US$ 224.00

US$ 390,982.00 US$ 597.00

69,324.5 t US$ 5,325,900.0 US$ 77.4

337.177.0 t US$ 149,927,000.00 US$ 444.8

244.3 US$ 24,900.00 US$101.9

934.4 US$ 580,700.00 US$ 621.0

Indicators for this area show how much Ghana will save in foreign exchange if it is able to replace wheat flour with high quality cassava flour (HQCF) in bakery products and the plywood industry and if it is able to replace various types of starch with cassava starch.

Yam Production Levels/Income •

Output of yam increased by about 100% from 2.41 million tonnes in 1997 to 4.89 million tonnes in 2008. This came from increases of area under cultivation by 86.1% from 187,000 ha in 1997 to 348,000ha in 2008. The first ever improved varieties were only released in 2005.

•

Like cassava, yield/ha of yam is low. For the past ten years it has been between 12 -14 tonnes/ha compared to an achievable yield of 49.0 tonnes/ha.

•

Diao and Sarpong (2007) predict that if soil losses are not checked, yam yields would reduce by 19% in 2015.

•

Cost of production in 2008 is GH¢1,121.00/ha. Mound making is the most labour intensive task accounting for 26% of the total cost of production.

•

22.1%, 41.1%, 19.4% and 12.0% of yam farmers earned 1-25%, 26-50%, 51-75% and 76-100% of their total income from yam sales in 2008.

Technologies •

Three improved varieties released in 2005.

•

Constraint of planting materials for yam production may soon be over if on-going onfarm trials by IITA in partnership with Nigerian and Ghanaian farmers of propagating yam through vine cuttings proves successful.

Internal factors (i) Age •

Age of 217 yam farmers interviewed ranged from 20 to 84 years with a mean of 45.0 years. Age of 22 females ranged from 31-72 years with a mean of 48.9 years while age of 195 males ranged from 20 -84 years with a mean of 45.1 years.

•

47% of yam farmers are below 45 years. This comprises 48.2 males and 36.4 females.

(ii) Education •

49.6% of yam farmers have had no formal education. This comprises 49.2% of male and 50.0% of female farmers.

Only 19.5% of yam farmers below 45 years are educated. This poses major challenges to the development of yam, just like cassava, as efficiency in agricultural production may be higher for younger and educated farmers than their older and uneducated counterparts.

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(iii) Socio-economic characteristics •

65.4% of yam farmers possess their own lands. This is made up of 7.4% females and 58.0% males

•

48.8% had family sizes ranging from 1-6 members and 29% had it in the range of 1-5 members.

•

9.2%, 48.8%, 26.7% and 7.8% of yam farmers had farm sizes of <1, 1-5, 6-10 and 11-15 acres respectively.

•

44.7% own mobile phones

•

41.7% belong to an FBO

•

84 farmers representing 38.7% of yam farmers interviewed had saved an amount of Gh 211,780.00 cedis with banks in 2008.

External factors (i) Markets/Prices •

•

Among all the roots and tuber commodities, yams suffer most from price fluctuations each year. This normally creates glut immediately after harvest in July/August. For example in 2008 it was GH¢0.52/kg in June and July but this dropped to Gh¢ 0.38/kg in August and stayed between GH¢0.32- GH¢0.38/kg from August to December. 22% of yam farmers mentioned lack of access to markets as one of their four major constraints.

•

Yams have high export potential. During the period under review the amount of yams exported increased by about 280% rising from 7,018 in 1997 to 20,841 tonnes in 2008. This resulted in an increase of 32 times in foreign exchange earnings from US$457,000.00 to US$14,888,000.80.

•

Figures available from the Ghana Export Promotion Council show that in 2008 yams were the fifth highest foreign exchange earner among the non-traditional export commodities after tuna, shea nut, cashew nut and frozen fish.

(ii)

Credit •

52.5% of yam farmers interviewed mentioned credit as one of their four major constraints.

•

16.5% of the farmers had access to credit for an amount of GH¢17,000.00.

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Table ii. Baseline indicators for measuring changes due to WAAPP on Yam producers and production â&#x20AC;˘ Area A. Demographic characteristics

Socio-economic characteristics

1997

2008 45 years 10.5% 89.5%

49.6%

29.0% 48.8%

41.7% Assets (i) % of farmers owning land (ii) % of farmers owning mobile phones Farm size % of farmers cultivating 1-5 acres

Savings % of farmers savings

Farming systems

65.4%

44.7%

74%

with 38.7%

Access to pipe borne water % of farmers Incidence of malaria % of farmers A. Input/Production practices Fertilizer application % of farmers

17.0% 97.6%

49% Pesticide application % of farmers

53.4% Use of improved varieties % of farmers 1.3% Row planting % of farmers Outputs

80.6%

Includes herbicides and insecticides

Quantity of yams produced Yield per unit area Size of area cultivated Prices of product/kg Yam tuber

2,417,000.00

4,895,000.00

13.2 t/ha 211,000.00 ha

14.1 t/ha 348,000.00 ha 0.41 Gh cedis/kg

0.06 Gh cedis/kg Production support services

Technologies generation (Production) No of improved varieties No of improved agronomic practices

Three Method of fertilizer application â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1 Planting distance - 1

Technologies generated (Processing) No of improved products Finance % of farmers with access to credit Training % of farmers that received training

Yam flour â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1

16.5%

48.3% Farm budgets/income

Cost of production

Gh 1,121.00/ha

Incomes(% of total earned from yam) % of farmers in 1-25% % of farmers in 2650% % of farmers in 5175% % of farmers in 76100%

22.1% 49.1% 19.4% 12.6%

Export

Product: Yam tuber Volume exported Amount of money obtained Value/tonne

7,048.00 t

20,841.00 t

US$ 457,000.00 US$ 65.1/t

US $ 14,888,800.00 US$ 714.4

Cocoyam Production/income levels • •

Output increased by about 10% from 1997 – 2008 from 1,535,000 tonnes to 1,888,000 tonnes. Area under cultivation increased by 22% from 206,000 ha to 252,000 ha. Diao and Sarpong (2007) predict that if soil losses are not checked, cocoyam yields would reduce by 45% in 2015.

•

Cost of production in 2008 was GH¢306.5/ha.

•

58% of cocoyam farmers earn 1-25% of their total income from cocoyam sales.

Technologies •

No improved varieties or technologies have been developed.

Internal factors (i) Age •

Age of cocoyam farmers interviewed ranged from 27-70 years with a mean of 36.0 years.

•

67.4% below 45 years.

(ii) Education •

29.0 of cocoyam farmers have no formal education.

(iii) Socio-economic characteristics •

Seven own mobile phones

•

19 belong to an FBO

Markets/Prices •

It is a non-traditional export commodity. In 2008 the country earned an amount of US$211,690.00 from cocoyam exports. But its price value of US$778.00/tonne was higher than that of yam and pineapple which were US$714.4/tonne and US$337.1/tonne respectively, indicating its potential as a major foreign exchange earner.

Table iii. Baseline indicators for measuring changes due to WAAPP on Cocoyam producers and production

Area A. Demographic characteristics

Socio-economic characteristics

Indicator Mean Age of farmers Gender % of female farmers % of male farmers Education % of farmers with no formal education Family size % of farmers with (i) 1-5 members

1997

2008 36 years 3.1%

29.0%

46.7%

FBO Membership % of farmers in FBOs 59.4% Assets (i) % of farmers owning land (ii) % of farmers owning mobile phones 21.8% Farm size % of farmers cultivating 1-5 acres Savings % of farmers with savings Prices Price of cocoyam

Farming systems

Production support services

Access to pipe borne water % of farmers Incidence of malaria % of farmers A. Input/Production practices Row planting % of farmers Cost of production Outputs Quantity of cocoyams produced Yield per unit area Size of area cultivated Technologies generation (Production) No of improved

xii

25%

38.7% 0.05 Gh cedis/kg

0.36 Gh cedis/kg

17.0% 81.0%

43.8% 306.5 Gh cedis/kg 1,535,000.00

1,688,000.00

13.2 t/ha 203,000.00 ha

14.1 t/ha 252,000.00 ha

varieties No of improved agronomic practices Technologies generated (Processing) No of improved products Finance % of farmers with access to credit Training % of farmers that received training

Cocoyam flour - 1

16.5%

48.3% Export

Product: Cocoyam Volume exported Amount of money obtained Value/tonne

272.73 t US $ 211,690.00 US$ 776.0/t

Sweet potato Production/income levels •

No figures available from SRID/MoFA on outputs and size of area under cultivation. but FAO estimates that 90,000 tonnes were produced in 2006.

•

Yield/ha is however, low (8.0 tonnes/ha) compared to potential yields of 24.0 tonnes/ha.

•

22.8%, 38.3%, 26.1% and 5.5% earn 1-25%, 26-50%, 51-75% and 76-100% of their total income from sweet potato sales.

Technologies •

Eight improved varieties released. Yields range from 17.0 – 35 tonnes/ha. .

•

Potential exists for replacing barley with sweet potato starch. Scientists at the University of Ghana Biochemistry Department have found that Sauti variety can be used in brewing beer.

Internal factors (i) Age •

Age of sweet potato farmers ranged from 20 to 75 years with a mean of 42.8 years. This comprised of 44.3 for 59 females and 42.0 years for 131 male farmers.

•

54.4% of them are below 45 years. This is made up of 50.8% female farmers and 55.7% male farmers.

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(ii) Education •

26.1% of sweet potato have had no formal education. This comprises 14.8% males and 49.2 females.

•

43.3% of sweet potato farmers who are below 45 years are educated.

(iii) Socio-economic characteristics •

51% of sweet potato farmers are tenants and 49% possess their own lands.

•

50% of them had family sizes of 6-10 members and 46% had it in the range of 15 members.

•

33.7% and 56.3% of sweet potato farmers had farm sizes of <1 and 1-5 acres respectively.

•

35.0% owned mobile phones.

•

23% of them belong to an FBO.

•

30.5% (55 out of 180) of them saved an amount of GH¢49,120.00 in 2008.

External Factors Markets/prices •

No information on markets from MoFA/SRID.

•

40.6% of farmers mentioned it as one of their four major constraints.

Credit •

71% of farmers mentioned as one of their four major constraints.

•

20% of them had access to credit in 2008 for an amount of GH¢6,100.00.

Table iv. Baseline indicators for measuring changes due to WAAPP on Sweet potato producers and production

Area A. Demographic characteristics

Socio-economic characteristics

Indicator Mean age of farmers Gender % of female farmers % of male farmers Education % of farmers with no formal education Family size % of farmers with

1997

xiv

2008 42.8 years 32.8% 67.2%

26.1%

(i) 1-5 members

46.0%

FBO Membership % of farmers in FBOs Assets (i) % of farmers owning land (ii) % of farmers owning mobile phones Farm size % of farmers cultivating 1-5 acres Savings % of farmers with savings Prices

23.0%

35.0%

56.3%

30.5% Not available

Access to pipe borne water % of farmers 29.4%

Farming systems

Incidence of malaria % of farmers A. Input/Production practices Fertilizer application % of farmers 4 Pesticide application % of farmers

93.4%

46.6 %

42.2% Use of improved varieties % of farmers 37.2%

Production support services

Row planting % of farmers B. Outputs Quantity of sweet potato produced Yield per unit area Size of area cultivated Technologies generated (Production) No of improved varieties developed No of improved agronomic practices developed

76.7% 90,000.00 Not available Not available

Planting distances – 1 Methods fertilizer application - 1

Planting distances – 1 Methods of fertilizer application – 1

Technologies 4

Includes herbicides and insecticides

generated (Processing) No of improved products developed Finance % of farmers with access to credit Training % of farmers that received training

Sweet potato gari -1

20.0%

48.8% Farm budgets/income

Cost of production

Incomes(% of total earned from cassava) % of farmers in 1-25% % of farmers in 2650% % of farmers in 5175% % of farmers in 76100%

33.8% 38.3% 26.1% 5.5%

Sources of External Factors Extension Services •

Extension services mainly provided by Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services of MoFA.

•

There are other agencies such as NGOs also providing extension services.

•

MoFA encourages them because of its pluralistic policy on the provision of support services.

Analysis of data on Human Resources in MOFA Extension in Districts show •

There is an uneven distribution of AEAs (by number and gender) in the districts surveyed. The number of AEAs ranged from 10 in Wa East to 25 in Fanteakwa. Similarly, the number of female AEAs ranged from 0 in Wa East, East Gonja and West Gonja to 7 in Wa Municipal.

•

There is also an uneven distribution of motor bikes. Ownership ranged from 3 in Awutu-Efutu-Senya to 21 in Ejura-Sekyedumase district.

•

44.9% of extension agents are above 50 years.

xvi

Research •

Technology generation mainly carried out by CSIR-Agriculture Research Institutes and Universities Faculties of Agriculture collectively called the Ghana NARS.

•

Ghana NARS is well endowed in terms of human resources.

•

In 1998 survey carried out to assess the human resource capabilities of Ghana NARS. Results showed that the Ghana NARS had highly trained and qualified scientists with 44.7% and 33.3% as holders MSc and PhD degrees respectively. Out of this proportion, the Crops Research Institute, the National Centre of Specialization had the highest percentage of 16.2%.

•

Market information •

Market information can be accessed in Ghana through Esoko, a market information system, established by BusyLab – Ghanaian Software Company, Esoko covers 300 markets throughout Africa and registration is free. It is available on mobile phones and the World Wide Web.

Rural finance •

Agriculture is largely excluded from the formal banking system with only nine per cent of credit going to the sector.

•

Average loan size is under US$300.00 because of over reliance on rural finance and micro-finance credit schemes (Daily Graphic, February 18, 2009).

•

A survey carried out in 2007 by MoFA found that lack of credit to purchase inputs especially was the most prevalent to agricultural development.

Conclusions •

Roots and tubers development now attract more attention from donors and governments more than ten years ago.

•

15, eight and three improved varieties developed for cassava, sweet potato and yams respectively

. •

Yields are however still low. 26% (cassava), 28% (yam), sweet potato (33%) and 75% (cocoyam) of achievable yields.

•

Low yields are due to low fertility of our soils, inefficiency in agricultural production, low adoption rates of technologies and inadequate provision of support services.

•

Inadequate support for research activities for generating technologies to improve efficiency and soil fertility

xvii

• . •

Country can save huge foreign exchange through substitution of wheat flour with HQCF Data on human capabilities of research institutions is outdated

•

Adoption of technologies will be affected by (i) external factors of poor access to credit and markets, labour shortages and drought (ii) internal factors of low educational levels and advanced ages of farmers (iii) Low number of extension agents in some districts, low number of females and poor mobility

•

Market information provided by Esoko - a market information system – established by BusyLab – a Ghanaian software company is helping farmers to reach more buyers easily and increase their income and also regional trade.

Recommendations •

Strengthen linkages among on-going projects to avoid duplication and maximize use of resources

•

To industrialize the use of roots and tubers there is the need to mechanize their production and processing.

•

Give adequate attention to generating/disseminating technologies to improve agricultural production efficiencies.

•

Promote the dissemination of conventional sustainable land management practices (e.g. agroforestry, mulching, cover cropping, contour vegetative barriers, ridge furrow systems, stones lines, tied-ridging and contour bunds) to reduce soil loss and improve soil fertility.

•

Strengthen the use of participatory approaches to generate technologies but combine them with adequate social, organizational and economic arrangements to form a complete innovation so that farmers will adopt them.

•

Link up with BusyLab to provide current market information to roots and tubers farmers through the use of mobile phones and World Wide Web

•

The Ghana NARS should update the 1998 results on its human resource capabilities.

xviii

xix

ACRONYMS AGDP

Agricultural Gross Domestic Product

AgSSIP

Agricultural Services Sub-Sector Investment Programme

C.AVA

Cassava. Adding Value in Africa

CBRDP

Community Based Rural Development Project

CIAT

International Centre for Tropical Agriculture

CIDA

Canadian International Development Agency

COSCA

Collaborative Study of Cassava in Africa

CPHP

Crop Post-Harvest Programme

CRI

Crops Research Institute

CSIR

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research

DFID

Department for International Development, UK

ECOWAS

Economic Commission for West African States

FRI

Food Research Institute

FORIG

Forestry Research Institute of Ghana

GGDP

Ghana Grains Development Project

IAASTD

International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development

IFAD

International Fund for Agricultural Development

IFPRI

International Food Policy Research Institute

IITA

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

MoFA

Ministry of Food and Agriculture

NARP

National Agricultural Research Project

NAEP

National Agricultural Extension Project

NRI

Natural Resources Institute

MDG

Millennium Development Goals

MISTOWA

Market Information System for Traders Organizations in West Africa

MOAP

Market Oriented Agriculture Project

RELC

Research Extension Linkage Committee

REPP II

Rural Enterprises Project Phase II

RSFP

Rural Financial Services Project

RTIP

Roots and Tubers Improvement Programme

RTIMP

Roots and Tubers Improvement and Marketing Programme

SCIMP

Smallholder Credit, Inputs and Marketing Programme

SRDP

Smallholder Rehabilitation and Development Programme

SRID

Statistical Research and Information Directorate

TGD

Technology Generation and Development

VIP

Village Infrastructure Programme

WAAPP

West Africa Agriculture Productivity Programme

xxi

CHAPTER ONE 1.0

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Statement of the Problem

During the past four decades, food production has failed to keep pace with population growth in many African countries. Severe food insecurity continues, food import bills have been soaring and agricultural export earnings have been declining. To reverse these trends, African countries have been called to increase agricultural productivity. One group of commodities that holds much potential for reversing this trend is the roots and tubers. Hahn (1994) noted that roots and tubers account for well over 50 per cent of the total staples produced in sub-Saharan Africa and are the backbone of the economy in the region. Thus in Ghana, a prioritization exercise carried out at the start of the implementation of the erstwhile NARP in 1994 showed that three root and tuber crops were in the top 10 prioritized commodities. In that exercise yam was first and cassava and cocoyam were fourth and eighth, respectively out of a total of 39 commodities. It appears that this situation has not changed much. Therefore, a recent study by CORAF/IFPRI (2006) indicated that roots and tubers contribute the most to agricultural growth in West and Central Africa and the most to Ghana’s agricultural growth as well. Current information available from Ghana’s CSIR-CRI shows that roots and tubers account for approximately 40% of Ghana’s AGDP whilst cereals account for 7%. Roots and tubers are adapted to a wide range of ecologies and are very tolerant of environmental stresses such as drought and give reasonable yields under marginal soil conditions. They are also efficient producers of calories, providing over 200 million people in the region with low-cost food. Webster and Wilson (1980) quoting De Vries et. al. (1967) produced evidence that the major tropical roots and tubers – cassava, sweet potato, yams and cocoyams – have a considerably higher potential for food energy production per unit area per day than the cereals. They further noted that although the roots and tubers contain 0.4-2.5% per cent protein in their edible parts compared to 711% for cereals, the differences are very much smaller if calculated on per energy basis. Comparing cereals to roots and tubers, Bennison (1987) observed that despite their adaptability cereals have a serious disadvantage: the harvest product is dependent on the crop being able to complete a reproductive cycle firmly linked to a sequence of seasonal changes which culminate in a dry, preferably warm period in which the grain can mature and dry naturally, sufficiently to permit harvest. Wherever, these climatic conditions do not prevail or are unavailable, farmers have found greater security in turning to root crops for a staple food. Within the tropics, root crops offer other security advantages. Being less tied to the rhythm of seasonal changes and able to remain in the ground without deterioration for some time, planting and harvesting can often proceed throughout the year in accordance with farmer requirements. In this way, labour demands can be regulated and storage (which creates serious difficulties for grain in hot, humid regions) is avoided (Bennison, 1987).

Roots and tubers have also been observed to alleviate seasonal shortages and fill food gaps caused by natural or man-made disasters (Tangamik et. al., 1999). For example, in Ghana, cassava was the crop that saved many from the effects of the drought in 1982 and 1983 and also saved the thousands that had been repatriated from Nigeria around the same time. But in spite of these crucial roles in food security and the economy of developing nations such as Ghana, many international agencies and bi-lateral donors have been reluctant to extend loans and grants to African nations to help them increase production. While this lack of interest may be attributed to difficulties in their marketing and processing, it must be recognized that their reputation of being foods for ‘backward’ and ‘poor’ people has played a major role in their neglect (Courier, 1987). Cassava for example has suffered from a longstanding held belief that it is an ‘inferior good’ i.e. per capita consumption of cassava declines as per capita income increases (Nweke, 2004) and therefore considered a low-value food crop with little prestige as a subject for research (Yaninek, 1994). Based on these misconceptions, soon after its establishment in 1975, IFPRI reported that since these root crops require much larger bulk to provide calories than do cereals, and are low in proteins, in Africa demand may shift towards cereals as has occurred in many countries. It appears that this observation by IFPRI’s view was the reason why the CIDA supported the Ghana Government to implement the GGDP that focused mainly on the development of cereals and legumes for about 15years i.e. from 1979 to 1995. IFPRI has, however, recently concluded that root and tuber crops are important for smallholders in the marginal areas of Africa, Asia and South America and that special steps should be taken to boost cassava production, especially in Africa (PinstrupAnderson et. al., 1999). This conclusion confirmed those of Hahn (1994) who had observed that the importance of roots and tubers grows as population pressure on the land increases and soils become poorer. He predicted that they will continue to play an even more vital role for food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. Thus in recent times with increasing pressure on the land, fast declines in soil fertility, increases in conflicts and natural and man-made disasters donors and governments in the sub-region are now paying more attention to roots and tubers in efforts to enhance food security and alleviate poverty. A number of projects have been funded or are being funded by various donors to strengthen the provision of support services in a number of areas including research, extension credit, rural infrastructure, marketing, input delivery etc. In Ghana, the first of such support was under the Ghana Smallholder Rehabilitation Development Project (SRDP) from 1988-1995 which supported the National Root and Tuber Crops Improvement Programme at the Crops Research Institute (CRI), Kumasi.

Further support was provided under the National Agricultural Research Project (NARP) and National Agricultural Extension Project (NAEP), which started in 1992 and ended in 1999 to strengthen technology generation and dissemination in all commodities including livestock. Other projects that have supported roots and tubers research in Ghana were (i) the Agricultural Sub-Sector Services Improvement Programme (AgSSIP) (2001-2007) funded by the World Bank and (ii) the DFID CPHP to develop industrial uses for cassava. However, the greatest support for the development of roots and tubers was provided under the Root and Tuber Improvement Programme (RTIP) funded by IFAD from 1999 to 2005. The RTIP was later renewed in 2006 as the Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Programme (RTIMP) to be implemented over a period of eight years to build on the successes of the RTIP and also strengthen the provision of marketing services to the development of roots and tubers. However there is still the need for more attention to be given to technology generation and development (TGD) activities. This is because agricultural productivity growth is essentially driven by the generation and adoption of new technologies. The Project Appraisal Document of the WAAPP notes that the low productivity of Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s agriculture is due to lower funding of TGD than elsewhere in the world and not that potential returns on it are not as high as elsewhere. Webb (1992) has also observed that although there are a lot of constraints to the effectiveness of adoption of improved technology practices in Africa, they are still seen as holding the key to long-term food security both by raising productivity and increasing rural employment. Studies have shown that rates of ret.urn on investments in agricultural research range from 25 to 100 percent in perpetuity. In Ghana, four impact studies on maize, cowpea and pineapples have revealed returns on investment from 29% -79%. The document notes that even when technologies are generated, dissemination and adoption mechanisms are inefficient or lacking and attributes this situation to weak linkages between research systems, extension services, farmers and agribusiness. Dormon (2006) observed that farmers will not adopt an IPM technology developed for controlling pests in cocoa farms in Ghana that unless it is combined with adequate organizational and economic arrangements to form a complete innovation. In Ghana, the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) will complement the efforts of RTIMP in the development of roots and tubers through increased support for technology generation and dissemination. The (WAAPP) is a two-phase, 10-year Adaptable Programme of five years duration each, initiated by ECOWAS with the support of the World Bank to ensure a successful execution of its agricultural policy and to overcome agricultural challenges in the West African sub-region. The objective of the programme is to contribute to the increase of agricultural productivity in priority commodities in accordance with regional priorities. More specifically, the project aims to generate and disseminate improved technologies in

target countries’ priority areas that are aligned with the region’s top priorities. For the first phase of WAAPP, the specific country commodities are roots and tubers for Ghana; rice for Mali and drought-tolerant cereals for Senegal. The priority areas pertaining to commodities were derived from a study carried out by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (WECARD/CORAF) in 2006 (IFPRI, 2006). The study identified roots and tubers, livestock, rice, cereals among others as the commodities that make the greatest contribution to the region’s agricultural growth and inure to producers’ benefit. The first phase of the Project will establish National Centres of Specialization (NCOs), fund technology generation and adoption and set-up a framework for sharing technologies. The second phase will build on the structures and achievements of the first phase, further strengthen the NCOs, and generate more improved technologies. The expected outcomes of the Project are: •

Strengthened enabling conditions for disseminating technology within participating countries and at the regional level.

•

Strengthened alignment of national priorities with regional priorities within participating countries’ National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS).

•

Strengthened priority-focused and transparent agricultural research funding mechanisms within participating countries and at the regional level.

•

Established effective project coordination, management and monitoring and evaluation.

Within the framework of the WAAPP, it is noted that the data used in appreciating the improvements in agricultural productivity and food security are considerably inefficient, not only in the three countries concerned by the first phase of the project but also and especially in all the member countries of ECOWAS. Hence, it becomes indispensable to carry out a baseline study in order to collect reference data for the commodities selected for the three countries which constitute the essential elements for observing changes induced by the WAAPP and contributing to sustainable development and the fight against poverty. 1.2

Terms of Reference

The Terms of Reference for the study were as follows: The consultants will conduct a baseline study to collect reference data for root and tuber crops in Ghana for monitoring changes induced by the WAAPP.

1.3

Objectives of the Study

The main objective of the study is to provide an analysis describing the situation prior to WAAPPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intervention against which progress will be assessed. Specifically, the study seeks to facilitate the evaluation and analysis of the changes to be observed in the evolution of productivity relative to roots and tubers in Ghana.

CHAPTER TWO 2.0

STUDY METHODOLOGY

Primary data (mainly through interviews using survey questionnaire) and secondary data (literature review) were used in the collection of data. 2.1 Survey Design Sampling: - In Ghana, WAAPP works on four Root and Tuber (R&T) crops – cassava, cocoyam, yam and sweet potato. RTIMP does work in these R&T crops, and operates in some districts in Ghana. Similarly, the WAAPP also works within some of these districts. Since, WAAPP is providing increased support for TGD and will depend on the RTIMP Planting Material Multiplication and Dissemination component of RTIMP, a compromised selection of districts between the two projects was considered across all the 10 regions. Also based on the type of R&T crop, some districts were purposefully selected based on the popularity of the crop in the district. For that reason, 16 districts where cassava is grown were selected. Out of these 16, four (4) districts where cocoyam is extensively cultivated were purposefully chosen. For sweet potato, 7 other districts where its production is important were also purposefully selected. Similarly, 7 districts were selected for yam. Therefore the total number of districts purposefully selected for the whole study is 30 districts (herein referred to as “30 commodity districts”). These 30 districts cover all the 10 regions and the 4 major agroecological zones of Forest, Transition, Guinea savannah and Coastal savannah. Four villages/towns were randomly selected for each district. In each village/town, 7 farmers were randomly selected. The total sample size of farmers selected was 840. Details of the selected districts in the various regions and the commodities are given in Appendix. 2.2

Mechanisms or Methods for Data Collection

The mechanisms used to collect data were (i) literature review and (ii) interviews with farmers and District Directors of Agriculture (DDAs) using questionnaires. Data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of respondents were collected through interviews using closed and open-ended questionnaires, while those on the farming systems and provision of support were collected using both using both interviews using the questionnaires and review of literature. As part of the process, a two day training workshop was held at Cape Coast (for the Southern Zone) and Techiman (for the Northern Zone) concurrently for enumerators (AEAs) from the selected districts and their supervisors (i.e. the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Officers (RMEOs)) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture from all the 10 regions. During the first day the Consultants reviewed the questionnaire with the AEAs and their supervisors for a better understanding of its objectives and its administration. On the second day, the enumerators went to the field and pre-tested the questionnaire with some farmers. Their findings from the pre-testing were discussed and some changes were incorporated to develop the final questionnaire (see Appendix).

The completed or administered questionnaires were collected and validated by the RMEO and then sent to the Consultants for processing (i.e. data entry, cleaning, further validation and analysis). 2.3

Data Collected and Analysis

To provide an analysis describing the situation prior to WAAPPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intervention the consultants collected data covering the following areas: i.

Demographic characteristics of roots and tubers farmers a) age and gender of respondent b) Educational levels c) Household characteristics (i.e. size, occupation of household members)

ii.

Farming Systems a) b) c) d) e) f)

iii.

Size and yield of holdings Reasons for planting a root and tuber commodity Inputs and production practices Farm equipment Cost of production/acre Constraints to increased productivity

Provision of Support Services a) b) c) d) e) f)

iv.

level of education, gender, age

Training Technology generation and dissemination Marketing Inputs Credit Prices

Socio-economic Characteristics of Respondents a) b) c) d)

Incomes and expenditures Source of drinking water Land tenure Access to information technologies (i.e. radio, TV, mobile phones and Internet) e) Types of meals f) Main illnesses affecting household members g) Membership of FBO Out of a total of 840 questionnaires sent out, 829 completed were valid for processing. Data was processed and statistically analyzed using MS Access â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a database management system.

2.4

Literature Review

The existing literature on efforts that have been made to develop roots and tubers in the country through the provision of various support services were reviewed extensively. In addition, some institutions and other stakeholders were visited to gather more information, and also to cross-check some of the information obtained from the literature. These institutions were: a) Ghana Export Promotion Council b) Ghana Statistical Service c) Statistical Research and Information Directorate (SRID) of MoFA d) Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana e) Crops Services Directorate of MoFA. f)

CSIR-Food Research Institute.

g) CSIR-Crops Research Institute

CHAPTER THREE 3.0

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the findings of the literature review and questionnaires (interviews) carried out with farmers, District Directors of Agriculture. 3.1

Literature Review

3.1.1

Introduction

Agricultural improvement has been called the most difficult economic task a nation can face (Freeman, 1968). It is so because many different conditions have to be created or modified by different persons and groups of people. Mosher (1966) identified five of such conditions which must be available to farmers if agriculture is to develop. Each of them according to him is essential and stressed that without anyone of them there can be no agricultural development. Mosher further noted that with all of the conditions available there will be some agricultural development even in the absence of what he termed any of the ‘accelerators’ (i.e. credit, education etc). These conditions are: • • • • •

Markets for farm products Constantly changing technology Local availability of supplies and equipment Production incentives for farmers Transportation

These observations made by Mosher more than four decades ago are still relevant and valid. Poulton et. al. (2004) noted that agricultural productivity depends upon both technical change and the presence of input, seasonal finance and marketing system to increase farm production and deliver it to consumers at competitive prices. IFPRI (2006) strengthened these earlier views of Mosher and Poulton when it noted that increased agricultural productivity cannot rely only on improved yields from production efficiencies (such as adoption of modern or improved technologies and practices), but it must also rely on factors such as adequate access to productive resources, well functioning markets and infrastructure, and an environment (complete with stable macroeconomic policies) conducive to agricultural development. It stressed that without these enabling factors, low productivity levels in West Africa will persist and depress overall growth in the agricultural sector. In Ghana, Dormon (2006) observed that farmers will not use an IPM technology developed for controlling pests and diseases in cocoa farms unless it is combined with adequate, organizational and economic arrangements to form a complete innovation. But the most recent and probably the most significant endorsement of Mosher’s observations is that of the IAASTD (2009) which notes that in order to realize development and sustainability goals, two areas must be distinguished for action.

One area is technology development: continued crop, tree, fish and livestock improvement, and sustainable practices for using water and other natural resources and energy. However, goals can only be achieved if attention is paid to a second area of action: organizational capacity and policy and institutional development. For example, the use of new technologies usually is predicated upon the existence of markets with remunerative prices, access to credit, inputs and a host of other services and supports that are often neglected. In other words, though increased agricultural productivity is driven by new technologies, farmers need other support services to enable them adopt and use these new technologies to raise yields without degrading the environment. The support services that farmers need may be put into five classes: (i) agricultural inputs and equipment (ii) technology generation and dissemination (iii) marketing (iv) finance and (v) infrastructure. Thus within the period under review 1997-2008 many projects were set-up and funded by various donors to strengthen these factors or services. (Table 1). The table includes one project (SRDP) which ended before 1997. It has however been listed because of the significant contributions of its outputs to the development of roots and tubers in the country. One of these projects is the Market-Oriented Development Programme (MOAP) established in 2004 by MoFA in collaboration with the German Development Cooperation (GTZ) to strengthen the interdependence among these factors through the promotion of the concept of the value chain. The value chain concept sees agriculture as a comprehensive system of agro-based business activities comprising (i) input provision (ii) primary production (iii) transformation and processing (iv) marketing and trade and (v) consumption. The better the partners, farmers, traders, processors, retailers cooperate the higher will be the value generated for the individual actor at every stage of the value chain Weidinger (2005). However, it appears that due to the stigma that roots and tubers have suffered from in the past, none of its members has been included in the MOAP. This non-inclusion may also be a reflection of the tendency among agricultural development experts to group root and tuber commodities together because they are bulky, perishable, and vegetatively propagated. But these crops are highly differentiated in terms of origin, production and nutritional traits and use (Scott et. al., 2000). McCalla (1998) has observed that this tendency to treat roots and tubers as undifferentiated commodities has obscured their variable performance and clouded understanding of their future prospects. This approach is also not tenable as outputs from the provision of the various support services often vary for each commodity. Table 2 and Figures 1 and 2 shows that there were variations in increases in outputs and areas cultivated under the period under review among cassava, yam and cocoyam. From 1997 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2008, cassava production increased from 7.15 million MT to 10.6 million MT representing an increase of 48.3% ,whist the output for yam increased from 2.41 million tonnes to 4.89 million tonnes representing an increase of 100.1%. The lowest

percentage increase was for cocoyam which increased by 10% from 1,535,000 tonnes to 1,688,000 tonnes in 2008. Figure 3 shows there were also variations in performance of various root and tuber commodities and maize in response to fuel price increases from 1997-2008. Outputs obtained from the provision of agricultural inputs and equipment, technology generation and dissemination and marketing support services are specific for each crop while those from infrastructure are generic and will support the development of all agricultural commodities. Financial support may however be generic for all commodities or specific to a particular commodity. Therefore, this literature review will disaggregate roots and tubers by crops and under each of them examine those services that provide specific outputs. At the end it will examine at the human resource capabilities within the national agricultural research system (NARS), the provision of infrastructure and finance on the development of all them. 3.1.2

Cassava

3.1.2.1 Introduction Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is grown between latitudes 30ºN and 30ºS with optimum temperature range of 25ºC - 30º. The ideal rainfall requirement is 1000 – 1500 mm per annum which is well distributed. It can however be found within 250 – 500 mm rainfall regime. This rainfall regime makes cassava suited to most regions with few production problems in Ghana. In Ghana, cassava is cultivated on a variety of soils but the ideal soil units are those which are deep to very deep and well to moderately drained with pH values ranging from 4.5 – 8. This adaptation to a wide variety of agro-ecological zones makes cassava the most important crop among the root and tuber crops. Ghana is the second largest (after Nigeria) producer in Africa (FAOSTAT), the crop contributing about 22% of Ghanaian AGDP (Otoo, 1998). This means that cassava’s contribution to Ghana’s economy is higher than that of any crop including even cocoa – which is acclaimed to be the backbone of Ghana’s economy. About 80% of the population rely on it as their main starch staple, consuming an average of 150 kg per capita per annum (MoFA 2002) to provide 18% of dietary energy more than any other crop (Gibson, 2005). Cassava also occupies more farmland than any other crop in Ghana (Nweke et. al., 1999) and is cropped with low use of inputs (MoFA 2008). But this observation by Nweke appears to be no longer valid. Results from the 2007 Rural Livelihood Survey (MoFA 2008) study showed that maize is the commodity produced by the highest number of households (63% of all households, 90% of farm households) across all ecological zones. Maize is also the main source of income or one of the main sources of income for 15.3% of all households or 24% of all farm households.

By contrast, cassava is cropped in a more restricted area compared to maize, and is cultivated by 35% of all households or 57% of farm households. However, the percentage of households involved in cassava production and processing (20.1% of all households or 33% of farm households) as main source of income or one of the main sources of income is higher than compared to maize. This situation is due to the high percentage of cassava growers in coastal and forest areas giving priority investment in cassava value chain for national and regional markets (MoFA 2008). During the period 1989-1992 Ghana was one of six countries in Africa that benefited from what might be termed the most extensive study on cassava called (COSCA) under the aegis of IITA (Nweke et. al., 1994). From analysis of data collected and other later observations Nweke (2004) concluded that there has been a cassava transformation in Ghana and Nigeria involving a shift from production as a low yielding, famine-reserve crop to a high yielding cash crop increasingly prepared as gari, a dry cereal. He noted that the following four key factors are driving this transformation: •

IITA’s new high-yielding varieties of Tropical Manioc Selection (TMS) which boosted yields by 40% without fertilizer application

•

high consumer demand for cassava by rural and urban households which fueled the producer incentive to plant more land to cassava

•

the use of the mechanical grater to prepare gari which released labour especially female labour from processing for planting more cassava and

•

the Africa-wide biological control programme which averted the devastating cassava mealy bug epidemic.

Nweke further noted that the above factors that have driven the cassava transformation have introduced new bottlenecks that need to be broken in order to transform cassava from a cash crop for rural and urban consumption to play an additional role as a livestock feed and industrial raw material. These according to him are breaking harvesting and processing bottlenecks. Ghana is still far from playing these additional roles despite efforts by DFID to promote the industrialization of cassava products during the past decade A comparison of past and on-going efforts to develop the root and tuber crops shows that cassava has received the most attention. The literature review will examine the performance of various agricultural production support services in the cassava transformation and why cassava should receive the most attention among the roots and tubers.

3.1.2.2 Agricultural Production Support Services 3.1.2.2.1

Agricultural Inputs and Equipment

Most of the new methods that will increase agricultural production require the use by farmers of inputs. These include planting materials, agro-chemicals and tools. In Ghana, ever since the government embarked on an economic recovery programme in 1985 public involvement in the sale and distribution of inputs has been eliminated in the sale of seeds and agro-chemicals. But this policy will not affect the roots and tubers industry as they are not propagated by seeds but by stem cuttings or tubers and agro-chemicals are hardly used. For cassava production, stem cuttings are often not available at time of planting. Therefore under the RTIP, one of the objectives was to multiply stem cuttings for farmers. In Nigeria, the IITA Integrated Cassava Project has looked at the whole cassava commodity chain and come to the conclusion that cassava production and processing must be mechanized to promote the industrialization of the crop. In the past, the prevalence of fragmented and small farms might be responsible for the lack of interest in the mechanization of production activities. However, with the emergence of exportdriven large scale farms, interest has arisen in the mechanization of planting, weeding and harvesting of cassava Various types of equipment have been designed and built in Brazil for the mechanization of these activities. These are (i) Stem cutter (ii) power tiller (iii) cassava planter and fertilizer applicator and (iv) cassava harvester. Stem cutter: used in cassava stem cutting for uniform length and minimal damage to tissue. It is capable of preparing 33,000 cuttings in one hour. It is developed for large farms. Power tiller: This is a light multipurpose machine that can be used for land preparation, planting of cassava, weeding, transportation, spraying and electricity generation. Cassava planter and fertilizer applicator: There are two versions â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a two row and a four row. They can be used to increase size of areas planted manually. For instance it will take 12 persons to manually plant one hectare of cassava in a day but one tractor mounted planter and three persons will plant the same area in one hour. Cassava harvester: The harvester does not eliminate manual labour completely. It is semi-mechanized being that after uprooting one has to det.ach roots from the stump manually. The harvester can handle 800-1000 kg/person/day unlike 400 kg/person/day if harvesting is done manually. Addy et. al. (2004) found out in the Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions that harvesting constituted the highest production costs. This confirmed earlier results reported by Nweke et. al., (2001) that in Ghana and Nigeria among other cassava producing countries in Africa, harvesting cassava is the most labour-intensive field task.

Under the AgSSIP a mechanical harvester has been developed for large scale farms but the viability of this equipment is yet to be tested. For agro-processing, the equipment that has contributed most to the cassava transformation is the mechanical grater. Other cassava equipment are (i) cassava press for de-watering the grated cassava (ii) cassava mill to process dried cassava chips into flour (iii) cassava chipper (slicer) which chops the cassava tubers into small pieces (iv) bagging stand which helps fill sacks with either agbelima or gari without the assistance of a second person (v) cassava sifter and cassava dryer (Ahorbo, 2008). But a major constraint to cassava processing is peeling. Cassava must be peeled to remove the inedible outer parts of the root consisting of the corky periderm and the cortex. At the village level, peeling is usually done manually using a knife. About 12-15 people peel three tons of cassava per a day which takes time (Addy et. al., 2004). Peeling is the major Determinant of the available roots to be processed per day into gari. In Nigeria, IITA in collaboration with local fabricators has fine-tuned three prototype peelers with a capacity of one tonne/hr. Similarly, through the same collaboration, cassava pelletizers have been developed which can be used to make poultry, ruminants and fish feeds. They have a capacity of one tonne/hour. 3.1.2.2.2

Technology Generation and Dissemination

Increased agricultural production comes from new technologies or methods put into practice on farms and off-farm. This section focuses on new technologies that have contributed to the cassava transformation on-farm and off-farm. It will also identify technologies that appears to have the potential to improve the cassava transformation in Ghana a.

On Farm Technologies Generated and Disseminated

Technologies that have contributed to the cassava transformation on-farm are of two types i.e. improved varieties been generated and are being disseminated to farmers at improved varieties and improved agronomic practices. Another technology which has greatly contributed to increase cassava production is the biological control technology that was used to control the cassava mealy bug and cassava green mite. â&#x20AC;˘

Improved Varieties

The improved varieties are the IITAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new high yielding TMS varieties of Afisiafi (TMS 30572), Abasafitaa (TMS 4 (2) 1425) and Gblemoduade (TMS 50395) which were released by the CSIR-CRI in 1993. Other improved varieties released are Tekbankye, Nkabom and IFAD released by the Kwame University of Science and Technology in 1997 and 2003 respectively and Eskamaye. Filnidiakong and the Nyenkobga released by the CRI-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute released in 2002.

The School of Agriculture, University of Cape Coast had also released two varieties i.e. Cape Vars bankye and Bankye botan in 2005. And in 2005, the CSIR-CRI released four new varieties, namely the CSIR-CRI released four new varieties, namely CRI-Agbelifia, CRI-Bankyehemaa, CRI-Esam Bankye, CRIDoku duade These released varieties and their various characteristics are given in the Table 3. An examination of figures for cassava productivity (i.e. yield/ha) however shows that they ranged from 11.4 to 12.8 tonnes/ha. (Table 3).These values are far below the potential of 26-38 tonnes/ha for improved varieties (RTIP, 2002) but are above those for local varieties which yield up to 10 tonnes/ha (Graham et. al., 1999). Data in Table 2 show that from 1997 – 2008, cassava production increased from 7.15 million MT to 10.6 million MT representing an increase of 48.3%. This increase came more from an increase in the size of area cultivated than from adoption of improved varieties. During the period, area under cultivation increased by 45.8% from 592,000.00 to 849,000.00 ha but yield per unit area remained almost the same. This confirms an observation by IAASTD (2009) that more land has been brought under the plough in sub-Saharan Africa over the past two decades than during any period of human history on the subcontinent. It therefore appears that the improved TMS varieties that have been released are yet to make any significant impact on yields per unit area and subsequently on cassava production in Ghana. Some farmers in Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions have however observed that improved varieties yield three times more than the local ones (Addy et. al., 2004). Another proof of the higher yields of these improved varieties comes from processors in the Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar and Awutu-Efutu Districts who claimed that comparing current processing capacities with the situation before RTIP interventions that although ‘ropes’ (i.e. 12 x 12 yards) of cassava area processed remained unchanged, weight of cassava per ‘rope’ had increased by approximately 16.7%. This has resulted in an increase in the processing levels by the same margin (Quaye and Plahar 2004). Dankyi and Adjekum, (2007) found out that the adoption rate for improved cassava among 150 farmers in 18 districts under five regions of southern Ghana was 9% while the adoption intensity which is the area under improved cassava cultivation was 37%. •

Agronomic practices

The improved agronomic practices generated and disseminated to farmers are (i) row planting and (ii) application of fertilizers. (i)

Row planting: the recommended spacing for planting cassava in rows is 1m x 1m

(ii)

Fertilizer Applications (Sub committee on Fertilizer Use Report, NARP 1998).

In 1997 after a joint World Bank/Ghana Government Implementation Assistance Mission of the NARP and NAEP, it was recommended that a committee be formed to review available results including those of the FAO trials conducted in Ghana and neighbouring countries and the on-farm on trials of the Grains and Legumes Development Project to make recommendations on the use of more cost effective straight fertilizers such as urea and diammonium phosphate. Results of the review are as follows: Cassava extracts large quantities of nutrients from the soil, particularly K and N, and may exhaust the soils nutrient reserves unless adequately fertilized. It is particularly exhaustive of soil K. Although cassava grows relatively well on very infertile soils, yet it may require high levels of fertilization for maximum yields, particularly on continuously cropped, very exhausted soils. Cassava appears to be susceptible to Mg deficiency. This nutrient may have to be applied as separate fertilizer or in combination with others. But zinc is the micronutrient that most limits yield. Liming may be required only when pH is less than 4.6 and aluminium extraction is more than 80%. Generally, cassava requires little or no lime. Severe micronutrient deficiencies especially of Zn can be induced by excessive liming. A.

Rates of application

(i)

Forest zone

(ii)

No fertilizer is required on land fallowed for at least three years.

On exhausted or continuously cropped soil a rate of 60-40-50-5 kg of NP 2 O 5 , K 2 O-Zn is recommended.

Coastal, Interior Savanna and Transitional Zones On exhausted or continuously cropped soils a rate of 80-60-80-20-5 kg of NP 2 O 5 , K 2 O Mg-Zn/ha is recommended.

(iii)

Whole country Generally for the whole country, depending on the history of cropping of the land, the recommended rate (kg/ha) is 40-80 N 30-60 P 2 O 5 , 40-120 k 2 0 Issaka et. al., (2007) found in trials across three locations that mineral fertilizer 60-60-60 N, P 2 O 5 , K 2 O/ha was the optimum level for root yields. It is noteworthy that in tropical America an application of 50-45 kg N - P 2 O 5 , K 2 O more than tripled cassava yield in an exhausted acid soil (CIAT, 1993 quoted in the above report).

Method of Application

(i)

Broadcasting, banding, circling and spot applications are equally good methods.

(ii)

For broadcasting, planting of cassava may be done about two weeks after application

(iii)

For the other methods, the fertilizer should be placed 30 cm away from the plant.

Time of Application

(i)

A split application of half the recommended dosage be made 3-6 weeks after planting, and the second half 4-5 months after planting.

(ii)

Zn should be applied in one dose, 3-4 months after planting.

•

Biological Control

Several introduced pests have caused considerable damage to staple food crops and have undermined the potential of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa to meet the growing demand for food (Neuenscwander 2004). Pesticides have rarely been appropriate, feasible, and available to poor farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. In reality, pesticides are rarely used because the chemicals and equipment to spray insect pests are often not available or are too expensive for the smallholder to use, especially on crops such as cassava that are of low cash value (Neuenshwader 1993, 2004). Moreover, in view of the biodiversity losses and health side effects associated with pesticide use, this option has not gained popularity and concerns have been raised among those using it. While the development of resistant crop varieties could always be an alternative solution, this process is usually very slow and cannot deal adequately with newly introduced devastating pests, which would quickly begin to threaten the livelihoods of millions of poor farmers. In such situations, classical biological control, involving the use of natural enemies, has been considered the best solution (Herren et. al. 1987). Two of the most successful stories of biological control in sub-Saharan Africa are those of the cassava mealy bug, Phenacoccus manihot and the cassava green mite (CGM), Mononychellus tanajoa through the establishment of the Africa-wide Biological Control Programme (ABCP) of cassava pests. The two pests which were causing enormous losses to the cassava crop have been brought under control through the introduction into Africa from South America of their natural enemies, i.e. Anagyrus lopezi for cassava mealy bug and Typhlodromalus aripo for cassava green mite resulting in huge benefits to farmers . In Ghana, for example, yield losses due to both cassava mealy bug and the cassava green mite were estimated at 70% which is 0.8 million tonne of tubers (Korang-Amoako et. al., 1987). The economic cost of such crop losses to Ghana valued in maize equivalents ranged from US$ 58 to US$106 million. The price of gari – the most commercialized processed product of cassava – in Ghana, rose nine times after the 1983 outbreaks, equivalent to a rise of 2.3 times in real terms In addition, the price of

planting material rose 21 times, or 5.5 times in real terms (Walker et. al., (n.d) cited in Norgard 1988). For the control of the cassava mealy bug, it is estimated that the benefits to farmers in Africa whose fields were saved were estimated at 4,500 million dollars i.e. more than 160 times the cost of the project which stood at 27 million dollars. This was reported at an ‘Inter ministerial Summit on Sustainable Financing of Agricultural Research and Development in West and Central Africa’ held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire from April 2-3 1998. Coulibaly (2004) estimated that the internal rates of ret.urn (IRR) for the control of cassava green mite in Ghana as 111% while those for Benin and Nigeria were 104% and 125% respectively. This meant that for every US 1000.00 invested for the control of the cassava green mite there were returns of US$1,110.00, 1,004.00 and 1,125.00 in Ghana, Benin and Nigeria respectively. But above all these achievements underlie the immense benefits that countries could obtain from collaborating in research and justify the establishment of the WAAPP. Plucknett, (1991) notes that before World War II any country wishing to improve agriculture had to do pretty much alone. Little international collaboration took place in agricultural research. Today, any country wishing to get its agriculture moving need not go it alone. A global agricultural research system is now in place that can help any country developed or developing, improve its agriculture and resolve its most important constraints through cooperative research. b.

On Farm Technologies with Potential

Technologies that appear to have the potential to contribute to the cassava transformation are (i) transplanting of cassava seedlings (ii) planting on ridges and (iii) mechanical harvester for large scale farms •

Transplanting of Cassava Seedlings

Like any crop, increased cassava production starts with good quality planting material. Cassava can be grown from either seed or stem cuttings. The latter is however, the main means of propagation. But the multiplication rate of cassava stem cuttings is very low. In addition cassava stem cuttings are bulky and highly perishable, drying up within a few days. By contrast, cassava seeds are less bulky to handle, can store for a long time, and are not known to carry the cassava mosaic disease. There are contrasting views relating to the yield and quality of seed propagated cassava. While some scientists such as Doku (1996) have indicated seed-propagated gave lower tuber yields of inferior quality than stem propagated cassava, others such as Rajendrick and Ravindran (1991) and Tetteh and Amoako (1994) have found that seed-propagated cassava produced equal or higher yields than those propagated from stem cuttings. Tet.teh and Amoako further noted that transplanted seedlings far out-performed direct seeded ones both in yield and quality of tubers. They attributed this result to two factors. Firstly, differences in types of root formation by the two methods. Secondly, erratic and

protracted seedling emergence in the case of direct seeding resulting in uneven development as compared to transplanted fields where only healthy seedlings of uniform size and desirable characteristics are selected. This makes transplanted cassava a better option over the direct seeded one, particularly for the production of an economic crop. In a later study, Tetteh et. al., (1997) found out that the most appropriate age at which to transplant cassava seedlings to ensure optimum survival and yield was 41 days after planting. •

Planting on Ridges

During the implementation of RTIP, results from demonstration plots verified that panting on ridges increased population and yield of cassava by 40%. According to Jalloh and Dahniya (1994) that ploughing and/or the construction of ridges are primarily aimed at loosening the soil which is essential for obtaining high yields. •

Mechanical Harvester

As noted above, under the AgSSIP, a mechanized harvester for large scale farms has been developed. The viability of this equipment is however yet to be tested. Its performance is however facilitated by growing cassava on ridges. c.

Off-farm Technologies Generated and Disseminated

Most food products, being parts of living organisms, are good media for bacteria growth and are therefore perishable (Darrah, 1967). For cassava this high perishability requires that it has to be processed into storable forms soon after harvest. Cassava processing is mainly done by women (NARS Newslet.ter, 1998; Quaye and Plahar 2004). Quaye and Plahar found that in Suhum Kraboa Coaltar, Awutu Efutu Senya and Ho districts 90.6, 100% and 92.9% of sample interviewed were females. Out of the sample interviewed 30%, 40%, 14% had no formal education. Technologies that have made significant contributions towards the cassava transformation off-farm are (i) cassava mechanical grater (ii) gari roasting stove and (iii) minichip technology. •

Cassava Mechanical Grater

The technology that has contributed much to the cassava transformation off-farm is the mechanized cassava grater. This equipment is used to grate peeled cassava into very small fine particles (pulp or dough). Grating disintegrates the cassava tissue and frees up the moisture so that pressing can be done much easily. According to Quaye and Plahar (2004) the grating operation is usually carried out manually, but power-operated graters of various makes and models are being more widely used. Hand grating is a tedious operation. Earlier on ‘Feeding The Future’ Newslet.ter of the Sasakawa Africa Association reported in issue 10, February 1997 that engine-powered cassava graters for use in gari

preparation were the second most popular equipment purchased by farmer groups after manually operated maize shellers and cassava chippng machines It appears that the grater is becoming popular because of the need to meet. increasing demand for gari - the most commercialized of all cassava products and the need to improve the efficiency of the traditional methods. In recent times gari production has been increasing due to increasing urban demand and export market potential (Oduro et. al., 2000, Addy et. al., 2004, Quaye and Plahar, 2004), but traditional methods are low yielding, time consuming, labour intensive and give products of relatively low quality (Quaye and Plahar 2004). A consultancy report under the RTIP on cassava equipment makers and cassava prototypes by Anorbo (2008) showed that the capacities of graters ranged from 550 kg (0.55 tonne) and 2500 kg (2.5 tonne) per hour. This is far higher than 20 kg/hour found by Quaye and Plahar (2004) that a skillful person can produce using traditional grating methods and 1200 -2400kg per week in the then Ga District (NARS Newslet.ter (1998). The use of the cassava grater therefore greatly improves the efficiency of cassava processing into gari and the above figures prove why Nweke (2004) found it to be one of the four key factors driving the cassava transformation in Ghana. ISSER (2006) has observed that given improved technology, the yield rate of gari from cassava could be improved and the problem of post harvest losses through lack of ready markets could be reduced (ISSER, 2006). Gari roasting stove Another technology that has been developed to improve the production is the gari roasting stove by CSIR-FRI. This stove has a chimney to reduce excessive heat and smoke associated with traditional gari roasting stoves. The traditional stoves have been blamed for several health problems including reddening of eyes, headaches, breathing problems and even miscarriages (RTIP, Midterm Programme. Report, Dec. 2001, pp7). â&#x20AC;˘

Minichip technology

The minichip technology involved chipping cassava into small spaghetti like pieces that could be dried quickly (within two days) to produce a good quality product that is a safe alternative for those consumers who are deterred by the traditional product. d.

Off-farm Technologies with Potential

Technologies that have the potential to contribute to the cassava transformation can be grouped in to three categories i.e. food products, fresh cassava storage and storage protection

â&#x20AC;˘

Food products

Technologies that have the potential to contribute to the cassava transformation are mainly those developed by the CSIR-FRI. These are fermented cassava meals, cassava chips and flours. These are intermediate products for the preparation of various traditional foods and developed recipes. In addition, convenience foods such as fufu powders have been developed to facilitate the preparation of fufu in urban homes without the requirement for the highly perishable fresh root and tuber crops. Other cassava based products include high protein gari prepared from cassava and soybean with proper packaging for sale in supermarkets in urban centres. â&#x20AC;˘

Fresh cassava storage

The CSIR-FRI has also under the DFID sponsored CPHP developed a low cost cassava fresh root storage that can also contribute to the cassava transformation. This is a simple technology that enables storage of freshly harvested cassava to be extended for up to 7-10 days. The technology based on research work carried out in South America by CIAT and NRI consist of harvesting and selecting relatively undamaged roots which are washed or dipped in water and stored in locally available rice or cocoa sacks for several days to cure. The technology allows more time for marketing and so reduces losses. It also reduces the need to process old cassava into dried pieces (kokonte) markets for comparatively low prices. The technology has led to increases in profit margins for traders and chops bar keepers (CPHP 2005). Also in another study, Opare-Obisaw (2004) found that cassava roots stored for periods up to 8weeks in polythene sacks produced fufu of similar characteristics as fresh cassava fufu. They therefore recommended the method for use by homemakers, food service operators, cassava retailers and processors to save them time, energy and money used for frequent trips for purchases. The method would also reduce postharvest losses to a large extent. â&#x20AC;˘

Storage protection

Cassava chips used for flour production are vulnerable to insect infestation and as many as twenty-one pests have been associated with insect pests. During traditional drying chips are exposed insect-eggs deposits which hatch when favourable conditions are created during storage. Inefficient drying and storage can also result in significant reduction in cassava flour quality as a result of rapid mould spoilage and mycotoxin production. Banu et. al. (2008) have quoted reports of various authors showing that Aflatoxin (and other mycotoxins) contamination in cassava have been found in Mozambique, Zaire, Burundi and Ghana. Chjundu and Boateng (2008) showed that parboiling of cassava chips before storage reduces their susceptibility to Araecerus fusciculatus and Prostephanus truncatus (larger grain borer). In addition contamination from fungi of stored fresh and dehydrated

products can be controlled by the combination treatment of heat and gamma irradiation (Banu et. al., 2008). 3.1.2.2.3 Markets Opportunities for Cassava Agricultural development increases the output of farm products which means that there must be a market for these products and a price for them high enough to repay the farmer for cash costs and his efforts in producing them. In only a few counties can there be sustained agricultural development without growth of a strong demand for agricultural products within the country itself (Mosher, 1966). At the time Mosher made this observation a market was seen as a place where people went to sell and buy goods. But now a market is more than a place, it is also people – consumers with their particular needs, wants and desires. (Bediako, 1994) The essence of this concept is that if people do not need or want what you are marketing they will not buy it. This simple yet critical logic is the key to success in both profit and non-profit organizations. This section will therefore focus on attempts in Ghana to satisfy people’s demands both inside and outside the country. a.

Existing markets for cassava

The largest market for cassava in Ghana is in food, while industrial utilization is still limited but with potential for expansion. Cassava is used to prepare many types of food including ampesi, fufu, kokonte, banku, gari, yakayaka and agbeli-kaklo. The preparation of the last four products involves some kind of fermentation so the cooking quality of the fresh root is not important (Safo-Kantanka and Acquistucci, 1996). Safo-Kantanka and Osei-Minta (1996) further observed that every year from the beginning of the rainy season in March/April to about June/July, even the best cooking cultivars lose their mealiness and poundability. During this period, fresh cassava roots when cooked become non-mealy or glassy and housewives and many restaurants, locally called ‘chops’ end up throwing away large quantities of unpoundable cassava roots. The major cause of these changes they explained was due to changes in cassava root dry matter content and partly by changes in swelling power, solubility and gelatinization of starch. The best desirable cassava cultivar that would meet existing market demand would be one which combines high root yield with stability in cooking quality and cassava root dry matter content or specific gravity of the root can be used as a reliable selection criterion (Safo-Kantanka and Osei-Minta, 1996). •

Gari

Gari is the most commercialized of all cassava products. In recent times it has been increasing in production due to increasing urban demand and export market potential (Oduro et. al., 2000, Addy et. al., 2004).

It appears that these factors of increasing urban demand and export market potential are behind higher increase rate in gari prices in the period under review than that for maize. Since 1997 to 2008 price/kg of gari has generally been increasing at a faster rate annually than that of maize price and in 2008 it was 8.5 times while that of maize increased by about 7.3 times. It is worthy to note that in 1997 the price per/kg of gari was similar to that for maize (Table 4). These increasing higher prices for gari seem to be the reason why the Rural Livelihood Survey of 2007 found that the percentage of households involved in cassava production and processing (i.e. 20.1% of all households or 33% of farm households) as main source of income or one of the main sources of income was higher than compared to maize. For maize the comparative figures were 15.3% of all households or 24% of all farm households. But above all the increasing prices for gari and maize are a reflection of increases in the price of energy under the period under review. .More than three decades ago at the World Food Conference held in 1976 in the U.S.A. Crosson (1976) predicted that unless fuel prices decline, which is uncertain if not unlikely, production costs will remain high. This prediction has now been proven more than ever. von Braun (2008) has observed that energy and agricultural prices have become increasingly intertwined and Muller (2008) also note that energy prices â&#x20AC;&#x201C; especially the price of oil now directly affect agricultural prices. High energy prices have made agricultural production more expensive by raising the cost of mechanical cultivation, inputs like fertilizers and pesticides and transportation of inputs and outputs. Table 4 shows that petrol prices in Ghana have been increasing over the period under review. The effect of these increases on food prices is however higher for gari than for maize and cassava. From 1997 to 2008, the price of pet.rol has increased 14 times while that for gari increased by nine times as compared to seven and half times and eight times for maize and cassava respectively. The increasing intertwining between energy and agricultural prices is seen through an examination of data for 2007 and 2008. Figure 3 and Table 4 show that between 2007 to 2008 an increase of about 22% from GHÂ˘0.90 to 1.10 in fuel prices induced an increase of about 25% and 24% in prices of gari and yam respectively. The highest increase was that for maize which stood at about 66%. A further analysis of the data in the Table 4 show that gari-to-cassava price ratio ranged from 2.9-3.9. This confirms evidence published in the NARSP (1994) that about 30% of or less of consumer expenditure goes to the farmer and fisherman, the remainder goes to processing, packaging, transportation, storage, distribution and profits of non-farmers who provide services to convert farmersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; output to food. It also confirms an observation made in Nigeria that cassava fresh tuber has a very low price and over the years farmers have been getting less and less from fresh root prices while processed product prices have been increasing in Nigerian local markets. (Food Security Magazine, March 2006).

•

Profitability of gari processing

Profit is a major incentive for farmers to increase agricultural production. But in its i2006 publication of ‘The State of the Ghanaian Economy in 2006’, the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) casts some doubt on the profitability of gari processing by traditional methods. According to ISSER, estimates show that using the traditional method, about 8 kg of fresh cassava is required to produce 1 kg of gari. In 2006 value terms, about 0.95 GH¢ is required to produce about 0.45 GH¢ worth of gari. This confirms results of a survey conducted under the NARP in 1997 into traditional methods for cassava processing. In that survey, Amoa-Awua and Quaye found a negative gross margin of 1.3 GH pesewas was obtained for each 2.2 kg olonka of gari produced and a positive gross margin of 6.4 GH pesewas on each minibag of agbelima produced in the then Ga District (NARP Newslet.ter, 1998). But in a recent survey Quaye and Plahar (2004) found that large scale productions were profitable while it was location specific in small scale processing (Table 5). The amount of 8 kg of cassava reported by ISSER to produce 1kg of gari is however higher than the value of 5 kg found by Quaye and Plahar (2004) who further noted that the yield is highly influenced by the maturity of the cassava. They also found that RTIP interventions had impacted positively on cassava processors with an estimated change in processing levels of about 16.7% and approximately 6% upward change in annual net incomes. These new levels were approximately 6000kg, 4000kg and 3000kg were processed in Suhum Kraboa Coaltar, Awutu Efutu Senya and Ho district respectively per week. In these areas, with the exception of peeling which is still done manually, all the other operations have been mechanized. Peeling is a time consuming activity. In the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions, Addy et. al., (2004) reported that it takes about 12-15 people to people to peel three tonnes of cassava per day. It is the major Determinant of the available roots to be processed per day. However, this situation may soon change. In the Nigeria Food Security Magazine of March 2006 it is reported that IITA in collaboration with Nigerian fabricators has fine tuned three prototype peelers with capacity of one ton per hour. Gari frying is also another labour intensive component in gari processing. But processors may soon be relieved if tests being conducted by the IITA Integrated Cassava Project on automated gari fryers imported from Brazil prove viable. Even though statistics may not be available on the actual population consuming gari and the consumption per capita, the largest population who consumes gari is students in boarding schools as it serves as a supplement to the meal provided by the schools. In homes it is also gaining widespread use as it is very convenient. The consumption of gari is high during the ‘hunger season’ (January to June) just before the harvest (July to December) of crops such as maize, yam and plantain, the major staples (Ghana Statistical Service 2000). In the dry season, harvesting of cassava is

difficult which also reduces the consumption in the fresh form and the processed form such as gari comes in handy (Addy et. al., 2004). The special characteristics of food products have a pronounced influence on where, when and how they are produced and marketed. Perishability, bulkiness and year-toyear variation in quality and quantity make the marketing of them particularly complicated. However, results of a study carried out by Oduro et. al. (2000) showed that quality of gari samples from selected gari processing centres in three regions was good and many of the samples met both international and specifications for good quality gari processing. Similar results have been reported by Ankrah (2000) on gari samples from various markets in Accra. This may be due to conscious efforts by the Ghana Standards Board to train gari processors to improve on the quality of gari they produce as observed by Addy et. al., (2004). â&#x20AC;˘

Waste from gari

In the processing of cassava into gari, a significant amount of waste is generated. From a study carried out in the Ga West and Awutu-Efutu-Senya districts waste identified in cassava processing to gari include cassava peels, fibrous material, chaff, liquor pressed out during dewatering and waste water obtained after washing peeled roots (Sackey and Bani, 2007). Cassava processing produces large amounts of waste water which is high in organic matter constituents and cyanide and this waste water pollutes ground water or lakes, rivers or streams into it flows. From their study, Sackey and Bani also observed that waste generated in cassava processing to gari at both small and medium-scale processing centres is not adequately managed thus leading to poor sanitation and adverse environmental consequences. a.

Potential domestic markets for cassava

Cassava has technical potential as a raw material for several agro-industrial products. Utilization of processed and semi-processed cassava products can be put into three main groups: (i) livestock feed (usually in the form of peels, fresh and dry root, chips, pellets and sometimes flour), (ii) food for people and (iii) industrial (non-food uses). The last two forms usually require high quality cassava flour (HQCF) and/or starch (Gibson 2005). â&#x20AC;˘

Livestock feeds

According to Hahn (1988), the future market for cassava is as livestock feed. In 1994, about a quarter of the global cassava production was estimated to be used as an ingredient in pork, poultry, cattle and fish feeds (IFAD/FAO, 2000). Gibson (2005) observed that in Ghana the amount of cassava and its products fed to animals must be fairly large, but there is no way of estimating and a true livestock feeding industry based on cassava is yet to develop.

Both roots and tubers are useable as livestock feed. Traditionally cassava is fed to sheep and goats in Ghana and can constitute 20 to.0% of compound livestock feeds especially in poultry and pigs ((Hahn, 1988). Rhule et. al., (1998) confirmed this statement by Hahn from results of a study in Ghana, which, found that cassava may replace maize in pig diets at 20% inclusion level. . In addition, a CPHP Ghana report published in 2005 showed that on-farm broiler, layer and pig trials undertaken using cassava as a partial replacement for maize indicated that diets reformulated to account for lower protein content of cassava resulted in pigs coming to market weight (60kg) in seven months on the cassava-based diet compared with one year (or more) on the conventional ones. Poultry showed no significant loss in performance with 20% cassava diets. Coli form content is a major issue in the poultry feed industry and cassava chips processed by traditional means carry a high microbial level. CPHP (2005), however, reported that cassava chips obtained through a minichip technology meets specifications required by the poultry industry. The minichip technology involved chipping cassava into small spaghetti like pieces that could be dried quickly (within two days) to produce a good quality product that is a safe alternative for those consumers who are deterred by the traditional product. Traditional cassava chips (i.e. kokonte) take a long time to dry and are processed under unhygienic conditions and are often contaminated with mould. This deters consumers from using the product. â&#x20AC;˘

Food for people

The potential use of cassava as an industrial raw material is highest in the food industry because cassava is primarily a food crop in Nigeria and Ghana (Nweke, 2004). According to Gibson (2005) the food industries are one of the largest consumers of starch and starch products, yet the amount of cassava used for food manufacture by large-scale food industries in Ghana is insignificant. Two types of starch are recognized. These are native and modified starch. Wursburg (1989) gives insight into the physical properties of native starch, which limits its usefulness in many applications and defined modified starch as a product in which the chemical and (or) the physical properties of the native starch may have been altered. Starch modification involves the alteration of chemical and/or physical properties of native starch. This alteration has the main objective of producing more satisfactory products for specific food applications (Ojinnaka et. al., 2009). Specifically, the food processing industry includes bakeries, biscuit manufacturers, food manufacturers, food processors, confectionary and millers. Products include: alternative flour to wheat flour in bakery products; glucose or dextrose sugar; commercial caramel production: dried yeast; confectionaries: canned fruits: jams and preserves, monosodium glutamate.

Cassava flour could potentially substitute for large amounts of wheat flour currently being used in bread, snacks and other food items (Gibson, 2005). â&#x20AC;˘

Industrial uses

Industrial uses of cassava are largely non-existent in Ghana (Gibson, 2005). The industrial products which can be obtained from cassava are starch and cassava flour. Starch is high value product, which can be used for activities in industries. Cassava starch can be used in the manufacture of adhesives, as binders in the manufacture of paints, dry cell batteries, and in textile and pharmaceutical industries (Roots and Tubers Committee Report, CSIR/NARP, 1992). In the textile industry, starch is used for sizing, finishing, and printing. Native starch is used as a thickener for imprinting ink and in sizing the yarn â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to improve its strength and flexibility and prevent breakage of individual threads on the loom. Modified (oxidized) starch is used to increase the weight and stiffness of finished fabrics and for the application of gloss finishes (Addy et. al., 2004). But the textile industry and the plywood, paperboard have potential of using cassava flour as it already accepted by many of the industries involved on these sectors. Graftham et. al., (1999) analyzed case studies in cassava starch and flour processing in other parts of the world and mass production of cassava chips in Ghana for livestock feed to see which processing options would most likely succeed in Ghana. In their view, processing of cassava starch would seem to be attractive because of the high level of value associated with starch and the apparent opportunities for export. In addition, cassava offers a relatively cheap source of raw material containing a high concentration of starch (dry matter basis) that can match better the opportunities offered by other starches such as maize, wheat, sweet potato and rice. However, they noted that the level of capital investment is high, and would be processors need to ensure access to sufficient supplies of high quality fresh cassava of the correct level of maturity. Additional requirements include ready access to large amounts of water, a reliable electricity supply and good road infrastructure to enable roots to be transported from farm to factory. Using the experience of Transport and Commodity General (T and CG) is the cassava industry they concluded that such conditions do not exist in Ghana at present. It is therefore unlikely that high quality cassava starch would succeed as a business opportunity in Ghana in the short to medium term. They noted that high quality cassava flour is a more attractive option, as processing is less capital intensive and can be prepared from dry chips, rather than fresh roots. Cassava flour has the potential to substitute for imported alternatives in the areas of paperboard adhesives, plywood glue extenders and bakery products where the quality specifications of the end users are less critical and therefore easier to produce. Graftham et. al., (1999), however, noted that to be successful, cassava flour needs to be made to ensure a high standard to meet quality specifications set by potential users. Producers of cassava flour will need to ensure timely delivery of specified quantities of

flour of conveniently high quality at competitive prices on regular basis to meet the needs of the user. Graftham et. al. made these observations in the final technical report for a project titled “Expanded Markets for Locally Produced Cassava Flours and Starches in Ghana” for the Crop Post-Harvest Programme of the UK DFID. But in spite of these observations, the country went ahead and established the Ayensu Starch Company. (ASCo) resulting in numerous problems with the operations of the factory. ASCo was incorporated on September 2001 as a public limited company. It is the first of 10 proposed cassava factories planned under the immediate past government of the NPP Presidential Special Initiative. The company has state of the art technology imported from Denmark’s International Starch Institute. It has a processing capacity of 22,000MT of starch per year. The plant is made up of a peeler, washer, raspers, centrifuges, hydro-cyclones, vacuum filters, and a boiler for steam generation and dryers and packing machine. However, the plant is only operating two days a week due to lack of raw materials. Since it started processing in September 2001, the factory had processed only 800MT of starch by first week of November 2003. Harvesting and haulage of roots is the immediate serious challenge. Since the factory has yet to establish a large nucleus farm, it relies on small-scale cassava farmers for supplies. The farmers do not have efficient harvesting technology and therefore shortages of processing material have been a teething problem. Logistical problems of organizing the harvesting and delivery have also affected the company. The transportation of cassava from the field to the factory is a major problem due to poor roads and high transportation costs. Some deliveries are made on Saturdays which means the processing will have to wait until the following week on Monday. This lowers the quality of the roots and has effect on quality of the starch. There has been negative press publicity largely due to the pricing being offered by the factory. Currently the factory is offering GH¢15.00MT farm gate and GH¢22.50/MT factory gate. The press has called this “slave price”. However, given that the target market for the starch is export, the factory has to receive raw roots at internationally competitive prices for it to process and compete in the international market. Brazil is currently paying an equivalent of GH¢13.20/MT factory gate. (Mbwika and Amua-Awua 2003) Other challenges are credit for the farmers to increase production through adoption of better agronomic practices is another limitation facing the factory and power outages. As a result of these challenges the factory had to be closed down in 2006. It was reopened in December 2008 with the assertion that challenges that forced the closure had been solved especially the difficulty of accessing credit – which has been met with a GH¢2.8 million facility from the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF). The factory is currently producing 72 tonnes of starch per day.

But unlike, the Government of Ghana which went ahead and set-up a factory to produce starch in spite of the warnings by Graftham et. al., (1999) DFID took them into consideration and between 1998 and 2006 sponsored four projects to promote industrialization of cassava flour. These are: •

Projects established to promote cassava industrialization

i. ii. iii. iv.

New markets for cassava from 1999 – 2002 Improved cassava chip processing to access urban markets from 2000 to 2003 Sustainable uptake of cassava as an industrial commodity from 2003-2004 Cassava as an industrial commodity from 2005-2006

New markets for cassava project

Under this project, it was found that the market potential for sugar syrups was 114 tons, with the major users being the confectionary, biscuits and pharmaceutical industries. A mathematical model was developed for the production of a variety of high maltose syrup from cassava. The production of alcohol from cassava was also found to give higher recovery compared to other traditional raw materials like sugar cane and palm wine. Various adhesive formulations for plywood and paperboard manufacture were also developed. However, the adhesive formulations were found not to be cost-effective and therefore were not promoted to potential entrepreneurs and end users so that further investigations could be conducted. As part of promotional activities, farmers-processors at Kokofu near Atebubu and baker associations in Yeji, Kwame Danso and Atebubu were also trained in the utilization of HQCF in the production of bread, cakes, doughnuts, ‘bofrot’, ‘sweet.bud’ and other bakery products. The project also established linkages between the bakers association and the HOCF producers at Watro. But probably the most significant achievement of the project was the higher profitability in the production of HQCF and its easier marketability than the traditional kokonte found by farmer-processors. Bakers also had higher profit margins on their products due to the lower cost of HQCF compared to wheat flour. Addy et. al., (2004) reported that cassava flour is 31% to 41% cheaper than wheat flour The project also established alternative marketing outlet for cassava though the production of glucose syrup which processors at Kokofu were very pleased with even though the process is laborious. Thus the project has expanded the range of market opportunities to include glucose and alcohol production. ii.

Improved cassava chip processing to access urban markets

The project has developed a range of instant fufu powders with very good sensory properties and consumer acceptability. These products are prepared with cassava flour from several high yielding cassava varieties (rather than with cassava starch) be and should therefore be significantly cheaper to produce.

iii.

Sustainable Uptake of Cassava as an Industrial Commodity Project

The purpose of this project was to promote the sustainable industrialization of cassava as a means of improving rural livelihoods. Delivery on the project’s outputs resulted in: a) a strong collaboration between the private sector and research institutions and other government agencies b) the establishment of strong workable and sustainable linkages between farmers, farmer processors, private market intermediaries and end-users of cassava-based products – a total of over 100 stakeholders involved in this linkage c) technical institutions and other government departments playing a key role in facilitating linkages established between stakeholders in the capacity of a linkage support unit d) the development of a concept of forming inter-institutional agribusiness development group (Badge) to take forward the achievement of the six years of working together as well as opening new areas of agro-business development. The outcome of the first delivery is the production of cassava-based glucose syrup by Afrimart Global Enterprise and the Kokofu glucose syrup with technical support from the CSIR-FRI. In addition, Golden Biscuits, a biscuit manufacturing company is turning out into the Ghanaian market, large quantities of biscuits using Afrimart’s glucose syrup (Q News, 2004). •

Economic potential of cassava flour as a substitute for wheat flour/starch

The consumption of bread and other bakery products has become a habit in Ghana and many other African countries particularly in the urban areas. Unfortunately, in many African countries climatic conditions are not suitable for the production of wheat which is needed for the production of these bakery products. They therefore have to import wheat using their hard earned foreign exchange. In recent times, due to increasing urbanization and increase in agricultural prices the volume of wheat and the price of its importation have been increasing (Table 6 and Figure 4). For example, the country in 2008 spent about US$150 million to import wheat which was more than twice the amount (about US$74 million) it used to import almost the same volume of wheat in 2007. This confirms an observation in the Spore (2008) that wheat prices rose by 83% between January 2007 and the beginning of 2008. But for starch, Table 6 and Figure 5 show that for starch the country paid a higher amount (US$1,205.0) for a lesser volume (731,000.00 tonnes) in 2007 compared to 2008 when for an amount of US$943.4 for a higher volume of 824.0 tonnes. Nonetheless, the increasing amounts of wheat and starch being imported show that the country has a lot to save enormous amount of foreign exchange if cassava products are used to replace wheat and starch imports.

Research has shown that HQCF can be substituted for wheat flour up to 20% for bread and even up to 60% for pastries such as biscuits Preparation of flour is one of the traditional ways of preserving and adding value to cassava that is practiced widely in Africa. However, cassava flour prepared using traditional methods is often fermented and frequently of poor quality thus making it unsuitable as a substitute for wheat in bakery products (Graftham et. al., 1999). HQCF has therefore been developed to promote the substitution of wheat flour in bakery products by cassava flour. HOCF is unfermented cassava flour which demands strict adherence to quality control measures. (Addy et. al., 2004). In recent times HQCF is gaining widespread use in the country as a result of activities of the RTIP and the FRI/CPHP projects. In a survey of caterers Ellis (2005) found that 39% of them entered the business in the last five years â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the period during which RTIP was implemented. Out of the total 157 respondents, 58.6% reported that they use HQCF while 38.9% said they do not use HQCF because it is not available. This means that the potential of the HQCF sector with respect to biscuits and other products is very high as observed by Ellis (2005), Graftham et... al., (1999), Nweke, (2004). Results of commercial trials of cassava flour as a substitute for wheat flour in soft and hard dough biscuits carried out by the NRI/FRI in collaboration with a major biscuit manufacturer and two bakeries showed that cassava flour was able to replace 35% and 60% of wheat flour without reducing product acceptability to urban consumers (DFID/CPHP Newslet.ter 2003). Nweke explained that changes in cassava flour production are not required to make dried cassava root flour suitable for biscuit baking since the rising property required for bread production is not essential in biscuits. He quoted reports by other scientists which showed that partial substitution of cassava flour for wheat flour in bread requires expensive supplementary viscosity enhancers such as eggs, milk, and gums to compensate for the lack of gluten in cassava. In a survey in Kumasi and Nsawam in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions respectively, Addy et. al. (2004) found out that though bakers were willing to substitute cassava flour if it was available for wheat flour. But they requested for an additive which could simulate the properties of gluten in wheat flour. Cassava varieties currently being grown in the country lack the important high molecular weight gluten genes that give wheat flour a high baking quality. To make the dream of 100% flour for baking possible, there is a need to modify cassava flour into gluten-rich flour. The recent advances in biotechnology offer the possibility of transferring the wheat gluten genes into cassava, thereby improving its baking quality (Food Security 2006). According to Addy et. al., (2004) cassava flour is 31% to 41% cheaper than wheat flour Costs savings in biscuit manufacture vary according to type of biscuit and specific formulation. (Graftham et. al., 1999).

Thus Dzidzoave et. al., (n.d.) observed that it is more profitable to produce certain bakery products using cassava flour rather than wheat flour based on the recipes. In various studies they found that the products that were profitable were 30% and 50% cassava flour bread, 30 and 40% cassava flour biscuits, 30% and 100% cassava flour cake, 30% cassava ‘togbee’ coconut biscuits and bofrot. The profit margins ranged from 163% and 137% to 10% and 1%. The other bakery products that were not profitable using cassava flour were strips, 50% cassava flour ‘togbee’ ring doughnut, meat pie, chin chin, sweet bud and pastries. The potential for cassava flour becomes greater when one considers the demand from non-bakery products sector such as paper board adhesives, plywood glue extenders. Addy et. al. (2004) found that at Motherwell Farms in the Eastern Region 20-25 tonnes HQCF was produced per month out of which 20% goes to the food industry and the rest to the paper board and plywood industry which has a very high demand (40-50 tonnes/month). According to Derchie et. al., (2008) the plywood industry in Ghana comprises eight large-scale factories which use improved synthetic resin-based glues in the manufacture of plywood sheets. These glues cost US$2,250/ton. To reduce costs, synthetic glues are mixed with an extender that can be either imported maize starch (US$4650/ton) or food grade wheat flour (US$4500/ton). Typically 50kg of synthetic glue will make 55-60 1/8 in plywood sheets, with an extender this increases to 80-85 sheets. For each 50kg batch of synthetic glue either 10kg of maize starch or 25 kg of wheat flour is required (Derchie et. al., 2008 quoting Graftham et. al., 1997). Thus to reduce costs Graftham et. al., (1997) further reported that several factories in Ghana tried locally produced cassava flour and starch as extenders in the plywood industry but found them to be of poor quality and discontinued their use. They explained that the problem with locally produced flour was that it was not milled properly, they were insufficiently dried and contained many insoluble impurities that caused blistering in the plywood sheets. One manufacturer claimed that local flour caused his percentage of rejects to rise from 1 to 7%. Mbwika and Amua-Awua (2003) however, report that whether existing industries will be convinced to use cassava, as raw material will depend on, pricing of the product, availability and technical knowledge of how it can be used. They came to this conclusion after a survey of some companies where they found that some companies had been using cassava flour in manufacture of plywood, textile and packaging before the discovery of its potential by the project. One plywood manufacturing company had been using the flour since the 1970s, except at times in which the price increases to levels close to wheat flour prices. The same experience was reported by a textile manufacturing company in Akosombo. According to Mbwika and Amoa-Awua they were surprised that the flour being used was kokonte and the companies were satisfied with results. This observation contradicts those of Graftham (1997) reported earlier and calls for further investigation

Nonetheless, in of view increasing costs in wheat imports, Derchie et. al., (2008) carried out a study to Determine the effect of cassava flour as an extender in adhesive mix for plywood manufacture. The results of their study funded by the DFID CPHP ‘Development of new markets project’ confirmed the empirical observations that cassava flour can be used to replace the traditional wheat flour in the plywood industry which is rather expensive. They further observed that where moisture tolerance is not critical, the same level of extension can be made with cassava flour as with wheat flour without materially reducing the strength of the adhesive-bond. Preliminary estimates indicate that cassava flour has the potential to reduce production costs of plywood boards by 35%. (Graftham et. al., 1999). HQCF could also have potential for use as a textile sizing agent for mills that produce lower quality cloth for the cheaper end of the local market. However, according to Ellis (2005) irrespective of the high potential within the sector, there are some constraints. These include the unavailability of the flour, the image of cassava which results in stigmatization of cassava based products, inconsistency in flour quality and the lack of credit facility and equipment for expansion. The non-availability of HQCF may be due to the low levels of production by processing units. Addy et. al., (2004) observed that almost all the cassava flour processing they visited in the Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions were operating below 50% of the intended capacity and concluded that this scale of flour production cannot sustain commercial production for industrial use. They further observed that lack of drying facilities was the biggest setback to flour processing for the processing units in the two regions. Unlike gari where some levels of fermentation can be accepted, no fermentation should occur in HQCF they emphasized. These observations by Addy et. al., (2004) on the low level processing capacities of processing firms indicate that the country is not doing much to harness this huge potential that cassava flour has for the economic development of the country. This is confirmed by data from the Ghana Statistical Service which show that wheat and starch imports (Table 6) are on the increase rather than on the decline. •

Potential export markets

During the period under review, Ghana has been exploiting the huge potential that cassava products have to generate foreign exchange for the country through exports of cassava flour and gari. Data available from the Ghana Export Promotion Council show that exports of cassava flour showed slight increases between 1997 and 2005 but increased about ten times from in 2006 and 2007. For gari exports, the highest figure of 4,197 tonnes was reached in 1997. This dropped to 1266 the following year, but since then the quantity exported has been increasing (Table 7).

The table also shows that the value per tonne is highly volatile, inconsistent and unreliable. For example, after a steady increase from 2005-2007, the export price of gari dropped by more than 30% from US$746.0/tonne in 2007 to US$493 in 2008. By contrast price of wheat imports has been rising steadily for the past four years and even doubled in 2008 over that of 2007 (Table 6). Commenting on the volatility of prices of Ghana’s non-traditional export commodities, ISSER (2006) notes that they do not make for good policy planning and that Ghana appears to be mainly a price taker in the global market for non-traditional export commodities. According to industry sources in Ghana, there are other huge potential export markets for other cassava products mainly chips, pellets and starch in the European market. However, Ghana’s potential to enter into world market is limited by high domestic prices of raw materials, inability to supply large orders and lack of grades and standards for Ghana cassava products. •

Potential of cassava starch for brewing beer

Cassava starch has also been shown to have the potential to be used as adjuncts in brewing beer. Agbale et. al., (2008) report that three improved varieties of cassava .i.e. Afisiafi, Gbemoduade and Tekbankye had reasonably high extract content and fermentability and appear to be promising cultivars for use as brewing adjuncts. But among the three wort (i.e. a liquid formed by soaking marsh in hot water and then fermented to make beer) from Afisiafi had the highest extract content suggesting that it might be a suitable brewing adjunct for larger beer. Earlier on, Ayernor et. al., (2002) and Hammond (2002) demonstrated that starch from cassava and sweet potato can be used for the production of syrups and alcohol by fermentation industries. 3.1.3

Yam

3.1.3.1 Introduction Yams belong to the botanical genus Dioscorea. Of over 600 species only six are important worldwide four of which are particularly so in tropical Africa. These are in order of importance D. rotunda (white yam), which accounts for over two-thirds of total yam output, D. alata (water yam), D. cayenensis (yellow yam) and D. dumet.orum (trifoliate yam). (Courier, 1987). Yams constitute an important food crop in West Africa, where about 95% of the world’s production occurs. It is one of the comparatively few words of West African origin that have entered European Languages. The word was derived from Mande ‘niam’ or Temme ‘en yame’. This was adapted into Portuguese as ‘ynhame’’ and hence into Spain ‘igname’ and English ‘yam’ (Adenyi, 1997). In Ghana it is an important food crop where 45-55% of the population consumes it as their staple food. It is the most prestigious staple food and the food of choice of many ceremonies and festivals. Ghana is the second most important producer after Nigeria in

West Africa (Otoo 2003). According to statistics, average daily consumption per capita of yam is highest in Benin (364 kcal), Cote D’Ivoire (342 kcal), Ghana (296 kcal) and Nigeria (248 kcal). In a prioritization exercise carried out at the beginning of the implementation of the NARP it was ranked first by various stakeholders among 39 commodities (NARSP, 1994). But it was the third most important crop in terms of contribution to Ghana’s AGDP (in constant 1987 prices), with 13% after cassava and cocoa which were first and second respectively with contributions of 22% and 14% (Tabor et. al., 1995). The crop requires an optimum temperature between 25-35ºC and rainfall regime of 1000 – 1500mm. It does well on deep, free, porous moderately to well drained, loamy soils with high organic matter and a pH range of 5.0 – 7.0 (Purseglove, 1972). Yam is intensively cultivated in the Forest-Savannah Transition, covering the northern portions of the Brong Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern and Volta Regions and in the Guinea Savanna zone of southern zones of the Northern Region. The crop is also grown in the Sudan savanna zone covering some parts of the Upper West and Upper East Regions and northern portions of the Northern Region. In the forest zone, yams are grown as a subsistence crop. However, in areas around Asewase, Kpando, Bawjiase and Mankessin the crop is intensively cultivated. Yams like cassava are grown mainly by smallholders. But unlike cassava, the crop is not grown throughout the whole country. Yams are also grown more for cash than for family subsistence. (Roots and Tubers Committee Report 1992). The crop is however considered labour intensive because of its long vines, which can be as long as 10 m require support and constant attention (Courier, 1987). Yams are generally more nutritious compared to the other root and tuber crops such as cassava, cocoyam and sweet potato. Energy production from yams per hectare also surpasses those of cassava, sweet potato, rice and maize (Wheatley et. al., 1995 quoting Horton and Fano, 1985). . However, the cost per unit of energy is higher for yams than other staples like cassava and maize principally due to its higher cost of production and higher level of post-harvest losses (Otoo, 2006). Cooked yam also has about 2% protein which is about twice that in cassava. .In studies conducted in south-eastern Nigeria, Nweke et. al, (1992) established that people in the major food producing areas obtained 757 calories per capita per day from yams compared to 354, 298, 185 and 149 from cassava, rice, wheat and grain legumes respectively. Yams therefore generally can provide nutritional security. It is also composed of phosphorus, calcium, iron and traces of vitamins A and B (Onwuene, 1978) and a significant source of vitamin C (Ayensu, 1972, Ammirato, 1984, Abbiw, 1990). Demand for yams is positively income elastic (Dorosh, 1988) implying a household preference for yams when the purchasing power improves (Otoo, 2006).

There is also a positive expenditure elasticity of demand for yams across expenditure levels and own price elastic (Nweke et. al., 1992). This indicates that yams have a high market potential and any effort to enhance its supply will impact positively on household food security (Otoo, 2001). Besides the food security potential of yam In Ghana, it has become an important export commodity. During the period under review the amount of yams exported increased by about 280% rising from 7,018 in 1997 to 20,841 tonnes in 2008. This resulted in an increase of 32 times in foreign exchange earnings from US$457,000.00 to US$14,888.80 (Table 10). This increase may be reason for increases in yam production in recent years. Under the period of review, yam production increased by more than 100% from 2.41 million tonnes in 1997 to 4.89 million tonnes in 2008 (Table 2 and Figure 2). But unlike cassava where part of this increase came from improved varieties this increase in yam production came solely from increases in size of area of production which rose by an increase of 86% from 187,000 ha in 1997 to 348,000 hectares. This is because the first improved varieties of yam were only released in 2005. Aside from its domestic uses, a number of Dioscorea species (especially wild types) including D. dumet.orurm are medically important for the commercial production of steroidal sapogenin and diosgenin (Coursey and Martin, 1970, Annon, 1972; Coursey, 1967) drug which include corticosteroids, sex hormones, contraceptive steroids for preparing oral contraceptive pills and anabolics. It has been reported that more than 50% of total steroidal drug production in the world and 100% in India is from diosgenein derived from certain species of Dioscorea (Asolkar and Chandha, 1979). Six major species of yam are cultivated in Ghana. These include Dioscorea rotunda (white yam) of which some 25 varieties are cultivated. It is also the principal commercial species in Ghana (some 80% of it produced for the market). Another important species is the D. esculenta (Chinese yam). These two species are common in the interior savanna zone. In the forest zone, four other species are common: D. cayenensis (yellow yam), D. alata (water yam), D. bulbifea and D. domet.orum. 3.1.3.2

Agricultural Production Support Services

Apart from the generation of three improved varieties, which are currently being disseminated, there has been very little research to develop the crop. The provision of other support services such as supplies of agricultural inputs and marketing has also been limited. Marfo (2002) observed that the use of purchased inputs in four districts, Awutu-Efutu Senya (coastal savanna-forest transition), Ejura, Techiman and Wenchi (forest-Guinea savannah transition) was rare with the highest proportion of use of 7.5% being for inorganic fertilizers and herbicides.

3.1.3.2.1 a.

Technology Generation and Dissemination

Planting materials

Insufficient planting material is a major constraint to increased yam production. Ninety percent of respondents identified this as the most important constraint to yam cultivation (Otoo et. al., 2005). Therefore, the yam minisett technique was developed by scientists as a means of multiplying selected varieties. The technique involves the use of small (24-30 g) of pieces of tubers as planting material treated with pesticide before planting and cosseted for the first season to produce small seed yams for planting in second season. It is an effective way of producing good quality (healthy) planting material (Kenyon and Fowler 2000). Unfortunately, the adoption rate of this technology in Ghana has been poor. Among the factors cited by Kenyon and Fowler (2000) and Marfo (2002) for this low adoption rate are inadequate promotion activities by extension staff and it not being socioeconomically feasible in terms of compatibility or labour rationalization. One major problem in yam production is the relation of sett size to yield: if small size of yam sett is planted, low yield is realized at harvest. Several workers emphasized that the yield of yam appears almost directly proportional to the size of seed tuber or sett planted (Gurmah, 1994). Besides, the portion of the yam tuber planted is known to affect sprouting, vigour of the resulting plant as well as the yield, hence the lack of uniformity and similarity of planting material (Ayensu, 1972, Onwueme, 1978). This implies that in order to enhance yield, large quantities of yam setts, which otherwise may serve as food must be preserved and reinvested in propagation of the crop. And it accounts for the highest percentage of the non-labour cost of production (Dorosh, 1988). However this constraint of planting materials for yam production may soon be over if ongoing on-farm trials by IITA in partnership with Nigerian farmers of propagating yam through vine cuttings proves successful. The new yam growing technique makes use of vine cuttings planted in carbonized rice husk (CRH). After rooting and sprouting, the seedlings are transferred to the field or directly planted into nursery bed with CRH under shade. •

Improved varieties

In 2005, the CSIR-Crops Research Institute released three improved varieties of yam. This marked the first time that improved varieties of the crop have been released for dissemination to farmers. The releases came within a short period of four years through the use of the participatory approach. Conventional breeding takes about seven to ten years. The varieties are CRI-Pona, CRI-Kukrupa and Mankrong-Pona. The three varieties are high yielding (33.0 – 59 t/ha) and yield two-three times the existing varieties. (Otoo, 2005). The average yields of fresh yam tubers in Africa are about 10 tonnes/ha (Onwume and Sinha, 1993). The improved varieties also have varying maturity periods ensuring availability of yams all year round and amenable to double harvesting. This provides options for utilization or storage which can ensure availability of yams during the ‘hunger gap’ potentially contributing to food security.

According to Otoo (2006) the high market potential shown by these released varieties suggests that when farmers have access to them there will be significant increases in supply of yams for both the local and export markets. This will in effect make yams economically more accessible and will impact positively on household food security. â&#x20AC;˘

Agronomic practices

(a) Planting in rows: the spacing for planting yam in rows or mounds is 1 m x 1m. The technology of row planting seems to have been well adopted. Anchirinah et. al., (1996) have observed that mounds are generally constructed in rows in the Brong Ahafo Region. (b)

(c)

(d)

Fertilizer application (Sub committee on Fertilizer Use Report, NARP 1998). (i)

Rates of application range from 60-30-30 to 60-40-40 kg N, P 2 O 5 , K 2 O.

(ii)

These recommendation involve an application of 200-267 kg/ha of 15:15â&#x20AC;?15 NPK fertilizer with a supplementary top dressing of 150 kg/ha of sulphate of ammonia.

(iii)

In practice this means 20-27 g of 15L15:15 NPK and 15 g of sulphate of ammonia.

(iv)

Magnesium should be applied as basal dose at 6 kg Mg/ha.

Method of application (i)

The fertilizer is preferably applied to each mound.

(ii)

It may be applied in a basal encircling the mound 15 cm from the base of the vine at a depth of 3-5 cm.

Time of application

The dosage may be split, with one half applied one week and remainder eight weeks after planting. a.

Technologies with potential - staking materials

In the cultivation of climbing crops, the use of suitable supports in the form of stakes or trellises, is very important. These supports help to expose the leaves of the crops to sunlight for optimum photosynthesis and also keep them from being infected by soilborne pathogens (Asante, 1996). Staking of yams is practiced in many yam-growing areas of the tropics especially in West Africa and West Indies where wooden supports or stalks of the previous crops such as maize and sorghum are used (Igwilo, 1989). Various authors quoted by Asante (2006) have reported that staking increased tuber yields of yam ranging from 35% to 105%.

In the Derived Coastal Savanna Zone, Otoo et. al., (2005) found that farmers ranked staking as the most important and costly constraint after availability and cost of planting materials. Ninety percent of the farmers indicated that it often set the limit as to the scale of production especially when one cultivates Discorea rotunda – the species of yam to which the three newly released varieties of yam belong to. They indicated that since D. cayenensis and D. alata are hardy, farmers can afford not to stake and yet get good results. Asante (1996) found out in trials that higher yields were obtained on staked yam fields with kenaf, roselle and jute – bast fibre plants – than unstaked yam fields. These bast fibre plants can therefore be used successfully as life yam stakes. By adopting such a practice, farmers may have benefits of the bast fibre plants as staking materials, vegetables and as source of fibre for additional income. Earlier on Cobbina et. al., (1994) reported that in an agroforestry system trial to test the suitability of perennial tree species to provide in situ live support to yam vines or cut to be used as stakes found that D. alata yielded highest with Sesbania grandiflora whereas D. rotunda produced the highest quantity of tubers with Caliandra calothyrsus •

Technologies with potential - improved storage methods

In storage yams are attacked by pests and diseases. It is estimated that after six months up to 50% of the crop is lost due to rot. Aboagye-Nuamah et. al., (2005) found that yam samples with rot they collected from a yam barn and markets in Accra were infected with nine fungal spoilage mechanisms including Aspergillus flavus, Botryodioplodia theobromae, Fusarium culmonum, Fusarium oxysporium, Fusarium sp, Penicillium brevicompactum, Penicillium sp and Rhizopus stolonifer and a bacterium species Erwina carotovora were identified. But there is some hope that these pathogens can be controlled biologically. In a study in Nigeria, Okigbo (n.d) reported that surface of harvested yam can be manipulated to get antagonist that can control yam pathogens. In another study to control rottening through curing in Ghana, it was found that the levels of relative humidity in pits, clamps or modified storage pits could engender curing, whereas the humidity in plastic bags were excessive and simply brought about rotting (Bancroft et. al, n.d). Loss of yams in storage due to sprouting is very high. Bansa (1994a) reported that the amount of yams that sprout and those that get rotten during storage could be reduced drastically through irradiation of yams. 3.1.3.2.2

Marketing Systems

Yam like cassava is a bulky commodity but fortunately yam is not as perishable as cassava and can be stored over an appreciable period of time. However the post harvest handling of yam is very poorly developed. This leads to the loss of large amounts of yams annually. In a study carried out in markets in Accra and Nkwanta Bansa (1994b) and Henckes et. al., (1995) in Tamale found out that major

causes of spoilage were poor storage conditions and facilities on the farms and markets, microbial damage, activities of insects, ants and mammals. Other causes were identified as physiological damage such as sprouting, respiration and dehydration as well as harvesting methods and transportation and handling related to marketing. In a study carried out in the Techiman, Kintampo and Nkoranza districts, Anchirinah et. al., (1996) found that marketing of yam and most food stuff is handled mainly by women who act either as individuals or members of associations. There are many marketing agencies and channels operating between the farm and cooking pot as yam passes through several hands between the farm and the cooking pot. â&#x20AC;˘

The Yam Supply Chain

Village traders: These buyers undertake the initial task of assembling produce from farms or local country markets. These people relieve the producer of further direct marketing responsibilities. They secure a continuous supply of yams throughout the year by moving from one supply area to the next as the harvest proceeds from south to north. Wholesale traders: These people buy several thousand yams from a number of steady traveling trader supplies. They then sell the yams to retailers in hundreds and institutions. In Techiman, these wholesalers are mainly women (Anchirinah, 1995) while in Tamale they are mainly men (Henckes et. al., 1995). The largest wholesalers handle up to 10,000 yams a day. They deliver large volumes of yams regularly to institutions and also supply big exporters who send shipments of yams to Europe or the USA. Retailers: The function of the retailer is to obtain supplies and display them for sale to forms and times and places convenient to consumers. They typically buy 100-200 yams to sell over the next few days to consumers. The retailers buy from one or more wholesalers or even from farmers. They have little or no capital at all and often buy on credit and serve consumers buying small quantities on daily basis (Anchirina et. al., 1996). In analysis of the system, Anchirina (1995), note that it is inefficient due partly to monopolistic tendencies exhibited by market traders and queens. Almost ten years after this observation, not much had been done to improve the marketing system. Thus a RELC Regional Planning Session held in 2004 for the Brong Ahafo Region identified yam glut as a major problem and a subsequent study cited marketing as the major cause (Dapaah et. al., 2005). To find solution to the yam glut, under its Competitive Agricultural Research Grant Scheme (CARGS) the AgSSIP funded a project titled â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Market Research Study Towards Reducing Yam Glut in the Brong Ahafo Region (Marfo et. al., 2006). Results or the study showed that the problem of yam glut affects farmers in all localities in the major yam producing areas. This is because almost all of them market the produce in major markets (the district capitals) close to them. The problem is most serious in July-August when all farmers had harvested yam kin order to have the plant green to produce seed. Very high prices are obtained at the start

of the harvest. As the harvesting continues due to the result of the good price there is a glut and therefore prices fall (Figures 6a â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 6m). In the market, the yam loses quality with each passing day have to be disposed of as fast as possible. The study further found that prices of yams during periods of glut are less than half of those at the beginning of the harvest (Table 8). A Natural Resources Institute report (2008) notes that to date many research initiatives have attempted to address production problems by considering methods of propagation, production strategies and measure against pre-harvest diseases. However, fewer studies have considered the improvement of the post-harvest system and studies of the marketing system have largely been ignored. Reviewing the system, the report notes that at each point in the chain, the produce is repeatedly exposed to a range of physical and environmental factors that singly or in combination tend to compromise the quality of the yams. Loss assessment studies indicate that the most significant consequence of is the premature degradation of tubers by rots, resulting In either partial or absolute biological loss, and price discounting offers of the order of 35-80%. And of particular significance is the observation that of all apparently healthy yams sampled from the markets, some 2038% harbour chronic internal rots. Observations made during the project suggest that traditional curing techniques (if they occur) are generally too haphazard to make any significant impact on the shelf-life potential of yams and often hasten the onset of sprouting. By contrast the rigid adherence to specific curing and post-harvest protocols are found to significantly reduce the weight of rots recovered from rubber samples after three or four months of storage. The report further noted that improved grading protocols, coupled with post-harvest conditioning of the tubers would prove beneficial if producers and traders could be encouraged to modify their traditional handing strategies. Finally, the report concluded that to effect any significant diminution and control of the losses identified in the marketing chain in the foreseeable future, specific traditional postharvest handling and marketing practices will need to be radically altered, with the focus directed at the producers and exporters. There is also the need to improve access to market information if market mechanisms are to work efficiently (Anchirinah et. al., 1995). Lack of access to market information is a major barrier to food security and trade in many West African countries, In analyzing the yam supply chain further, Anchirinah et. al., (1996) noted that all these intermediaries between the farmer and the final consumer make much profit but no one knows who benefits from these transactions and called for an investigation. This problem was resolved in 2007 by CEDEP (an NGO) from a study on yam marketing in Kumasi as reported in the following section. Figure 7 shows the Yam marketing channel found by Anchirinah et. al (1986) in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Value shares of actors in the marketing chain The prices of yams and the costs each actor incurs depend on the season (which affects the quality of yams) and how far the current producing area if from a main market such as Techiman or Kumasi. The numbers in the Table 9 are based on the average cost per yam during the lean season (April-August) in 2007. At that time an average tuber sold to consumers for GH¢2.00. The traveling trader bought it from the farmer for GH¢1.00 and sold it to a wholesaler for GH¢1.50 cedis after paying GH¢0.25 for loading and market charges. That left her with a profit of GH¢0.25 or 12.5% of the final price The wholesaler bought the yam for GH¢1.50 cedis and sold it on to a retailer for GH¢1.70 cedis incurring costs of GH¢0.04 and earning a profit of GH¢0.16 or 8% of the consumer price. The retailer bought the yam for GH¢1.70 and sold it to a consumer for GH¢2.00 incurring costs of GH¢0.04 and earning a profit of GH¢0.26 or 13% of the consumer price. In terms of revenue, the farmer earned half of the end price, and half of the income was profit. The traveling trader earned another quarter of the end price, but also had to pay for transport and other costs, so only half her income was profit. The wholesalers and retailers have higher total costs (mainly the cost of buying the yams) and lower markups. •

Export markets

Asuming-Brempong (1991) observed that Ghana has absolute comparative advantage in yam production, and that both the economy and yam farmers will benefit if yam production for export is promoted. At the time, Asuming-Brempong made this observation, figures available from the Ghana Export Promotion Council showed that the volume of yams exported from Ghana was 3,051 tonnes. This figure increased by about 121% to 7,018 tonnes in 1997 which marks the beginning of this review and increased to 20,841 tonnes at the end of the review in 2008 representing a further increase of 280%. As a result, foreign exchange earnings increased by 32 times from US$457,000.00 in 1997 to US$14,888.,801.00 in 2008. (Table 10). In spite of these huge increases in yam exports, Otoo (2006) note that Ghana lost her position as the world’s leading exporter of yams in 2000 to Costa Rica. The potential that increased yam production has on the country’s foreign exchange earnings may be illustrated through comparison with foreign exchange earnings from pineapple the country’s leading non-traditional export crop. Data in Table 10 show that though foreign earnings from pineapple are generally higher than those from yam, yams bring in more foreign exchange earnings than pineapples per tonne. In other words unit value of yam on the export market is higher than that for pineapple. However, in 2008 Ghana earned more foreign exchange from yam than from pineapple exports. For an amount of 20,841 tonnes of yams exported, the country earned US$14,888.801.00 whilst for an amount of 35,134 tonnes of pineapple exported it earned US$11,542,000.25.

3.1.4

Cocoyam

3.1.4.1 Introduction In many parts of Africa, the term cocoyams: is used to refer collectively to member of the genus Colocasia and the genus Xanthosomas. When referred to separately, Colocasia species are called ‘taro’ and Xanthosomonas species are called ‘tannia’, (Onwuemme and Sinham 1993). The importance of cocoyam is that it is an alternative source of carbohydrates for most of the people in West Africa and the Pacific. Cocoyam corms, cormels and leaves are eaten after boiling, roasting or baking, and meals and flours are prepared. Cocoyam leaves are very nutritious since they contain about 20% protein on dry weight basis. In West Africa, the starchy cormels or tubers of Xanthosomona are preferred to Colocasia as they are more suitable for making fufu, a traditional West African dish which is prepared by pounding boiled tubers in a wooden mortar (Nnoung et. al., 1994). It has also been observed that production of ‘tannias’ is on the increase particularly in West Africa because of their greater resistance to Phytophthora blight compared to ‘taros’ and because less exacting conditions are required for their cultivation. Tannias are of particular value for intercropping with plantation crops but their future probably depends upon whether costs of production can be reduced by improved cultural techniques, such as mechanization, the sue of herbicides and the application of fertilizers (Root crops, NRI 1987). Nigeria, Ghana and Japan are the world’s leading producers. Cocoyam (Xanthosoma It is a staple crop in West and Central Africa, grown mainly in Cameroon, Gabon and Ghana. The starchy cormels and tender leaves, consumed in various ways, are excellent sources of carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins (Opoku-Agyeman et. al., 2004). They also serve as a source of income for many families in the tropics and subtropics (Tambong et. al., 1997). Cocoyam grows well in shade, which facilitates its intercrop with permanent plantations of banana, coconut, citrus, oil palm and cocoa. It is also intercropped with annual and perennial crops, thus making it a choice crop in the farming systems of the forest and forest/savanna transition zones of Ghana. It produces the best yields in well-drained fertile loamy soils with abundance of organic matter. The persistent decline in soil fertility, together with the loss of forest, are accelerating the decline in the diversity of the crop, which is already known to have a very narrow genetic base as an introduced crop in West Africa (Wright, 1930). The crop is well known for its profuse sprouting as a volunteer crop after the clearing and burning of secondary forests. Most farmers take advantage of volunteer plants, known by some Akan tribes in Ghana as “Ogya moo’ meaning ‘well done fire’, because they believed that the burning of the bush caused the cocoyam to sprout. Cocoyams have nutritional advantages over other root and tuber crops (Lyonga and Nziet.chueng, 1986). They have more crude protein than other roots and tubers and its starch is highly digestible because of the small size of the starch granules. Its contents of calcium, phosphorus, vitamins A and B are reasonable (Ojinnaka et. al., 2009). These

attributes make it a good base for food preparation for infants (Onwueme, 1987, Ekpe, 1987). Recent studies have also shown that cocoyam starch can be incorporated in the development of weaning food which is highly digestible and accessible to low-income earners in developing countries (Oti and Akobundu, 2008). More than two decades ago, the Courier (1987) observed that of all the root and tuber crops, cocoyam is the least studied. It further noted that although research into the crop began in the early 1930s, it has not been sustained. This situation has not changed much and thus unlike yam, cassava and sweet potato no improved variety of cocoyam has been developed. 3.1.4.2

Agricultural Production Support Services

Unlike cassava, cocoyam has received little or no support from Governments or the private sector for its development. Thus within the period under review output of cocoyam increased by only about 10% from a total of 1,535,000 tonnes from 1997 to 1,688,000 tonnes in 2008 (Table 2) while the area under cultivation increased by 22% from 206,000 ha in 1997 to 252,000 ha in 2008. Research for the development of the crop suffered a major setback in the 90s. Tambeng et. al. (1997) quoted by Opoku-Agyeman et. al., (2004) reported that some cocoyam germplasm thought to have root rot resistance potentials were collected in Ghana for research in the Cameroon. According to Opoku-Agyeman et. al., (2004) Tambeng et. al., (1997) lamented the loss of all the germplasm that was collected. This is because it lowers the potential that the crop has for improvement through selection and breeding. 3.1.4.2.1

Technology Generation and Dissemination

Nevertheless, Opoku-Agyeman et. al., (2004) still made some attempts to know what is left of the germplasm in the field since germplasm still remains the only hope for improving the crop. While inputs from all disciplines will be needed to increase yield potentials, the foundation for such improvements will continue to be focused on germplasm enhancement augmented by rapidly changing tools of biotechnology and genetic engineering (Brady, 1997). From their work, Opoku-Agyeman et. al., (2004) concluded that from the cocoyam variability observed plus available information suggest that five different types of cocoyam can for convenience be called ‘Red guns’, Red medium’ ‘Hard white’ ‘Soft white I’ (medium soft), and ‘Soft white II’ (very soft). They also suspected that some cocoyam diversity to be lost because the yellow flesh type. ‘Amankan antwibo’ and the white type with constriction cormels have, in the main, not been found in the recent collections. The authors recommended that the available germplasm should be studied further with molecular tools to identify any further variability. Measures should be put in place to conserve what is left of cocoyam diversity, and enquiries should be made in other

neighbouring countries with similar climate as Ghana, for a possible recovery of cocoyam genotypes that are suspected to be lost in Ghana. It appears that this call is being heeded to. Acheampong (n.d) published on the Internet investigated induced temperature and light conditions for in vitro storage of cocoyam. He found that cocoyams are not as susceptible to chilling injury as other root and tuber crops and that the choice of storage temperature was not dependent on the stage of development of the explant. In addition abnormalities were not detected in any of the plants derived from cultures which have been stored for one year. For off-farm activities, the dried peeled corms may be ground to produce flour which is considered to be as palatable as cassava flour but more nutritious. Thus some scientists in Ghana have started some work on cocoyam starch and flour. For example SefaDedeh and Sackey (2002) carried out studies on the structure and rheological properties of three cocoyam varieties (Xanthosomona sagittifolium (red-flesh), Xanthosomonas sagittifolium (white-flesh) and Colocasia esculenta) starches and raphides in an attempt to characterize them. Starch granule sizes in the regions of 0.74-1.19 and 0.74-1.10 µm (micromet.er) were obtained for the Xanthosoma species (red flesh) and Xanthosonia species (white flesh) respectively. Significantly, smaller granule sizes (0.05-0.08) µm of starch granules were observed for Colocasia esculenta. But these values are far lower than those of 17-20 um reported in Root Crops (NRI 31, 1987). Nonetheless the NRI report noted that starch grains of ‘tannia’ are relatively large, with average diameter and are less easily digested than those of ‘taros’. Onwueme and Sinha (1993) had also observed that starch grains of Colocasia esculenta (taro) are small in size and are more easily digested than those of yam, cassava or sweet potato. Microstructures of raphide sizes of the cocoyam species showed significant differences among the varieties, with the Colocasia species having more pronounced needle-like structures. Evaluation of the rheological properties of cocoyam flours showed considerable variations among the varieties, especially between the Xanthosomona and the Colocasia species. The C. esculenta showed lower hot paste viscosity but higher thermal stability than the Xanthosoma species. Peak viscosity was highest in the X sagittifolium (red-flesh) variety while the white-flesh variety showed the least tendency to retro gradation. According to Safo-Kantanka and Acquistucci (1996) citing Rasper (1982) the ability of starch granules to sell and yield a viscous paste is considered to be among the most important practical properties since it affect its rheological 5 properties. Asiedu (2006) also concluded from studies of flour processed from Ghana cocoyam and coco-india that cocoyam has a high potential for production of confectionaries and other traditional foods. 5

Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines rheology as the quality or state of being able to be deformed or to flow.

In Nigeria, Ojinnaka et. al., (2009) reported that starch samples from cocoyam were used in the production of cookies at 5,10,15, 20 and 25% level of substitution with wheat flour. The result of the sensory evaluation showed that cookies prepared at 5% level were most acceptable. â&#x20AC;˘

Agronomic practices

Fertilizer application (Sub committee on Fertilizer Use Report, NARP 1998). a)

Rate of application

There appears to be no recommendation for fertilizer application to the crop. But in southern Nigeria good results can be obtained by 67-101-89 kg N, P 2 O 5 and K 2 0/ha. This can be adopted in Ghana. (b)

Method of application

Fertilizers for cocoyam may be applied by broadcasting or banding. (c)

Time of application

The fertilizer should be applied 6-8 weeks after planting or two weeks after sprouting. 3.1.4.4.2 Market Systems There seems to be no study on marketing of cocoyam in the country unlike yams. The crop however has been receiving attention as a non-traditional export commodity. Data obtained from the Export Promotion Council showed that export of cocoyam has been increasing since 2000. In 2000, the country earned an amount of US$54.400.00 from cocoyam exports and this increased by more than four times to US$211,690.00 in 2008 (Table 10). 3.1.5 Sweet potato 3.1.5.1 Introduction Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L) is the only species of economic importance as food in the family Convolvulaceaa of about 50 genera and thousand species (Scott and Ewell, 1992). With more than 133 million tons (FAOSTAT 1998) in annual production it ranks the most important crop in fresh weight basis in developing countries after rice, wheat, maize and cassava. Annual production in Ghana is 90,000 tons from an area of 65,000 ha (FAOSTAT 2006). It has a shorter growth period than other root crops (Bradbury and Halloway, 1988) and shows no marked seasonality. Under suitable conditions it can be grown all year round. Sweet potato seems to be the most widely dispersed root crop (Purseglove, 1972) as it is adaptable and can grow under many different ecological conditions. It has been shown to have a greater tolerance to an extended range of edaphic and climatic conditions than most other tropical root crops.

It is also tolerant to cold and can be grown at altitudes as high as 300 m in the tropical zones although yields decrease the higher the altitude. It is a worldwide food crop eaten in a variety of ways. They can be made into flour and starch, canned, frozen or dehydrated. They can be used industry in the manufacture of such products as glucose syrup, alcohol, acetone, lactic acid, vinegar and pectin. Both the tuber and plant top can be used as animal feed (Courier, 1987). The main producing regions are South East Asia and the Pacific, sub-Saharan Africa and tropical and inter-tropical America. It is widely grown in the East, Central and West Africa. Sweet potato plays an important role as a staple in the food systems in Africa, particularly where most diets are based on starchy staples like cassava and maize (Scott and Ewell, 1992). It is the only root and tuber crop with a positive per capita annual rate of increase in sub-Saharan Africa (Hahn 1984). In eastern and southern Africa it is an important household food security crop (Kapinga et. al. 2001). It is cultivated in almost all parts of Uganda. It is a low input crop (Bashaasha, et. al, 1994) and can be harvested at almost any time from 21/2 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 6 months after planting. Cleduado (1991) termed it the staple food of the poorest of the poor. Like cassava, the starch of sweet potato is used in the manufacture of adhesives, textiles and paper sizing and in the confectionary and baking industries. According to Otoo et. al. (1997), sweet potato cultivation and utilization are very prominent in Ghana. Production has for many years been in the northern, Brong Ahafo and the coastal regions. In some districts of the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions, a significant expansion of sweet potato cultivation has been noted in recent years. But according to Adu-Kwarteng et. al. (2001) sweet potato is still not very well integrated into the average Ghanaian diet. It is not common to find sweet potato being served in Ghanaian restaurants, workers canteens, and boarding schools etc. unlike other roots and tubers which are widely consumed in a variety of preparations. Locally available clones have very sweet taste which limits their consumption as a staple food (Missah and Kissiedu, 1994). It is probable for these reasons that the crop was ranked 27th out of 39 commodities in the prioritization exercise carried out in 1992. It is also probable for these same reasons that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture does not capture data on its annual outputs, area under cultivation and prices unlike the other roots and tubers. The sweet potato tuberous roots contain in addition to high starch content, abundant vitamins, significant amounts of minerals, proteins, and caratenoid and dietary fibre. (Onwueme, 1978, Woolfe 1992). The orange-fleshed varieties are rich in beta-carotene (VITAA, 2001). Woolfe (1992) indicated that its proximate composition, mineral and vitamin contents, particularly vitamin A is comparable to many fruits. The crop particularly the orange-fleshed varieties, is therefore a cheap source of vitamin A and can be used to reduce incidence of blindness among children especially in northern Ghana where palm trees â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a major source of vitamin A â&#x20AC;&#x201C; do not thrive. Early maturing varieties yield higher amounts of edible energy per unit time than all other staples (Woolfe, 1992).

And in a recent study Agbale et. al., (2008) found that some recently released sweet potato varieties Sauti, Farah and TIB2 had significantly higher protein levels (2.382.54%) than (0.44-0.54%) of cassava varieties namely, Afisiafia, Gblemoduade and Tekbankye. 3.1.5.2

Agricultural Production Support Services

A review of the literature shows that Ghana is not providing the necessary production support services to the crop to harness its huge potential for food security and poverty reduction. 3.1.5.2.1 Technology Generation and Dissemination (i)

Improved Varieties

During the period under review however, seven improved varieties have been released by the CSIR-CRI. The year of release and the yield potential and uses of each of them are captured in Table 11. (i)

Row planting: The recommended spacing for planting sweet potato in rows or ridges is 1m x 0.3m

(iii)

Fertilizer application (sub-committee on Fertilizer Use Report, NARP 1988) (a)

Rate of application General recommendation for high yield of sweet potato are 30-80 kg N, 90-140 kg P 2 O 5, 90 K 2 0/ha. Coarse and moderately coarse textured soils â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 70-140-140 kg N, P 2 O 5 P 2 O 5, K 2 0/ha. Medium textured soils â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 50-90-100 kg N, P 2 O 5 K 2 0/ha

(b)

Method of application Fertilizer may be applied in a band along one or both sides of the plant on top of or in a 5-8 cm apart.

(c)

Time of application A split application is preferable, with one half of the fertilizer applied two weeks before planting and the remainder as dressing along the plant rows 6-8 weeks after planting.

3.1.5.2.2

Market Systems

The only formal study of sweet potato marketing system is probably that of Birago (2005) conducted at Moree junction, near Cape Coast in the Abura-Asebu Kwamankese District of the Central Region. At this junction, sale of sweet potatoes goes on throughout the year.

In this study she found out that sale of sweet potato was exclusively undertaken by women who started it about ten years ago, in order to diversify their sources of income and reduce their dependence on sale of Fanti kenkey. She further found out that retailers obtain their supplies from five main sources. These are Jukwa in the Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira District, Tetsi junction in Abura-Asebu Kwamankese District, Mankesim and Kasoa markets all in the Central Region and Agbogbloshie market in Accra Metropolis. The produce from Jukwa and Tet.si Junction are known to come from farms around these towns. The retailers claimed that the supplies from Agbogbloshie Market originally came from the Afram Plains in the Eastern region, while supplies from the Kasoa and Mankessim markets are suspected to come from the dam sites at Okyereko and Baafikrom respectively. Supplies from Jukwa are available from November to March, while those from Kasoa and Agbogbloshie markets are available after Easter and around August respectively. There were no specific times for supplies from Mankessim market and Tetsi junction. Apart from Jukwa where supplies are obtained from middlemen on their way to Accra sell other goods, supplies from the other sources are obtained by the retailers going there themselves to purchase. Jukwa therefore is the preferred source of supply because it is more convenient as the burden of chasing supplies is borne by middlemen and supplies are also cheaper. Supplies are sold within tow-four weeks after purchase. During this period, the stored in sacks/bags or on cement floors subjected to destruction by rodents, sheep and goats as there is no protection. In storage under these conditions, the roots also get rotten or sprout. Three cultivars were identified in the market. These are classified by the women as red, white and yellow. According to them, while the whites highly prefer the red the blacks prefer the yellow cultivar. The white cultivar with its high sugar content and high susceptibility to rot was moderately preferred by both races. Finally, Barigo (2005) found that the retailers made a net profit of GHÂ˘546.00 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; GHÂ˘1,000.00 per annum. In addition, the tuberous roots are suitable for pounding of fufu (Adu-Kwarteng et. al, 2001), flour preparation (Oduro et. al., 2001) and can be processed into gari (Ellis et. al., 2001). Potential markets of sweet potatoes Tewe (1992) has suggested that the sweet potato crop can be ensiled along with its vines and leaves and the fresh product can be used for all classes of livestock including poultry as is being done in Cuba. He further noted that some varieties of sweet potato contain crude protein as high as maize and these can be used to replace the scarce and expensive cereals in livestock feeds. In an article posted on http://news.mahogany.com/bioenergy/2007/01/sweet.-potatoes and carbohydrates.html it is stated that the tuberous roots of sweet potato contain very

high levels of starch which make it an interesting candidate for industrial applications. The crop has been predicted to become a major ethanol feedstock and China - the world’s largest producer and Taiwan have taken the lead to harness this potential. Auto-manufacturer Toyota has already begun a large project to produce bioplastics and bioproducts from the crop. In a report titled ‘Sweet potatoes to Save the World in the 21st Century’ Prof Toyoki Kozei notes the following points: (i) the manufacture of biodegradable plastics from sweet potato will become common (ii) hydrogen derived from sweet potato will become an energy source for fuel and electric vehicles and (iii) sweet potato will be developed as livestock feed as an alternative to corn. The article further explained that even though sweet potatoes are commonly referred to as a ‘small farmer’s crop’, when they are grown on large scale, they yield very large amounts of biomass without the need for heavy investments in inputs. They can be harvested mechanically and are easy to process into basic chemical building blocks. Per kilogram, sweet potatoes yield some 40 to 50% more starch than corn, white potatoes and wheat. Per hectare, their starch productivity is three to four times higher than corn and twice that of cassava. When it comes to ethanol production, sweet potatoes are also easier to process than corn and require considerably less energy input. In Ghana, Ayernor et. al., (2002) and Hammond (2002) have demonstrated that starch from cassava and sweet potato can be used for the production of syrups and alcohol by fermentation industries. Further research in Ghana, has shown that wort colour of sweet potato flours exhibited intensity colour (11.34-16.85 EBC) compared with that for cassava (6.49 an 8.49 EBC) suggesting that they may be suitable for the production of distinctive beer type in Ghana. (Agbale et. al., 2008) In addition, they found that since Sauti – a sweet potato variety = wort was the lightest among the sweet potato worts, it should be the sweet potato cultivar of choice for the production of larger beer. The colour of the wort is very important as it influences the final colour of the beer. Adjuncts that generate very dark coloured worts are not considered desirable for the production of clear larger beer since special carbon-activated filters are required to reduce the colour intensity of wort, increasing the cost of production (Agbale et. al., 2008). Promotion of orange-fleshed sweet potato According Frimpong-Manso (2008), quoting Turnwegamire et. al., (2004) many areas in Ghana have been identified as Vitamin A deficient therefore the promotion of orangefleshed sweet potato production and utilization would be in the right direction. He further noted that to improve production and utilization of sweet potato both as food and for industry there is the need to develop or screen for varieties that have low sugar content, high nutritive value and less susceptible to diseases and pests.

Results of subsequent evaluation of 15 orange-fleshed sweet potato clones showed that most of the genotypes have acceptable cooking quantities that would make them acceptable for to Ghanaians. Such cooking qualities are dry mealy flesh, moderately sweet and low fiber content. 3.1.6

Frafra potato

3.1.6.1 Introduction Frafra potato (Solenostermon rotundifolius (Poir)) also known as Hausa potato is a West African crop. It belongs to the Labiatae nnd genus Coleus. It is known by different scientific and common names (Tet.teh and Guo, 1997). It is a small herbaceous annual crop with prostrate or ascending succulent stem and branches. It is among the lesser and underexploited species of food crop in Africa. Dittoh et. al., (1995) have cited numerous examples of the crop in the savannah areas of neighbouring countries such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria and Togo. However, in Africa, the crop is believed to have originated from Ethiopia where it spread to other countries. It has also been found in places such as Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and South East Asia (Kay 1973). In Ghana, the crop is cultivated in the Boils, Kassena-Nanakani, Frafra, Lawra-Nandom, Jirapa-Lambussie, Nadowli and Wa districts of the Upper East and Upper West Regions (Tet.teh and Guo, 1997). In these areas, it serves as a security crop during the lean season when all available cereals, grains (such as maize, millet. and sorghum) and root and tuber crops such as yam, cassava and sweet potato have been consumed. Thus though it is minor crop it is essential. Nutritionally, the tuber is a carbohydrate food, but it is also fairly rich in protein (1.9 g/100g). Compared with sweet potato (0.8 g/100g), yam (1.8 g/100g), and cassava (0.7 g/100g), Frafra potato thus ranks highest in protein among the tuber crops in Ghana. Besides its nutritional value, Frafra potato plays an essential role in the social lives of the people in the districts where it is grown. It is believed that one can stay for a long time without food after a meal of frafra potato. For that matter, it is the favourite dish served to hunters, or persons engaged in strenuous activities which demand that they stay off food for long periods of time. The amount of Frafra potato a person can serve to his guests at gatherings Determines his social status, and the respect accorded him by the community. Unfortunately, these important roles of the Frafra potato started receiving attention from agricultural development experts only about a decade ago. Within the period, some aspects of the crop have been studied by scientists from various institutions such as the University of Cape Coast, University for Development Studies, CSIR-Plant Genetic Resources, the CSIR-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute and the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute.

This situation is, however, not unexpected as the application of science for the development of root and tuber crops in general started receiving serious attention only in the 1980s. Thus Frafra potato has not been totally neglected in the provision of support services for its development as many have often claimed. The crop might however be receiving greater attention very soon if results of a prioritization exercise carried out at the 2008 Upper East Regional RELC Planning Session are implemented. At that planning session, various stakeholders made up of extension officers, District Directors of Agriculture, research scientists ranked it above sweet potato the other root and tuber crop grown in the region. 3.1.6.2

Agricultural Production Support Services

3.1.6.2.1

Technology Generation and Dissemination

Research is the first step to be undertaken in any efforts to develop agriculture and crop improvement must start with the collection and evaluation of germplasm. For Frafra potato, the literature shows that two research activities have been undertaken and documented in Ghana. The first one conducted by Tet.teh and Guo (1997) had the objectives of ascertaining the present status of the production of the crop so as to identify production constraints as well as to obtain baseline data on ecological requirements, cultural practices, and the cultural significance of the crop in the growing areas. The second one carried out by Opoku-Agyeman et. al., (2004) sought to characterize and familiarize with the available diversity Frafra potato using morphological traits. . From the first research, Tet.teh and Guo found that the crop is mostly grown on mounds and sometimes on ridges but not on the flat. Tubers are mostly used for propagation but softwood stem cuttings can also be used. Constraints to production, in descending order of importance include rapid tuber deterioration in storage, lack of adequate planting material, pests and diseases, and insufficient moisture for maturing the crop. In the second research activity, scientists collected 56 accessions of Frafra potato from the Northern, Upper Eat and Upper West Regions and are being kept at Bunso. Preliminary investigations show that there are more Frafra potato morphotypes that is reportedly known. The scientists also made two other important observations: (i) the crop if given the necessary attention can be a very high yielding crop and (ii) that the assertion that the crop is a savannah crop is quite debatable due to its performance at Bunso which is located in moist semi-deciduous forest ecology. Based on these observations Opoku-Agyeman et. al., (2004) recommended that there is the need to conduct further Frafra potato germplasm characterization in the three major agro-ecological zones to compare results and that this would be helpful in the development of a national descriptor. The available collection should also be characterized with molecular tools where results could, as pertaining to genetic variability is even finer.

3.1.7 3.1.7.1

General Support Services Human Resource

According to Marcotte and Stave (1988) human resources are the basic Determinants of the rate of development of science, technology and social institutions. It is human resources that provide the knowledge and expertise for scientific development. This recognition dictates that one of the most important functions of a national agricultural research system (NARS) is the development, retention and continued motivation of a body of scientific professionals. It is therefore of crucial importance that the scientist be understood in order to understand the scientific enterprise (Oladele, 200&) so as to improve efficiency in the generation and dissemination of technologies. In Ghana, the most recent effort to understand the scientific enterprise was done in 1998 (NARS Newslet.ter, Jan-March, 2000). In that survey, data were collected from 15 participating research institutions in the NARS on 433 research scientists. Results showed that the Ghana NARS had highly trained and qualified scientists with 44.7% and 33.3% as holders MSc and PhD degrees respectively. Out of this proportion, the Crops Research Institute, the National Centre of Specialization had the highest percentage of 16.2%. 3.1.7.2

Infrastructure

Most agricultural product prices fluctuate widely within each year with prices lowest just after harvest time. Figures 6a â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 6m show that yam prices are the most affected by this phenomenon. The development of infrastructure (e.g. roads, markets, and telecommunications) widens the market for farm produce and can help reduce this phenomenon. The structural transformation of a subsistence economy into a market one depends crucially on these services. The potential economic gains, in terms of production and revenue will remain just that â&#x20AC;&#x201C; potential â&#x20AC;&#x201C; if the net works are not adequate, and to reach this position substantial resources are needed (Courier, 1998). This section reviews progress made in the construction of markets and roads to help farmers market their products through the implementation of the erstwhile VIP and the CBRDP which is on-going. It also examines the on-going revolution in the telecommunication sector and its potential for the development of agriculture. 3.1.7.2.1 Roads and Markets Traditionally, foods have been consumed in the locality in which they were produced and there was a short delay between harvest or slaughter or consumption. However, the growth of urban population has resulted in the need to transport food (Fellows, 2002) and sell in urban markets. However, food products tend to be bulky. Their weight and volumes are great in relation to their monet.ary value, especially when compared with manufactured goods. As a

result, transport and storage for such products tends to be high in relation to their value (Abbott and Makeham, 1979). Therefore as part of efforts to reduce transportation costs, the government implemented, the VIP and is currently implementing the CBRDP to improve access by farmers to markets in the urban areas. At the end of the VIP on the 31st December 2004, the VIP had constructed 185 facilities made up of markets, warehouses and slaughter houses while 39 others were under construction with 10 studied but awaiting tender. . In addition, 331 km of feeder roads and village trails had either been rehabilitated/spot improved or constructed. Another 213 km were under construction while 1,780km had been studied but were awaiting tender (VIP Final Report, January 2005). Under the CBRDP which is a continuation of the VIP, 90 No feeder roads of 449.9 length have been completed and 39 No feeder roads of 152km length are on-going three No feeder roads of 47km length are in procurement process. The outcomes of these improvements in road infrastructure are (i) average of 10 vehicles now ply market roads compared to baseline of three (ii) average travel time per kilomet.er reduced from 15 minutes to four minutes and number of days a road is impassible has been reduced from 173 days (average) to 14 days (average) (CBRDP Status Report 2008). 3.1.7.2.2

Telecommunications

The telecommunications has undergone a revolution within the past decade especially in the provision of mobile phone and Internet services. Ghana now has five mobile phone service providers whose services cover almost the whole country. Therefore the foundation has been laid for the telecommunications sector to make significant contributions towards agricultural development in this country by improving access to information by farmers. In general, small-scale producers and traders are well informed about conditions in their nearest local market, but they need to be able to compare local market conditions with those further away. Transporting goods to the capital cities, or even the nearest town may not always be feasible, but knowing the latest price traded in these markets enables them to judge whether the extra cost of transportation would be profitable. Thus in 2004, in 2004 the USAID funded Market Information System for Traders Organization (MISTOWA) in collaboration with BusyLab, a Ghanaian software company â&#x20AC;&#x201C; established TradeNet now branded as Esoko to promote the proper application of mobile phones to improve market information systems. TradeNet is Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first mobile to mobile trading network. It covers 300 markets and it is registration is free. It is available via mobile phones and the World Wide Web. When the MISTOWA/TradeNet project ended in 2007, it had brought many benefits to those who had used its services. For example, farmers who used TradeNet services

such as offers to sell or to buy to compare prices reported receiving 45% of the final ret.ail price as compared to 22% for those who did not use the services. Similarly, traders also reported that they had reduced time spent to move a sack of maize from the farm gate to the retail market for the final consumer from an average of 42days to 21days. MISTOWA/TradeNet also increased regional trade by 106% (from $305,221 to $635,479) thereby achieving its main aim of increasing regional agricultural trade and food security by improving regional efforts to generate, disseminate and make commercial use of market information. 3.1.7.3

Finance

Financing of marketing is a useful function for promoting stable prices of agricultural products throughout the year. Its availability ensures that farmers paid for their products when they deliver their products to markets. Adequate finance also ensures that construction of infrastructure are undertaken. Insufficient credit is one of the leading obstacles to agricultural development in Ghana. FAO estimates quoted in Cooperation South (September 2004) note that only five percent of farmers in Africa and 15% in Latin America and Asia have any access to formal credit. The situation has not changed much in Ghana. ISSER (2006) notes that although the agricultural sector remains the mainstay of the Ghanaian economy, and the provider of livelihoods for majority of poor people, the share of total deposit bank money (DMB) credit fell for the third year in succession. In 2004, 2005 and 2006 it was 7.7%, 6.7% and 5.4% respectively. These figures were about one third of credit to the manufacturing sector which for those years were 21.5%, 19.1% and 18.5%. 3.2 Interviews with Farmers Out of a total 840 questionnaires sent out 829 were completed were returned to the Consultants for processing. â&#x20AC;˘

Data Processing

The main objective of data processing is to prepare raw data for statistical analysis and presentation (Poate and Daplyn, 1993). In Ghana, the popular software for processing data from most surveys is statistical programmes. However, for this survey the consultants used MS Access â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a database management software (DBMS) - to process the data collected as all that is required for analyses in this survey are descriptive statistics which does not call for the use of statistical packages. Poate and Daplyn (1993) note that statistical programmes are useful for analysis that goes beyond simple descriptive statistics. The consultants also chose the DBMS because it is the tool for working with databases which are one of the major components of a management information system. A

management information system as its name suggests is a system that provides information for management activities within an organization. This makes DBMS a more appropriate software than statistical packages for processing data collected during baseline surveys which are carried out to provide information for monitoring and evaluation. Monitoring and evaluation activities are carried out using data within management information systems (Casley and Kumar, 1987, Bojanic et.. al., 1995, Laudon and Laudon, 2007). In addition through it’s ‘query language, it is possible to get quick answers to ad hoc questions using complex selection criteria. DBMS can therefore be used to extract specialized information which might not be published in reports. But more significantly, because a database is a collection of interrelated data serving one or more applications it can be used to study the level of interrelationships among the various support services that must act together for the development of agriculture. Description of sample A total of 829 farmers were interviewed throughout the country. Out of this 400 (48.3%) were cassava farmers while 217 (26.7%), 180 (21.7%) and 32 (3.8) were yam, sweet potato and cocoyam farmers respectively (Figure 8). Table 12 shows this distribution by commodities and districts. 3.2.1. Demographic Characteristics of Farmers •

Gender distribution of respondents

In recent years, it has been recognized by agricultural development workers that women contribute between 60-80% of agricultural production in developing countries. Therefore, theoretical and methodological work in gender analysis has been expanding. Gender analysis tries to take account of roles on other fronts in the lives of farmers since an understanding of the overall commitment of time and energy is prerequisite to a better identification of farmers’ needs (Buckland and Haleegoah, 1996). Out of a total number of respondents interviewed 150 representing 18.1% were females while 729 were males. Table 12 also gives the breakdown of these females by districts and commodities. It shows that for cassava there were 68 females representing 17.0% of the total cassava farmers interviewed throughout the country, while for yam, sweet potato and cocoyam the corresponding figures were 25 (10.5%), 56 (33.5%) and 1 (3.0%). No females were interviewed in the Wa Municipal, Wa East and West Gonja Districts •

Age

Determining the age of farmers is important because most of the operations on small holder farms such as planting, fertilizer applications, weed control and harvesting are done manually, requiring physical strength. Age of farmers also influences adoption of technologies. Alao, (1980) in Nigeria and Vecruijse and Boyd (1970) in Ghana quoted by Olusi (2001) concluded from studies that

younger farmers are more prone to adoption of new technologies than older ones who may be prevented from adopting because of their advancing age. Results of the survey indicated that the ages of respondents ranged from 20-84 years. Table 13 shows that the overall mean age of farmers interviewed was 39.6 years with lowest figure of 32.7 years coming from the Fanteakwa district and the highest figure of 49.1 years from the Suhum Kraboa Coaltar District both in the Eastern Region. A breakdown by gender showed that within the districts Ga West had the highest mean age of 53.5 years for females while Fanteakwa had the lowest of 29.7years. For the males, Suhum Kraboa Coaltar had the highest mean value of 50.3 years while Fanteakwa had the lowest value of 33.1 years (Table 13). Further breakdown into various age groups (Table 14) showed that farmers within the age group of 45-49 years constituted the highest with a figure of 17.8%, followed by those within 35-39, 40-44 years and 50-54 years with 16.9%, 14% and 12.9% respectively. The age group analysis showed that 51.2 of the farmers interviewed nation-wide were above 45 years. This is considered to be rather on the high side in terms of labour productivity and also once again confirms the low involvement of the youth in farming activities. Figure 9 shows that about 50% of cassava farmers contributed to this figure while yam and sweet potato respondents contributed about 30%.and 20% respectively. In the younger age groups of less than 25 years and 25-29 years, yam farmers constituted higher percentages of 46% and 35% respectively as against those for cassava which were 30% and 24% respectively. These findings are significant as yam production is more labour intensive than cassava production. â&#x20AC;˘

Marital status

On marital status, a significant proportion of 91.7% of respondents said that they were married while only 3.5% were single with 2.1% and 1.98% being divorced and separated respectively (Table 15). This means that a high level of responsibility would be expected from most of the respondents In a study in Nigeria, Olusi (2001) also found that a significant proportion (92.1%) of farmers were married. â&#x20AC;˘

Educational levels

Exposure to education increases a farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to obtain process and use information relevant to the adoption of improved technologies. Education thus is thought to increase the probability that a farmer will adopt improved technologies. Jibowo and Francis (1980) and Clark and Akibonde (1969) have reported that of positive correlation between education and adoption. Table 16 shows that 317 (40.4%) of respondents have had no formal education, while 275 (35.1%) have completed Junior High School/Middle School and 102 (13.1%) have completed primary school. These figures are a reflection of the high illiteracy rates among Ghanaian farmers in the rural areas.

But they varied across regions and commodities. Across regions no formal education levels varied from 81% among roots and tubers (i.e. yam and cassava producers) in the Upper West Region to 20% and 10% respectively among sweet potato and cassava producers of the Central Region and cassava farmers of the Western Region respectively (Figure 10). These figures are not surprising as they reflect the well documented disparity in educational levels between rural communities in the north and those in the south. This has often been attributed to lesser attention by the colonial government to education in the north than the south. They may however be used to determine the medium through which technology should be transferred to farmers in the various regions. Thus for example in the Upper West Regions, the media for communicating with farmers would be personal contacts and radio broadcasts, while in the Central and Western this could also include farm bullet.ins and even mobile phone text messages and visits to internet cafes. Across commodities, cassava producers were more educated than those in yam production. About 50% of those who have had JHS/Middle and Primary School were cassava producers while about 18% were yam producers (Figure 11). In a test of the premise that that farmers adopt improved methods of farming, Table 17 shows that % of educated respondents who were using fertilizers, herbicide, improved seed and insecticides were 60.7%, 64.4%, 64.6% and 73.2% while corresponding figures for those with no formal education were 39.3%, 35.6%, 354.4% and 26.8%. â&#x20AC;˘

Household Characteristics

Household size and structure The purpose of determining the household size and structure was to assess the responsibility of the respondents and also the size of family labour. According to Bisanda et. al., (1998) the household size would be expected to increase the probability of adoption of improved technologies. Olusi (2001) has also explained that while a large family can constrain the drive towards the adoption of technologies because of the safety first tendency to provide for their families, small farmers can constrain labour input and the drive towards adoption. Table 18 and Fig 12 shows that majority of respondents i.e. 409 representing 52.3% had their family sizes in the range of 6 to 10 members followed by 278 with family sizes between 1-5 representing 35.0%. Figure 13 shows that generally in all the regions, household members with ages between 0-15 years constituted the greater proportion ranging from 40% in the Upper East Region to 58% in the Northern Region. This confirms the youthfulness of Ghanaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population and the potential labour force in the households interviewed. Together with those between the ages of 16-35 the two age groups constituted more than 80% of household members in all the regions.

Educational Levels of Household Members Fig. 14 shows that the proportion of household members that are in school varied from 58% for Greater Accra to 20% in the Western Region. This means that respondents in Greater Accra region have the greatest responsibility in terms of educating their members than the other regions. Figures for the proportion of household members who have completed JHS and primary schools in the three northern regions were less than 20% and lower than those of the other regions. This confirms the age old disparity in educational standards between the north and the south and might be also attributed to the lesser attention given to education by the rural farmers in the three regions. 3.2.2 •

Provision of Support Services

Technology generation and dissemination

Agricultural extension services provided by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) are the main means for the dissemination of technologies to farmers. They are also the main means through which information is provided to researchers on farmers’ problem and sources of information. It is hypothesized that contact with extension agents will increase’ likelihood of adopting improved technologies. Table 19 shows that 567 farmers representing 68.4% of respondents interviewed said they have been contacted by extension agents. Within the districts the percentage of respondents of the number interviewed who said they have access to extension services ranged from 27.3% in West Gonja to 100% in Fanteakwa, Asante Akim South and East Gonja Districts. As to who were the main providers of extension services, most of the respondents mentioned MoFA and Research Institutions, Other organizations mentioned were TIPCEE, Plan Ghana, Technoserve, SEND, IDA, SIFS. In view of on-going efforts by MoFA to current policy to pluralize the provision of extension services to farmers, District Directors of Agriculture were also asked in separate interviews to identify organizations in their districts which were involved in the provision of support service to their farmers. Table 20 shows the list of organizations and the type of support services that they are providing in the districts which were surveyed. When farmers were asked whether they are involved in the identification of problems, 408 (49.2%) of them said yes (Table 19). The table indicates that out of this number 43 (10.5%) were females. Across regions, the highest response of 81 (20%) came from the Central Region while the lowest of 6 (1.5%) came from the Western Region. The analysis in Table 19 also revealed that 113 (13.6%) out of the 829 farmers interviewed also took part in the generation of technologies by researchers. Out of this number, 19 (16% were females) while the highest contribution of 28 (24.7%) came from the Northern Region.

These observations are highly encouraging as they reflect the impacts that the Research Extension Linkage Committees (RELCs) are having on making research more demand in the country. The success of technology generation and dissemination activities depends, however, on the human resources available. Table 22 shows that there was an uneven distribution of number of extension agents in the sampled districts. It ranged from 10 in Wenchi and Wa East to 25 in Fanteakwa and Ejura Sekyedumase. Oladele (2007) found out from studies in Nigeria that personal characteristics exert a lot of influence on job performance of extension agents (EAs). The survey therefore examined some of two personal characteristics (i.e. age and gender) of extension agents in the sampled districts. Table 21 shows that the number of females was 42 representing 14.5% out of the total number of 289 extension agents. The corresponding breakdown by districts is also shown in Table 21 and Figure 15. They show that five districts i.e. Bibiani, Akatsi, Wa East, West Gonja and East Gonja had no female EAs and that Cape Coast had the highest percentage of female EAs of 46.2% followed by Wa Municipal with 43.8%. This shows that distribution of EAs is uneven in districts by both number and gender. Table 21 and Figure 16 show that across all districts 73% of extension agents are above 40 years. Within districts, this ranged from 30% in Ga West District to 100% in the Kassena Nankana District (Figure 17). . In Nigeria Oladele (2007) inferred from studies which found that majority of extension agents were between 31-40 years that it would mean a lot to get them motivated as people in this age category are always full of aspirations and high motivation. It could also mean that extension services should perform better in districts with younger agents. Motivation of extension agents is very crucial for the success of any agricultural development programme as unlike many other organizations extension agents are often on their own with little or no supervision However, analysis of data (Figure 18) obtained in this study showed that in general, there was a fair correlation (i.e. a correlation coefficient of 52%) between districts with higher percentages of extension agents above 40 years and % of respondents who said they had very high and high degree of access to extension services. Though no attempt was made to find out years of service of the extension agents, it appears that their maturity and efforts of are responsible for this fair degree of correlation. Various studies have shown that the most important predictor of the success of village programmes was the extent of change agent effort (Rogers, 1983). Extension training and mobility are often ranked as two of the most important problems affecting technology dissemination to farmers in developing countries. Results of the survey showed that 136 (47.1%) of the 289 extension agents serving in the sampled districts had motor bikes. Within districts this ranged from 14.3% in the Awutu Efutu Senya Districts to 100% in the Wa East, Wa Municipal and Wench Districts. (Table 21).

But there was no correlation between ownership of motor bikes and % of respondents with high and very high access to extension services. A correlation coefficient of 0.6% was found. •

Training

The success of any agricultural programme depends on the acquisition of new knowledge, skills and attitudes by farmers. Farmers must therefore be given opportunities to enhance their knowledge and develop new capabilities. Table 22 shows that out of the total of 829 farmers interviewed, 348 (42%) had received some form of training within the last three years. Of this number, 14.1% were females whereas the rest were males. Further analysis showed that crop production topics constituted 50.4% of the 729 training sessions held, followed by topics on plant health with 13.2%. The rest were 8%, 6.7%, 5.6%, 3.8% and 1.2% for management, soil fertility, animal production, post harvest and marketing respectively. For commodities, out of the 729 training sessions, there were 33 on cassava, followed by maize, citrus, yam, plantain and sweet potato with 31, 30, 23, 15 and 7 topics respectively, 537 topics did not indicate commodity on which training was based. •

Marketing

Analysis of data obtained on support to marketing activities, showed that only 32 (3.9%) respondents out of the 829 interviewed have had any support for marketing their produce. This finding once again confirms the low support for marketing activities in Ghana by most agricultural development organizations. •

Credit

Access to credit is essential for farmers to adopt improved technologies for increased productivity. Results of this survey show that out of the 829 farmers who were interviewed only 136 (16.4%) had access to credit (Table 23). The District with the highest access to credit was North Tongu with 20.5% while Cape Coast, Bibiani, Kassena Nankana and Ejura had the lowest figure of 2.9%. This observation confirms the widely documented view of low access to credit by farmers in the country. Table 26 shows that a total amount of GH¢112,706 was given out as credit to the 136 farmers made up of 57 (41.9%) cassava farmers, 41 (31.2%) yam farmers and 38 (27.9%) sweet potato farmers. . Out of this amount the cassava farmers received a total of GH¢80,502.00 (71.4%), while yam and sweet potato farmers received GH¢24,609.00 (21.8%) and GH¢7,595.00 (6.7%) respectively (Table 24). Thus each cassava farmer received a credit of GH¢1,412.31 while each yam farmer and sweet potato farmer received amounts of GH¢600.21 and GH¢199.86 respectively.

Further analysis showed that out of the amount of GHÂ˘112,706 (54.5%) went to Techiman farmers followed by Wenchi farmers both in the Brong Ahafo Region while Bibiani had the lowest percentage of 0.3% (Table 24). 3.2.3 Farming Systems Any system operates through some form of input passing through a process to produce outputs. In this section, respondents were asked sizes of their farms, kind of inputs they use and what farming practices they undertake, the farming practices they undertake and their respective costs and yields. Collecting data for inputs (i.e. amount and type used) and outputs (i.e. yields and income) was a major challenge. This is because most small holders do not keep records of their activities, their costs and yields obtained as extension agents do not often teach them its importance and how to do it. â&#x20AC;˘

Inputs/Equipment

The inputs/equipment that farmers bought were planting materials, fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides. Table 25 however, shows data on the number of farmers that bought fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides and spraying machines. Planting materials are a basic requirement for any farming operation and are therefore used by everybody. Surprisingly it shows that a higher number of farmers 210 bought herbicides than the number (83) that bought fertilizers. This means that farmers are more concerned about controlling weeds on their farms than improving fertility. Effects on crop performance by weeds are more easily seen than those of declines in fertility. It may also be a reflection of farmers search for alternative methods of weed control in view of increasing shortage of labour and its rising costs. â&#x20AC;˘

Production Practices (i) Row planting, fertilizer applications and improved planting materials

Agriculture is a location specific activity with crops and production practices often varying between districts and agro-ecological zones. Therefore data collected from farmers on production practices were analyzed according to the agro-ecological zones (Table 26) and districts (Table 27). On a nationwide basis, Table 26 shows that row planting on the flat, on ridges or on mounds was the most common improved production practice that farmers reported that they use for planting on their fields. For cassava, out of 400 cassava farmers interviewed 278 representing 69.7% planted in rows. Corresponding figures were 176 out of 217 yam representing 81.4% and 174 out of 180 sweet potato farmers representing 96.7%. This high figure for mounding in rows confirms an observation by Anchirinah et. al., (1996) that mounds are generally constructed in rows. For improved planting materials, a higher percentage of farmers (35.5%) planted improved sweet potato materials as against 28.8% of cassava farmers who planted

improved cassava variety. Fertilizer usage was highest among yam farmers (48.3%) compared to 37.8% for cassava farmers and 38.3% for sweet potato farmers. Further analysis showed that for cassava the most popular improved variety is Afisiafi which was being planted by 67 (66.3%) of cassava farmers throughout the country. Other varieties mentioned by the farmers were IFAD, Tekbankye and Abasafitaa. For sweet potato, farmers gave the names of the improved varieties as Sauti and Faraa. The Table also shows that within the zones row planting among cassava farmers interviewed was highest (90.0%) in the Guinea savanna zone, followed by the Coastal savanna zone with 82.9% and Forest transition and Forest zones with 54.4% and 39.1% respectively. On fertilizer usage, a lower percentage of cassava farmers interviewed use fertilizer in the Guinea and Forest transition zones than in the Forest and Coastal savanna zones. A similar trend was observed in yams, where all farmers interviewed in the coastal savanna zone applied fertilizer to their fields whereas 50% and 40% respectively did so in the Forest and Guinea savanna zones respectively. By contrast, for sweet potato a higher percentage of farmers (64.3%) for Guinea savanna and 48.3% for Forest transition applied fertilizer to their fields compared to 24.7% in the Coastal savanna zone. (ii) Reasons for Non-use of Improved Varieties Respondents who said that they do not plant improved varieties of cassava were asked why they do not. In response, 121 of them said that they cannot get. it, while 46, 41 and 62 responded that they do not know about it, there is no market for it and it is not good for fufu respectively. On reasons for not using cassava, 131 said that because the land is fertile, 86 said that they do not have money and 59 replied that it was expensive. Others made up of 47 farmers said they do not know about it, whilst 29 and 40 said it was not good for cassava and yam respectively. (iii) Weed control Weeds can reduce yields substantially through competition for moisture and soil nutrients. Results of the survey presented in Table 28 show that most farmers weed at least twice after which some decide to weed for the third and fourth times. (iv) Pests and diseases and their control Pests and diseases are serious production constraints. For cassava farmers named bacterial blight, mosaic and cassava rot as some of the pests/diseases that attack their crop. They also mentioned sweet potato virus disease and the sweet potato weevil as the pests and diseases that attack their sweet potato fields. On yams, they named yam rot and cerscora leaf spot. The main means of control that they use is roduing.

(v) Income Table 29 shows incomes estimated by respondents for sale of their produce in the sampled districts. The highest income of GH¢72.941.00 for cassava came from the Awutu Efutu Senya District while that for yam of GH¢50,431.00 came from the Techiman. For sweet potato the highest income of GH¢65,995.00 came from the Akatsi District and for cocoyam, Fanteakwa gave the highest income of GH¢23,622.00. A breakdown of the percentages that these incomes contributed to the total incomes earned by respondents is given in Table 30. •

43,3%, 27.8%, 14.% and 3.8% of cassava farmers earned 1-25%, 26-50%, 5175% and 76-100% respectively of their total income from cassava sales.

•

22.1%, 41.1%, 19.4% and 12.0% of yam farmers earn 1-25%, 26-50%, 51-75% and 76-100% of their total income from yam sales.

•

58% of cocoyam farmers earn 1-25% of their total income from cocoyam sales.

•

22.8%, 38.3%, 26.1% and 5.5% earn 1-25%, 26-50%, 51-75% and 76-100% of their total income from sweet potato sales.

3.2.4

Socio-economic Characteristics of Farmers

Land Tenure Arrangements Land tenure arrangements play key roles in agricultural development as those with selfownership of land are more likely to adopt sustainable land use practices than those with tenancy arrangements. Table 31 shows that almost all the respondents in the three northern regions said they land on which they farm belong to them while in the regions in the south, self ownership ranged from 6.9% in the Fanteakwa district to 84.2% in the Akatsi district. For shared the highest number of responses of 40.6% was found in the Suhum Kraboa Coaltar District while the lowest figure was in the North Tongu District. Techiman district had the highest proportion of respondents (64.8%) being tenants while the lowest value of 5% was recorded in the Bibiani District. 3.2.5

Farm Sizes

Farm size is an indicator of wealth and perhaps a proxy for social status and influence within a community. It is expected to be positively associated with the decision to adopt improved technologies (Bisanda, 1998). Table 32 shows that most of the respondents (71.3) have farm sizes ranging from 1-5 acres. Within districts this ranged from 7.1% in the Kassena Nankana District to 92.7% in the Akatsi District. This confirms the belief in development circles that African farmers are mainly small holders. But Olusi (2001) notes that these small size farms have

implications for adoption because it prevents the enjoyment of the benefits of large scale production the most important of which is low cost of production. 3.2.6

Source of Water

Water is essential for life and most diseases that affect farming communities are said to be water-borne. Source of water therefore has important implications for agricultural production in farming communities. In response to question on their main source of water for domestic purposes, 460 representing 56.5% said they got it from boreholes, while 195 (23.6%) replied that they got it from river/stream (Table 33). Another 156, 56 and 66 representing 18.8%, 6.7% and 7.9% respectively out of the total number 829 interviewed responded that they got it from pipes, dams and wells respectively. 3.2.7 Health The main disease affecting households in all the districts surveyed was malaria. Out of a total of 829 persons interviewed, 788 (95.1) mentioned it as the main disease that members of their households suffer from. 3.2.8 Access to Information Technologies The aim of this section was to determine access to information technology in the various communities which could be used for improving information dissemination to farmers. Table 34 shows the degree of ownership of mobile phones in the districts. It shows that out of the 829 farmers interviewed 339 of them representing 40.9%. Within districts the lowest percentage of 3.6% was found in the Wa Municipality while the highest of 63.6% was found in Ga West. This situation is a reflection of the increasing use of mobile phones in developing countries. In its April 2008 edition Spore the CTA Magazine notes that there are now more than twice as many mobile phone owners in developing countries as industrial countries. It notes that mobile phones therefore now offer a new twist to traditional extension services. In this survey 150 respondents said that they have been using it to contact their extension agents. On Radio, data in Table 32 indicates that 497 (60%) of the total number of 829 interviewees listen to radio programmes. Within districts, Wa Municipality had the lowest percentage of 17.9% while Asante Akim South District had the highest value of 89.3%. Respondents were also asked if they watch TV. 170 representing 20.5% of the total of 829 interviewed responded yes. Ga West recorded the highest percentage of 63.6% while Wa East had no one who views TV.

3.2.9

Membership of FBO

According to Bunch (1982), agricultural development depends on people’s working together as it does on their acquiring know-how. In modern management this is referred to as social capital i.e. productive potential resulting from strong relationship, goodwill, trust and cooperative effort (Kinicki and Kreitner, 2006) which is one the assets of sustainable livelihood. In recent times, there have been increasing efforts to enhance farmers’ working together through the formation of farmer based organizations (FBO) in most farming communities. Respondents were therefore asked if they belonged to an FBO. In response, 307 of them representing 37% of those interviewed said yes. Within districts the highest number was found in the Fanteakwa district, where 78.6% of those interviewed belonged to FBOs and the lowest proportion of 17% was found in the Wenchi district (Table 35). Figure shows that respondents with no formal education were 39% of the FBO members and that among those with some level of education, those who had completed JHS/Middle School were in the majority (35%). (Figure 19). This is not surprising as most of the respondents with some educational background were from this category. 3.2.10

Savings Propensity

The propensity to save is considered a suitable indicator for determining capacity for repayment of credit granted to rural communities for undertaking poverty alleviation activities. Respondents were therefore asked if they saved any of their income last year. To this, 287 representing 34.6% responded yes out of a total of 829 farmers who were interviewed. Within the districts, Techiman had the highest savings rate of 73.7% while no one was reported to have saved any money in the Suhum Kraboa Coaltar District. (Table 23). Table 36 shows the total amounts saved in each district by commodities. Ejura Sekyedumase saved the highest amount of GH¢180.150.00 while the least savings amount of GH¢400.00 was recorded in the Wa East District. This means that farmers in Ejura Sekyedumase are more likely to repay loans given than famers in any of the sampled districts. Within commodities, savings by yam farmers of GH¢122,799.00 was the highest followed by cassava farmers with GH¢122,962.00.

CHAPTER 4 4.0

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1 Conclusions General Results of the study show that roots and tubers development now attract more attention from the Ghana Government and development partners than ten years ago. In addition to the WAAPP there are currently two other projects namely the RTIMP and C:AVA also being implemented. Energy and agricultural prices have become increasingly intertwined. In Ghana due to rising prices of fuel, the country spent twice the amount to import about the same volume of wheat in 2008 as in 2007. Production issues The study also showed that within the period under review (i.e. 1997-2008) there have been major increases in production outputs in cassava and yam – the two major root and tuber crops grown in the country. Whilst cassava output increased by about 48% from 1997 to 2008, yam output increased by about 100%. These increases were however far above that of cocoyam which increased by only 10% within the same period and came mainly from expansion of the areas under cultivation and not from increase in yield per unit area. In Ghana there has been no significant growth in the yields of most crops in last 10 years (Diao and Sarpong, 2007). Areas under cultivation for cassava, yam and cocoyam increased by 46%, 88% and 22% respectively from 1997-2008. 6 . Data compiled from the SRID/MoFA show that yields per unit area within the period have been low and remained almost the same throughout the period under review. The yield per ha for cassava within the period ranged from 12.1 – 12.8 tonnes/ha. That for yam was 12.2 to 14.1 tonnes/ha whilst for cocoyam it ranged from 6.7 to 7.2 tonnes/ha. For cassava and yam these were far below their achievable yields of 48.7 and 49.0 tonnes respectively. For cassava, these low yield contrasts with Nweke (2004) observation that improved Tropical Manioc Selection (TMS) varieties boosted yields by 40% without fertilizer. In Ghana, these varieties were released as Afisiafi, Abasafitaa and Gbelimoduade in 1993 – a period long enough for them to have influenced yields on farmers’ fields. They are, however, a reflection of declines in soil fertility that have been going on for sometime in the country. In 1998, as part of efforts to halt this decline a National Soil Fertility Management Action Plan was established which clearly stated that ‘Increased 6

There was no data on sweet potato at SRID/MoFA probably because the crop is not a staple in the diet of many Ghanaians.

demographic pressure, inappropriate land management practices, reduced or absence of fallow periods have caused a rapid decline in soil fertility in Ghana, lowering agricultural productivity and increased food insecurity It seems that the situation has not changed much. Diao and Sarpong (2007) in an analysis using an Economy Wide, Multimarket (EMM) Model confirmed these concerns and called for urgent policy action to mitigate these effects. Using average figure for 1999-2003 data, they predicted that soil loss would reduce cassava and yam yields by 19% in 2015 while cocoyam yields would fall by 45.0%. In other words, cassava yields would reduce from 12.40 to 10.94 tonnes/ha, while yam and cocoyam would reduce from 12.50 to 10.10, and 6.56 to 3.60 tonnes/ha respectively. Technology generation/dissemination (TGD) issues Most of the research activities that have been carried out are aimed at generating improved varieties. 15, eight and three improved varieties of cassava, yam and sweet potato have been developed. No improved variety of cocoyam is yet to be developed. There is, however, inadequate attention to the implementation of research activities to reduce declines in soil fertility and mechanize the production and processing of roots and tubers. The adoption rates of these improved varieties especially for cassava some of which were released about 15 years seem to be low and may be one of the reasons why cassava yields have been low during the period under review. It appears that agencies providing extension support still rely mainly on the use of the transfer of technology (ToT) model to disseminate technologies to farmers. Elsewhere, this method has not been successful because generally technologies developed do not consider adequately the socio-economic conditions in which most farmers operate (Dormon, 2006). In this baseline study, farmers also gave other reasons for not planting improved cassava varieties as (i) non-availability (ii) lack of knowledge about them and (iii) lack of market for them. Adoption of technologies will also be affected by (i) low educational levels and advanced ages of farmers (ii) poor access to credit and markets, labour shortages and drought and (iii) low number of extension agents in some districts, low number of females and poor mobility Market information Market information provided by Esoko - a market information system â&#x20AC;&#x201C; established by BusyLab â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a Ghanaian software company is helping farmers to reach more buyers easily and increase their income and also regional trade. 4.2 Recommendation

General • Strengthen linkages among on-going projects to avoid duplication and maximize use of resources •

Intensify promotion of HQCF to replace wheat flour in the bakery and plywood industries to reduce the effects of rising fuel prices on the country’s imports.

Production/TGD issues • •

To industrialize the use of roots and tubers there is the need to mechanize their production and processing. Encourage more of the educated youth to go into roots and tubers farming.

•

Give adequate attention to generating technologies to improve agricultural production efficiencies.

•

Promote the dissemination of conventional and modern sustainable land management practices to reduce soil loss and improve soil fertility.

Conventional SLM are agroforestry, mulching, cover cropping, contour vegetative barriers, ridge furrow systems, stones lines, tied-ridging and contour bunds)with Modern ones are zero tillage with herbicide applications According to Diao and Sarpong (2007) the adoption of such conventional SLM practices yields for cassava would increase to 13.92 tonnes/ha from the baseline of 12.40 tonnes (average for 1999-2003). •

In probably, what might be considered as the first attempt in Ghana to validate factors that are often cited to condition decisions by farmers to adopt or not to adopt technologies, Dormon (2006) admitted that an IPM technology developed through the use of a participatory approach will not be adopted by cocoa farmers if it is not combined with adequate social, organizational and economic arrangements to form a complete innovation. •

Strengthen the provision of extension services and participatory approaches through the use of recent developments in information technology such as Web 2.0 tools, in addition to the existing ones such as radio and TV. In Uganda, BROSDI (an NGO) is using Web 2.0 tools to reach out to their target groups. And in Ghana, the Eastern Corridor Agric-Market Information Centre (ECAMIC) of SEND – an NGO - is training farmers on the use of mobile phones and Internet to access information.

•

The Ghana NARS should update the 1998 results on its human resource capabilities.

Market information â&#x20AC;˘

Link up with BusyLab to provide current market information to roots and tubers farmers through the use of mobile phones and World Wide Web

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APPENDIX TABLE 1:

Project

PROJECTS ESTABLISHED BETWEEN 1997 - 2008 TO STRENGTHEN SUPPORT SERVICES TO FARMERS Implementation Period

Agencies

Support Service(s) Provided Technology generation and dissemination Finance, input and marketing

SRDP

1988-1995

CSIR-CRI

SCIMP

1991-1998

MoFA

NARP

1992-1999

CSIR, University Faculties of Agric. and BNARI (GAEC)

Technology generation

NAEP

1992-1999

MoFA

VIP

1999-2004

Technology dissemination Infrastructure

AgSSIP

2001-2007

CSIR, MoFA

Technology generation and dissemination

RTIP

1999-2005

MoFA

RSFP CBRDP

2002-2004 2004- 2010

Technology generation and dissemination Finance Infrastructures

MISTOWA 2004-2008 REP II CPHP

2003-2011

CassavaSME C:AVA

MLGRD IFDC/Busy Lab

Market

Achievements

Released three improved varieties of cassava

Funding sources IFAD

IFAD

Strengthened the World Bank NARS by bringing together under one umbrella all agricultural research institutes World Bank

Mechanical harvester for harvesting cassava on large scale farms developed

World Bank/IFAD World Bank

IFAD

IFAD World Bank/AFD USAID

DFID

2003-

CSIRMarket FRI/FORIG CSIR-FRI Market

2008-

CSIR-FRI

Bill Gates

Market

TABLE 2:

Commodity Cassava

Yam

Cocoyam

OUTPUTS, AREA CULTIVATED AND YIELDS OF CASSAVA, YAM AND COCOYAM FROM 1997-2008 Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Output (tonnes) 7,150,000 7,172,000 7,845,000 8,107,000 8,966,000 9,731,000 10,239,000 9,788,000 9,367,000 9,638,000 10,128,000 10,643,000 2,417,000 2,703,000 3,249,000 3,363,000 3,547,000 3,900,000 3,813,000 3,893,000 3,922,000 4,288,000 4,276,000 4,895,000 1,535,000 1,577,000 1,707,000 1,625,000 1,688,000 1,860,000 1,805,000 1,716,000 1,686,000 1,660,000 1,690,000 1,688,000

Source: SRID, MoFA, Accra, Ghana

Area Cultivated (ha) 592,000 630,000 640,000 660,000 736,000 794,000 807,000 783,000 750,000 710,000 801,000 840,000 187,000 211,000 243,000 261,000 287,000 300,000 321,000 310,000 300,000 325,000 324,000 348,000 205,000 218,000 372,000 247,000 262,000 282,000 277,000 269,000 255,000 260,000 255,000 252,000

Yield (tonnes/ha) 12.1 11.4 12.3 12.3 12.3 12.3 12.7 12.4 12.8 12.2 12.8 12.7 13.2 12.8 13.4 12.9 12.3 13.0 11.9 12.5 12.8 12.2 12.8 14.1 7.1 7.2 6.9 6.6 8.4 6.6 6.5 6.4 6.6 6.4 6.6 6.7

TABLE 3: CHARACTERISTICS OF IMPROVED VARIETIES RELEASED Variety

Who released CSIR-CRI

Year Yield (t/ha) released 1993

Tekbankye

KNUST

1997

Eskamanye Filnidiakong Nyerikobga

CSIR-SARI

2002

Nkabom IFAD

KNUST KNUST

2003 2003

Cape vars bankye Bankye botan

UCC

2005

25.0

UCC

2005

25.0

CRI-Agbelifia

CSIR-CRI

2005

33.4 – 50.8

CRIBankyehemaa CRI-Esam Bankye CRI-Doku duade

CSIR-CRI

2005

31.2-48.8

CSIR-CRI

2005

34.8-49.9

CSIR-CRI

2005

31.6-45.3

Afisiafi, Abasafitaa, Gbelimoduade

Processing, high yield, tolerant to ACMD Cooking qualities, high yield, tolerant to ACMD, CBB and CAD Early maturity, average yield, tolerant to ACMD, CBB, CAD. Good for traditional food preparation for consumers in northern Ghana Cooking qualities, high yield, tolerant to ACMD, CBB, CAD

Sources Gibson (2005), NARS Newsletter Vol. 1, 2006 and RTIMP ACMD – African cassava mosaic disease CBB – Cassava bacterial blight CAD – Cassava anthracnose disease

Post release constraints Susceptibility to ACMVD, CBB, CAD. Poor cooking qualities Susceptibility to ACMVD

Not yet known

Table 4:

Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

COMPARISON OF PRICES PER KG OF CASSAVA, MAIZE AND GARI WITH PETROL PRICES IN GHANA CEDIS

Cassava 0.02 0.03 0.02. 0.03. 0.09 0.07. 0.06 0.08 0.11 0.12 0.11 0.16

TABLE 5:

Maize 0.06 0.06 0.05 0.09 0.15 0.13 0.14 0.21. 0.33 0.24 0.27 0.45

Gari/Maize

Gari/Cassava

0.06. 0.09. 0.07. 0.10. 0.25. 0.24. 0.22. 0.24. 0.42 0.45 0.43 0.54

1.00 1.53 1.51 1.15 1.68 1.78 1.44 1.13 1.36 1.94 1,59 1,15

3.6 2.9 3.2 2.9 2.9 3.3 3.2 3.0 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.3

Maize/ Cassava 3.7 1.9 2.1 2.5 1.9 1.9 2.2 2.6 2.9 2.0 2.4 2.8

Petrol (Gh c/l) 0.08 0.07 0.09 0.14 0.22 0.23 0.42 0.44 0.66 0.79 0.90 1.10

COMPARISON OF PROFITABILITY OF VARIOUS CASSAVA PRODUCTS AT LARGE SCALE AND SMALL SCALE (I.E. SUHUM, AWUTU EFUTU SENYA AND HO) LEVELS. PRICES IN GH PESEWAS PER KILO

Production Level Large scale Suhum Awutu Efutu Ho

Gari

Gari SP 33.1 31.8 29.6

CP 28.1 28.6 31.3

Profit/loss 5.5 3.2 -1.7

27.3 25.4 1.8

Agbelima

HQCF

SP/CP SP CP Profit SP CP Profit 1.18 34.4 28.8 5.6 31.1 26.0 5.1 1.11 0.95 1.07

Table 6:

IMPORTS OF WHEAT AND STARCH INTO GHANA 1997-2008

Year

Volume (tonnes)

Wheat Value Value (GH¢’000) (US$’000)

Value ($/tonne)

Volume (tonnes)

Starch Value Value (GH¢’000) US$‘000)

Value ($/tonne)

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

69,324.5 265,131.9 87,820.9 550,302.0 152,118.1 14,139.2 192,337.0

7,619.6 11,343.6 14,060.9 20,394.1 34,650.7 33,998.6 43,633.6

5,365.9 7,988.5 9,902.1 14,362.0 24,401.9 23,942.7 30,727.9

77.4 30.1 112.8 26.1 160.4 193.4 159.8

244.3 447.9 423.9 700.8 853.8 1,131.9 1,005.8

35.4 68,3 88.9 265.8 476.9 726.8 793.4

24.9 48.1 62.6 187.2 330,7 511.8 558.7

114.9 152.9 209.7 379.3 658.6 642.1 788.8

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

263,905.0 290,940.5 337,465.8 332,299.1 337,176.9

66,972.2 60,531.6 80,848.2 104,429.4 212,896.5

47,163.5 42,627.9 56,935.3 73,541.8 149,927.1

178.7 146.7 166.7 221.3 444.8

1,041.5 670.9 865.1 1,205.0 934.4

875.9 326.9 424.4 731.3 824.6

616.8 230.2 298.8 515.0 580.7

841.0 487.3 490.6 606.7 621.0

Source:

Ghana Statistical Service GH¢1.00 – US$1.42

TABLE 7:

EXPORTS OF GARI AND CASSAVA FLOUR FROM GHANA 1997 -2008

Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Quantity (tonnes) 4,197 1,268 1,281 1,775 1,423 2,192 3.068 1,024 3,292 3,926 3,324 3,404

Gari Value (US$) 418,170 344,656 504,225 698,430 730,018 972,320 1,502,994 425,268 1,856,043 2,393,322 2,481,195 1,679,716

Value ($/tonne) 100.00 27.2 394.0 393.0 513.0 444.4 490.0 415.0 584.0 410.0 746.0 443.0

Source: Ghana Export Promotion Council

Quantity (tonnes) 118 345 176. 263 160 244 279 85 592 1,293 1,090 670

Cassava flour Value (US$) 26,430 56,523. 74,474. 118,164 81,944 89,659 156,349 35,378 939,875 594,639 705,022 399,982

Value ($/tonne) 224 164 423 449 512 267 560 418 1588 460 647 597

TABLE 8:

PRICES OF YAMS (i.e. PONA AND LABREKO)

MARKET

Large Start/End

Techiman Wenchi Nkoranza Atebubu Sene Pru Kumasi Accra (Kokomba Market)

100.00 80.00 100.00-120.00 165.00 140.00-160.00 150.00-200.00

Glut 60.00 40.00-60.00 50.00 40.00 40.00-50.00 70.00 80.00-100.00

PRICES IN GH¢/100 TUBERS Medium Small Start/End Glut Start/End Glut 16.00-20.00 14.00 15.00-30.00 30.00 5.00 65.00 45.00 45.00 15.00-20.00 50.00-60.00 15.00-30.00 15.00-30.00 7.50-8.00 145.00 80.00 70.00-80.00 40.00 40.00-60.00 20.00 80.00-100.00 50.00-60.00 50.00 15.-00-20.00

Source: Marfo et.. al. (2006)

Table 9:

VALUE SHARES OF ACTORS IN THE YAM VALUE CHAIN GH¢ PER YAM, LEAN SEASON, 2007

Chain Actor

Farmer Traveling trader Wholesaler Retailer Source:

Variable Costs

Revenue Selling price

Gross income Revenue-costs

0.50 1.25 1.54 1.74

1.00 1.50 1.70 2.00

0.50 0.25 0.16 0.28

CEDEP 2007

Added value Revenue Previous actors revenue 1.00 0.50 0.20 0.30

Gross margin Gross incomex100 50% 17% 9% 13%

Value share Added value x 100/ret.ail price 50% 25% 10% 18%

TABLE 10:

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

COMPARISON OF YAM AND COCOYAM EXPORTS WITH PINEAPPLE

Yam Volume Value (tonnes) US$‘000

Value ($/tonne)

7,018 7,421 9723 12,463 9,629 13,025 7,974 16,169 18,376 20,296 19,715 20,841

65.1 63.3 68.9 575.4 540.3 633.3 557.1 519.5 595.9 597.5 738.1 714.4

457.00 470.00 650.00 7,171.00 5,202.90 8,247.90 4,442.40 8,399.00 10,951.00 14,156.91 14,551.43 14,888.80

Cocoyam Volume Value Value (tonnes) US$ ($/tonne) (’000)

117.00 172.00 224.00 228.00 64.00 189.00 243.73 234.04 272,73

54.4 59.0 77.8 83.0 36.0 96.0 154.61 113.52 211.69

464.9 343.0 347.3 364.0 562.5 507.9 634.3 485.0 776.0

Source: Ghana Export Promotion Council

Volume (tonnes)

Pineapple Value Value US$ ‘000 ($/tonne)

25,124 21,941 23,440 28,512 33,174 46,391 45,145 71,804 46,694 60,751 44,723 35,134

9,630.00 8,970.00 13,060.00 11,900.00 13,300.00 15,500.00 14,400.00 22,068.60 12,784.30 38,759.53 38,759.53 11,842.25

383.3 408.8 557.2 413.4 400.9 334.1 319.0 307.8 273.8 638.0 886.7 337.1

TABLE 11:

IMPROVED SWEETPOTATO VARIETIES RELEASED

Variety

Who released

Okumkom

CSIR-CRI

Year of release 1998

Sauti

CSIR-CRI

1998

Faara

CSIR-CRI

1998

Santom pona

CSIR-CRI

1998

CRI-Hi Starch

CSIR-CRI

2005

18.0

CRI-Ogyefo CRI-Otoo

CSIR-CRI CSIR-CRI

2005 2005

20.0 23.0

CRI-Aponden

CSIR-CRI

2005

35.0

Source: RTIMP

Yield (t/ha) 20

Uses Good for ampesi; early maturing; Excellent for ampesi and fried chips; less sugary, Highly preferred and excellent for fried chips and ampesi Good for ampesi, tastes like yam variety pona, early maturing; high foliage production Ampesi, fufu, flour, industrial starch Ampesi, French fries, Ampesi, French fries, flour products Mpotompoto, tuo zafi (TZ), baby food, yoghurt

TABLE 12:

DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS IN ROOT AND TUBER CROPS PRODUCTION BY GENDER IN DISTRICTS Total

District Akatsi North Tongu Fanteakwa Suhum Kraboa Coaltar Ga West Cape Coast Awutu Efutu Senya Bibiani Asante Akim South Ejura Sekyedumase Techiman Wenchi West Gonja East Gonja Wa Municipal Wa East Kassena Nankana Total % by Gender/crop %Crop/total

55 56 28 28 55 55 84 28 28 49 76 64 55 56 28 56 28 829

Cassava Female Male 9 18 10 18 2 1 5 23 1 27 1 27 6 22 6 15 9 19 7 13 4 24 7 16 27 2 26 28 27 68 17.0%

332 83.0 % 400 48.3%

Yam Female Male

Sweet potato Female Male 12 16 20 8

Cocoyam Female Male

1 14 28

3 6 6

10 21 22 7

5 4 13

24 16 28 28 28

29 22 10.5%

195 89.5% 217 26.2

3 59 32.8

25 121 67.2 180 21.7

1 3.1

31 96.9 32 3.8%

TABLE 13:

MEAN AGE AND NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS BY GENDER IN DISTRICTS

District

Female

Male

Overall Mean

Akatsi

45.5 (21)

44.2 (34)

44.7

North Tongu

48.9 (30)

46.5 (20)

47.8

Ga West

53.5 (4)

47.6 (51)

47.6

Fanteakwa

29.7 (3)

33.1 (26)

32.7

Suhum Kraboa Coaltar

44.2 (5)

50.2 (23)

49.1

Cape Coast

35.0 (7)

40.1 (48)

39.1

Awutu Efutu Senya

44.5 (12)

44.9 (72)

44.9

Bibiani

42.3 (6)

42.7 (22)

42.7

Asante Akim South

47.2 (9)

48.5 (19)

48.1

Techiman

45.8 (17)

42.1 (59)

42.9

Wenchi

49.9 (20)

47.5 (44)

48.3

Ejura Sekyedumase

43.8 (12)

49.7 (37)

48.3

East Gonja

41.5 (2)

41.5 (54)

41.5

West Gonja

43.9 (55)

43.9

Wa Municipal

45.6 (28)

45.7

Wa East

39.8 (56)

39.8

Kassena Nankana

39.6 (3)

47.3 (25)

47.2

Overall Mean

45.6 (151)

44.1 (678)

44.3

% by Gender

18.2%

81.8%

NB: Figures in parenthesis are number of males and females interviewed

TABLE 14:

AGE GROUPS OF RESPONDENTS IN DISTRICTS

District Asante Akim South

No. of Farmers 28

Ejura-Sekyedumase Techiman

49 76

Wenchi

Awutu-Efutu-Senya Cape Coast

83 53

Fanteakwa

<25

25-29

35-39 2

40-44 6

45-49 10

50-54

55-59

>70

60-70

4 6

4 7

5 24

7 10

3 9

6 10

9 5

6 1

4 4

2 12

8 5

15 12

9 3

19 9

13 4

8 5

3 3

Suhum-KraboaCoaltar Ga West East Gonja West Gonja Kassena-Nankana

55 56 55 28

1 3 1

1 4 6

2 7 6 3

7 9 7 5

10 9 8 3

10 9 8 5

13 8 7 6

7 4 1 3

2 2 10 3

2 1 1

Wa East Wa Municipal

56 28

16 4

11 6

7 4

3 4

2 2

4 2

5 5

1 1

Akatsi North Tongu Bibiani

55 56 28

1 2 1

1 1 1

1 5 2

8 3 7

13 8 3

14 13 10

9 10

7 3 1

1 8 2

3 1

824

13 1.6

52 6.3

83 7.6

139 16.9

115 14.0

147 17.8

106 12.9

77 9.3

68 8.3

24 2.9

Total % of Respondents

30-34

TABLE 15:

DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS BY MARITAL STATUS IN DISTRICTS

District Asante Akim South Ejura-Sekyedumase Techiman Wenchi Awutu-Efutu-Senya Cape Coast Fanteakwa Suhum-KraboaCoaltar Ga West East Gonja West Gonja Kassena-Nankana Wa East Wa Municipal Akatsi North Tongu Bibiani Total % in Marital Status

No of farmers 28 49 75 57 82 50 28

Divorce d

28 53 55 55 28 55 28 54 55 27 807

2 1

3 3 1 1 1

2 2 17 2.1

Marrie d 23 45 68 49 74 45 23

Separate d 1

23 48 55 54 27 54 28 52 49 23 740 91.70

1 1

Single 3 4 5 4 3 3 1 1

Widowe d 1 1 2 3 1 1 3

1 1

2 4 2 6 0.74

28 3.47

16 1.98

TABLE 16:

EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF RESPONDENTS BY DISTRICTS

District Akatsi Asante Akim South Awutu-EfutuSenya Bibiani Cape Coast East Gonja EjuraSekyedumase Fanteakwa Ga West Kassena-Nankana North Tongu Suhum-KraboaCoaltar Techiman Wa East Wa Municipal Wenchi West Gonja Total % Educational Levels

No of Farmers 50

Attended Literacy Classes

28 82 28 54 55

46 28 52 27 51

24 76 53 25 59 46 784

3 5

Completed JHS (or middle school) 31

Completed primary school 10

Completed SHS (or secondary school)

Completed tertiary (polytechnic or university)

No formal education

51 18 15 6

12 1 11 2

8 4 9 3

10 12 22 7 24

5 2 10 6 5

3 1 8 1 6

13 21 6

3 5 3 1 5 3 68

1 13

1 33 42 21 30 33 317

8.7

1.7

40.4

1 1 1 9 23

21 4 275

5 15 1 2 2 5 102

2.9

35.1

13.0

2 1 1

2 1 1 1 1 2

9 3 18 44 27 11 11 9 15

TABLE 17:

NO OF FARMERS WHO USE VARIOUS IMPROVED PRACTICES AND THEIR LEVELS OF EDUCATION

Educational level Attended literacy classes Completed JHS (or middle school) Completed primary school Completed SHS (or secondary school) Completed tertiary (polytechnic or university) No formal education Total

Fertilizer 18 12

% of Total 3.8 2.5

Herbicide 8 3

% of Total 3.2 1.2

Improved Seed 14 7

% of Total 3.41 1.7

152 55

32.3 11.7

93 35

36.8 13.8

150 48

36.6 11.7

122 37

42.1 12.4

8.3

8.8

9.7

10 185 471

2.1 39.3 100.0

3 90 253

1.2 35.6 100.0

10 145 410

2.4 35.4 100.00

8 80 298

2.7 26.8 101.1

% of Pesticides Total 12 4.0 10 3.4

TABLE 18: FAMILY SIZES OF RESPONDENTS BY REGIONS Region Ashanti

No of respondents 74

Brong Ahafo

138

Central

134

Eastern

Gt Accra

Northern

111

Upper East

Upper West

Volta Western Total % of total

>20

11-15 8

1-5 12

12 6

111

16-20

6-10 2

782

278

409

1.0

10.0

35.5

1.0

52.3

TABLE 19:

NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS BY GENDER WITH ACCESS TO EXTENSION SERVICES

District

Akatsi

Female

Male

Total

Asante Akim South

33 28

Awutu-Efutu-Senya

Bibiani

Cape Coast

East Gonja

Ejura-Sekyedumase

Fanteakwa

Ga West

16 71

Wa East

Wa Municipal

Wenchi

West Gonja

484

567

Kassena-Nankana North Tongu Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar Techiman

Total

TABLE 21:

NO. OF FARMERS IN PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION/TECHNOLOGY GENERATION

District

No. Farmers Interviewed

Problem Identification

% of Interviewed

Technology Generation

% of Interviewed

Akatsi Asante Akim South Awutu Efutu Senya Bibiani Cape Coast East Gonja Ejura Sekyedumase Fanteakwa Ga West Kassena Nankana North Tongu Suhum Kraboa Coaltar Techiman Wa East Wa Municipal Wenchi West Gonja Total

55 28 84 28 55 56 49 28 55 28 56 28 76 56 28 64 55 829

34 25 64 6 36 55 10 2 39 14 6 23 18 27 20 30 9 408

61.8 89.3 76.2 21.4 65.5 98.2 20.4 7.1 70.4 50.0 10.7 82.1 23.7 48.2 71.4 46.9 16.4 49.2%

18 10 4

32.7 35.7 4.8

14 27

25.5 48.2

3 4 1 8 4

5.5 14.3 1.8 28.6 5.3

19 1 113

25.7 1.8 13.6

100

TABLE 21: NUMBER OF EXTENSION AGENTS BY GENDER AND AGE GROUPS AND OWNERSHIP OF MOTOR BIKES No of Extensio n Agents

No of females

22 25 20 21 12 13 12 15

4 2 6 4 0 6 0 3

18.2 8.0 30.0 19.0 0.0 46.2 0.0 20.0

18 23 14 17 12 7 12 12

81.8 92.0 70.0 81.0 100.0 53.8 100.0 80.0

25 16

3 1

12.0 6.3

22 15

Wenchi Techiman

10 23

1 3

10.0 13.0

Wa Municipal

Wa East East Gonja West Gonja Kassena Nankana

10 20 12 17 289

District Suhum Kraboa Coaltar Fanteakwa Ga West Awutu Efutu Senya Bibiani Cape Coast Akatsi North Tongu Ejura Sekyeredumase Asante Akim South

Legend: A - 20-29 years

No of males

0 1 1 0 2 1 2 0

0 4 5 0 16.7 7.7 16.7 0.0

2 10 13 3 1 2 1 1

9.1 40.0 65.0 14.3 8.3 15.4 8.3 6.7

88.0 93.8

5 1

20.0 6.3

8 1

9 20

90.0 87.0

0 4

0.0 17.4

43.8

56.3

0 0 0 2

0.0 0.0 0.0 11.8

10 19 12 15

100.0 95.0 100.0 88.2

14.5

246

85.1

B – 30-39years

C – 40-49years

15 9 6 8 2 2 2 8

68.2 36.0 30.0 38.1 16.7 15.4 16.7 53.3

5 5 0 10 7 8 7 6

22.7 20.0 0.0 47.6 58.3 61.5 58.3 40.0

6 8 5 3 4 5 4 5

27.3 32.0 25.0 14.3 33.3 38.5 33.3 33.3

32.0 6.3

4 12

16.0 75.0

8 2

32.0 12.5

21 4

3 4

30.0 17.4

4 3

40.0 13.0

3 12

30.0 52.2

10 10

6.3

12.5

37.5

43.8

0 1 0 0

0.0 5.0 0.0 0.0

3 2 3 0

30.0 10.0 25.0 0.0

3 2 2 5

30.0 10.0 16.7 29.4

40.0 70.0 58.3 70.6

10 9 7 9

6.6

20.4

32.2

4 14 7 12 11 7

84.0 25.0 100. 0 43.5 100. 0 100. 0 45.0 58.3 52.9

40.5

136

47.1

D – Above 50years

101

E – Ownership of motorbike

TABLE 22:

NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS TRAINED BY GENDER IN DISTRICTS WITHIN THE LAST THREE YEARS

% of Total Interviewed 3.3

Asante Akim South Awutu-Efutu-Senya Bibiani Cape Coast East Gonja

5 4 2 2 2

12 38 6 21 51

17 42 8 23 53

2.1 5.1 1.0 2.8 6.4

Ejura-Sekyedumase Fanteakwa Ga West Kassena-Nankana North Tongu

2 3

14 13 13 5 10

16 16 13 5 13

1.9 1.9 1.6 0.6 1.6

Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar Techiman Wa East Wa Municipal Wenchi West Gonja

1 7

12 29 16 5 31 6 299 85.9

13 36 16 5 39 6 348 42

1.6 4.3 1.9 0.6 4.7 0.7 42.0

District Akatsi

% of Total Interviewed

Female

Male

8 49 14.1

102

Total

TABLE 23:

ACCESS TO CREDIT AND SAVINGS PROPENSITY OF FARMERS

District

Number

Access to Credit

Interviewed

No.

Savings Record

No.

Akatsi

13.6

27.3

Asante Akim South

25.0

46.4

Awutu Efutu Senya

16.6

31.0

Bibiani

14.3

357

Cape Coast

7.2

14.5

East Gonja

32.7

32.1

Ejura Sekyedumase

4.0

32.1

Fanteakwa

50.0

Ga West

163

50.9

Kassena Nankana

14.3

17.9

North Tongu

50.0

39.3

Suhum Kraboa Coaltar

Techiman

30.2

73.7

Wenchi

26.5

43.8

West Gonja

14.5

Wa Municipal

60.7

Wa East

5.4

103

TABLE 24:

AMOUNTS OF MONEY (GH CEDIS) BORROWED BY FARMERS FOR ROOTS AND TUBERS PRODUCTION BY DISTRICTS % of

District Akatsi

Cassava

Cocoya

Sweet

potato

1560

Yam

650

Total Of

Total

Amount

Amoun

Borrowed

2210

Asante Akim South

1.6 1850

1850

Awutu-Efutu-

9.9

Senya

5050

Bibiani

285

Cape Coast

1200

East Gonja

1850

800

5420

0 245 2210

11270 285

0.3

1445

1.3

4060

3.6

EjuraSekyedumase Ga West

0.4 100

900

1000

1880

6850

8730

7.7

1050

0.9

2100

4167

3.7

Kassena-Nankana North Tongu

2067

Suhum-KraboaCoaltar Techiman

0.6 650

800

Wa Municipal

730

Total % of Total

650

58500

Wa East

Wenchi

2.0

2750

3980

200

61450

54.5

1029

1829

1.6

730

0.6

8000

11980

10.6

112706

99.9

80502

7595

24609

71.4

6.7

21.8

104

TABLE 25:

NUMBER OF FARMERS WHO BOUGHT VARIOUS TYPES OF INPUT AND EQUIPMENT

District Akatsi Asante Akim South Awutu-Efutu-Senya Bibiani Cape Coast East Gonja Ejura-Sekyedumase Ga West Kassena-Nankana North Tongu Fanteakwa Suhum-KraboaCoaltar Techiman Wa East Wa Municipal Wenchi West Gonja

Fertilizer 55 28 84 28 55 56 49 55 28 56 28 28 76 56 28 64 55 829

1 6 2 5

21 23 1

1 22

Herbicide 20 4 59 24 13 25 1 21

105

1 1

4 21 17 1

13 2

1 3

4 13

209

Insecticide 4

Spraying Machine 33 13 47 6 23 13 34 11 15

10 37 4 1 42 11 300

TABLE 26:

PRODUCTION PRACTICES OF RESPONDENTS BY AGRO-ECOLOGICAL ZONES

Zones Coastal savanna Forest Forest transition Guinea savanna Total

N 111 65 114 110 400

A 92 (82.9) 25 (39.1) 62 (54.4) 99 (90.0) 278 (69.7)

Cassava B C 32 57 (28.8) (51.4) 8 34 (12.5) (53.1) 51 37 (44.7) (32.4) 24 27 (21.8) (24.5) 115 151 (28.8) (37.8)

D 55 (49.5) 30 (46.9) 35 (30.7) 24 (21.7). 148

N 14

A 14 (100)

Yam B C 0 14 (100)

D 14 (100)

N 97

A 91 (93.8)

Sweet. potato B C 24 24 (24.7) (24.7)

D 24 (24.7)

Cocoyam N A

32 108 85 217

69 (63.9) 85 (100,0) 176 (81.1)

3 (2.8)

3 (1.4)

55 (50.9) 36 (42.3) 105 (48.3)

54 (50.0) 36 (42.3) 104

56 28 180

55 (98.1) 28 (100.0) 174 (96.7)

Legend: A – Row/ridge planting for cassava, sweet. potato and cocoyam A – Mounding in rows for yam B – Improved variety C – First fertilizer application D – Second fertilizer application N – No. of farmers interviewed per commodity in the zone Figures in parenthesis are percentages of the number of farmers out who are undertaking the activity of the total number interviewed.

106

28 (50.0) 12 (42.9) 64 (35.6)

27 (48.2) 18 (64.3%) 69 (38.3)

27 (48.2)

14 (43.8)

TABLE 27:

PRODUCTION PRACTICES BEING USED BY NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS IN THE CULTIVATION OF VARIOUS ROOT AND TUBER CROPS Cassava

Ga West Akatsi North Tongu Awutu Efutu Senya Cape Coast Bibiani Ejura Sekyedumase Asante Akim South Techiman Wenchi Suhum Kraboa Coaltar Fanteakwa West Gonja East Gonja Wa East Wa Municipal Kassena Nankana Total

A 28 1 23 2

B 28

6 3 14

6 3

24 21

Yam C 1 5 21 29

D 7 25 26 18

4 3 3

A 14

B 14

E 14

A 11

Sweet potato B C 11 11

12 28

D 13 21 25 26

Cocoyam D

7 11 8

9 17 5

5 12 2

14 17 16

26 28 2 1

26 28 1 1

1 14 27 9

19 26

28 5

13 22

16 27

20 29

187 (46.1%)

169 (42.2%)

138 (32.8%)

28 28 26

207 (51.8%)

107 (49%)

115 (52.4%)

3 (1.3%)

173 (80.6%)

84 (46.6%)

76 (42.2%)

67 (37.2%)

138 (76.65)

Legend: A – Fertilizer Application, B – Spraying with Herbicide/Insecticide, C – Use of Improved Variety, D – Row Planting/Ridge Planting, E – Mounding in Rows Figures in parenthesis indicate % of no of respondents interviewed who use the practice.

107

19 (30.1%)

TABLE 28:

WEED CONTROL IN AGRO ECOLOGICAL ZONES

ZONES

CASSAVA

YAM

Coastal savanna

111 106

104

Forest

Forest transition

114 103

101

Guinea savanna

110 109

101

Legend:

SWEET. POTATO

108

104

101

A – No. of farmers interviewed for each commodity in a zone B – First weeding C – Second weeding D – Third weeding E – Fourth weeding

108

TABLE 29:

INCOME GENERATED BY RESPONDENTS FROM SALE OF ROOTS AND TUBERS IN DISTRICTS

District Akatsi

Total of Income

Cassava

Cocoyam

Sweet potato

Yam

103,156.00

37,161.00

Asante Akim South

5,869.00

Awutu-Efutu-Senya

138,953.00

72,941.00

3,534.00

3,334.00

Cape Coast

23,673.00

10,399.00

East Gonja

26,101.00

1,387.00

24,714.00

Ejura-Sekyedumase

63,031.00

21,745.00

41,286.00

25,442.0

1,820.00

82,155.00

13,966.00

Bibiani

Fanteakwa Ga West Kassena-Nankana

10,427.00

65,995.00 3,244. 00 36,900.00

29,112.00

200.00 13,274.00

23,622.00 18,389.00

49,800.00

10,427.00

North Tongu Suhum-KraboaCoaltar

26,395.00

23,550.00

5,345.00

Techiman

85,546.00

25,082.00

Wa East

12,071.00

3,186.00

2,085.00

Wenchi

66,466.00

17,090.00

49,376.00

West Gonja

14,336.00

7,508.00

6,828.00

Wa Municipal

109

2,845.00

10,033.00

50,431.00 8,885.00

TABLE 30: PERCENTAGES OF RESPONDENTS’ TOTAL INCOME EARNED THROUGH ROOTS AND TUBERS SALES

A Akatsi Asante Akim South Districts Bibiani Cape Coast East Gonja Ejura Sekyedumase Fanteakwa Ga West Kassena Nankana North Tongu Suhum Kraboa Coaltar Techiman Wa East Wa Municipal Wenchi West Gonja Total % of Total Respondents

3 23

Cassava B C 14 6 2

Yam D

A 4

Sweet. potato B C 4 16 4

Cocoyam A 26

2 20 17 23 17

6 10

16 2

11 6 14 14 1 9 173

17 8 4 12 11 111

2 2 2 7 4 56

43.3

27.8

14.0

7 8

3 16

1 2

1 8 3 2

8 17

13 1

7 1

11 7

7 10

1 6

2 1 15

10 8 48

13 11 90

10 3 42

7 1 26

3.8

22.1

41.1

19.4

12.6

22.8

38.3

26.1

5.5

58.0

Legend: A – 1-25% B – 26-50% C – 51-75% D – 76-100%

110

TABLE 31:

LAND TENURE ARRANGEMENTS IN DISTRICTS

District Akatsi Asante Akim South Awutu-EfutuSenya Bibiani Cape Coast East Gonja EjuraSekyedumase Fanteakwa Ga West KassenaNankana North Tongu Suhum-KraboaCoaltar Techiman Wa East Wa Municipal Wenchi West Gonja

No. of responses 57

Self Owned 48

% of Responses 84.2

% of Responses 15.8

39.4

27.3

15.2

96 40 55 56

21 27 15 55

21.9 67.5 27.3 98.2

14 10 22

14.6 25.0 40.0 0.0

61 2 18 1

63.5 5.0 32.7 1.8

58 29 68

22 2 16

37.9 6.9 23.5

14 15 7

24.1 51.7 10.3

21 12 43

36.2 41.4 63.2

28 59

27 32

96.4 54.2

1 3

3.6 5.1

0.0 40.7

32 88 53 27 71 54 904

14 17 53 26 44 54 486

43.8 19.3 100.0 96.3 62.0 100.0

13 8

40.6 9.1 0.0 0.0 1.4 0.0

111

Shared Cropping

% of Responses

1 0 117

Tenant

5 57 1 23 0 282

15.6 64.8 0.0 3.7 32.4 0.0

TABLE 32:

District Akatsi Asante Akim South Awutu-EfutuSenya Bibiani Cape Coast East Gonja EjuraSekyedumase Fanteakwa Ga West KassenaNankana North Tongu SuhumKraboaCoaltar Techiman Wa East Wa Municipal Wenchi West Gonja

DISTRIBUTION OF FARM SIZES OF RESPONDENTS IN DISTRICTS No of responses 55

N/A 1

% NA 1.8

% <1 0

11-15 1

% 11-15 1.8

0.0

10.7

7.1 96.4 5.5 0.0

10.7 0.0 16.4 0.0

84 28 55 56

6 27 3

49 28 55

8 18 3

16.3 64.3 5.5

6.1 0.0 21.8

28 56

2 2

7.1 3.6

22 26

78.6 46.4

28 76 56 28 64 55 829

5 5 15 6 4 3 108

17.9 6.6 26.8 21.4 6.3 5.5 13.0

2 4

4 94

%-15 92.7

3.6

0.0 0.0 0.0 1.8

1 2

0.0 2.6 7.1 0.0 0.0 7.3 11.3

1 7

112

1-5

6-10

% 2

3.6

82.1

3.6

67 1 43 44

79.8 3.6 78.2 78.6

2.4 0.0 0.0 19.6

0.0 0.0 1.8

35 10 39

71.4 35.7 70.9

7.1 0.0

2 25

7.1 44.6

0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.6 0.0 0.8

23 66 36 22 57 47 591

82.1 86.8 64.3 78.6 89.1 85.5 71.3

11 3

3 1 2 1 29

6.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.4

0.0 3.9 1.8 0.0 3.1 1.8 3.5

TABLE 33:

NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF FARMERS USING VARIOUS SOURCES OF WATER FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES

District Akatsi

No. Interviewed 55

Pipe borne water 0

Asante Akim South

Awutu-EfutuSenya Bibiani

Bore hole 20

% 36.4

Well 8

% 14.5

85.7

3.6

84 28

15.5 0.0

34 24

40.5 85.7

14 3

16.7 10.7

Cape Coast

60.0

38.2

East Gonja

23.2

37.5

23.2

EjuraSekyedumase

26.5

44.9

2.0

24.5

28.6

Fanteakwa Ga West

28 55

0.0 5.5

15 43

53.6 78.2

5 1

17.9 1.8

42.9 21.8

8 14

28.6 25.5

KassenaNankana

0.0

96.4

17.9

North Tongu

89.3

1.8

7.1

Suhum-KraboaCoaltar Techiman Wa East

28 76 56

0 26 0

0.0 34.2 0.0

38 47

0.0 50.0 83.9

2 4

0.0 2.6 7.1

Wa Municipal Wenchi

28 64

0 5

0.0 7.8

25 45

89.3 70.3

West Gonja

0.0

96.4

829

156

18.8

460

55.5

Total

113

Dam 5

% 21.8

River/ stream 29

42.9

0.0 28

% 52.7

0.0

14.3 42.9

33 6

39.3 21.4

21.8

27.3

21.4

0.0

42.9

0.0

21.4

0.0

42.9 15.8 21.4

28 9 4

100.0 11.8 7.1

42.9 18.8

0.0 21.9

10.7 0.0

3.6

21.8

38.2

7.9

6.7

195

23.5

TABLE 34: District Akatsi Akim Asante South Awutu Efutu Senya Bibiani Cape Coast East Gonja Ejura Sekyedumase Fanteakwa Ga West Kassena Nankana North Tongu Suhum Kraboa Coaltar Techiman Wenchi Wa Municipal Wa East West Gonja Total

NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE (%) OF FARMERS AND USAGE OF IT No Interviewed 55 28

Mobile Phones No % 29 52.7 13 46.4

Radio Listeners No % 49 89.1 25 89.3

TV Watchers No % 6 10.9 8 28.6

45.2

54.8

21.4

28 55 56 49

18 19 27 12

64.3 34.3 48.2 24.5

20 16 30 14

71.4 29.1 53.6 28.6

7 5 6 10

25.0 9.1 10.7 20.4

28 55 28

6 35 11

21.4 63.6 39.3

15 49 12

53.6 89.1 42.9

3 35 1

10.7 63.6 3.6

56 28

24 11

42.9 39.3

37 23

66.1 82.1

20 12

35.7 42.9

76 64 28 56 55 829

39 33 1 11 12 339

51.3 51.6 3.6 19.6 21.8 40.9

61 53 5 17 25 497

80.3 82.8 17.9 30.4 45.5 60.0

24 7 2 0 6 170

31.6 10.9 7.1 0 10.9 20.5

114

TABLE 35:

NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS IN FBOS No.

District

Interviewed

% Used

Akatsi

38.2

Asante Akim South

25.0

Awutu-Efutu-Senya

44.0

Bibiani

17.9

Cape Coast

21.8

East Gonja

75.0

Ejura-Sekyedumase

46.9

Fanteakwa

78.6

Ga West

50.9

Kassena-Nankana

60.7

North Tongu

10.7

Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar

21.4

Techiman

34.2

Wa East

32.1

Wa Municipal

35.7

Wenchi

17.2

West Gonja

29.1

829

307

37.0

115

TABLE 36:

AMOUNTS OF MONEY SAVED BY FARMERS GHÂ˘ Total Of

District Akatsi

Amount Saved

Cassava

Cocoyam

Sweet potato

Yam

16990

6590

10400

Asante Akim South

2404

Awutu-Efutu-Senya

23609

4745

Bibiani

24640

10540

Cape Coast

5005

1980

East Gonja

6310

3610

2700

180150

16000

164150

Fanteakwa

56350

100

Ga West

16750

3745

11560

7304

14100 3025

EjuraSekyedumase

Kassena-Nankana

2350

North Tongu

4508

3478

4960

81575

48525

56250 2205

10800

2350 1030

Suhum-KraboaCoaltar Techiman Wa East Wa Municipal Wenchi West Gonja Total

18550

400

14500 400

8640

20370

7895

12475

1220

750

470

456231

123962

116

70350

49120

212799

TABLE 37:

DISTRICTS AND COMMODITIES SELECTED FOR WAAPP BASELINE STUDY

Region

District

Commodity

Agro-ecological zone Forest

No. of respondents 28

Ashanti

Asante Akim South EjuraSekyeredumas e Techiman

Cassava, cocoyam Cassava, Yam

Transition

Wenchi

Cassava, Yam, Sweet potato Cassava, Yam

Transition

West Gonja East Gonja Wa East

Cassava, Yam Cassava, Yam Cassava, Yam

Guinea Savannah 56 Guinea Savannah 56 Guinea Savannah 56

Wa Municipal

Cassava

Guinea Savannah 28

Sweet potato

Guinea Savannah 28

Central

KassenaNankana Cape-Coast

Eastern

Coastal Savannah Coastal Savannah Forest

Awutu-EfutuSenya Fanteakwa

Forest

Volta

Suhum-KraboaCoaltar Akatsi

Cassava, Sweet potato Cassava, Yam, Sweet potato Cassava, cocoyam Cassava, Cocoyam Cassava, Sweet potato Cassava, Sweet potato

Coastal Savannah Coastal Savannah

Cassava, Cocoyam Cassava, Sweet potato

Forest

Coastal Savannah

Brong-Ahafo

Northern Upper West

Upper East

North Tongu

Western

Bibiani

GreaterAccra TOTAL

Ga West

84 28

840

117

118

Fig 4: Volume and Value of Wheat Imports 1997-2008

600,000.00

500,000.00

400,000.00

Tonnes and Gh Cedis 300,000.00 Volume (tonnes) Value(Gh .000 cedis)

200,000.00

100,000.00

0.00

97 19

98 19

99 19

00 20

01 20

119

02 20

03 20 Year

04 20

05 20

06 20

07 20

08 20

Fig 5: Volume and Value of Starch 1997-2008

1400

1200

1000

800 Tonnes and Gh Cedis Volume (tonnes)

600

Value (Gh â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;000 cedis)

400

200

0 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Year

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Fig 6a: Comparison of Roots and Tubers Prices With Those of Maize and Fuel 1998 0.20

0.18

Prices in Gh cedis per kg or litre

0.16

0.14 Maize

0.12

Fuel Yam

0.10

Cocoyam Cassava

0.08

Gari

0.06

0.04

0.02

0.00 Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul Month

120

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Fig 6b: Comparison of Roots and Tubers Prices With Those of Maize and Fule 1997 0.09

0.08

Prices in Gh cedis per kg or litre

0.07

0.06 Maize Fuel

0.05

Yam Cocoyam

0.04

Cassava Gari

0.03

0.02

0.01

0.00 Jan

Feb

March

April

May

June

July

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Month

Fig 6c: Comparison of Roots and Tubers Prices With Those of Maize and Fuel 1999 0.14

Prices in Gh cedis per kg or litre

0.12

0.10

Maize

0.08

Fuel Yam Cocoyam Cassava

0.06

Gari

0.04

0.02

0.00 Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul Month

121

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Fig 6d: Comparison of Roots and Tubers Prices With Those of Maize and Fuel 2000 0.20

0.18

Prices in Gh cedis per kilo or litre

0.16

0.14 Maize

0.12

Fuel Yam

0.10

Cocoyam Cassava

0.08

Gari

0.06

0.04

0.02

0.00 Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Month

Fuel 6e: Comparison of Roots and Tubers Prices With Those of Maize and Fuel 2001 0.35

Prices in Gh cedis per kilo or litre

0.30

0.25

Maize

0.20

Fuel Yam Cocoyam Cassava

0.15

Gari

0.10

0.05

0.00 Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul Month

122

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Fig 6f: Comparison of Roots and Tubers Prices With Those of Maize and Fuel 2002 0.30

Prices in Gh cedis per kg or litre

0.25

0.20 Maize Fuel Yam

0.15

Cocoyam Cassava Gari

0.10

0.05

0.00 Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Month

Fig 6g: Comparison of Roots and Tubers Prices With Those of Maize and Fuel 2003 0.50

0.45

Prices in Gh cedis per kilo or litre

0.40

0.35 Maize

0.30

Fuel Yam

0.25

Cocoyam Cassava

0.20

Gari

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00 Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul Month

123

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Fig 6i: Comparison of Roots and Tubers Prices With Those of Maize and Fuel 2004 0.50

0.45

Prices in Gh cedis per kg or litre

0.40

0.35 Maize

0.30

Fuel Yam

0.25

Cocoyam Cassava

0.20

Gari

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00 Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Month

Fig 6j: Comparison of Roots and Tubers Prices With Those for Maize and Fuel 2005 0.80

0.70

Prices in Gh cedis per kilo or litre

0.60

0.50

Series1 Series2 Series3

0.40

Series4 Series5 Series6

0.30

0.20

0.10

0.00 Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul Month

124

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Fig 6k: Comparison of Roots and Tubers Prices With Those of Maize and Fuel 2006 1.00

0.90

Prices in Gh cedis per kilo or litre

0.80

0.70 Maize

0.60

Fuel Yam

0.50

Cocoyam Cassava

0.40

Gari

0.30

0.20

0.10

0.00 Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Month

Fig 6l: Comparison of Roots and Tubers Prices With Those of Maize and Fuel 2007 1.20

Prices in Gh cedis per kg or litre

1.00

0.80 Maize Fuel Yam

0.60

Cocoyam Cassava Gari

0.40

0.20

0.00 Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul Month

125

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Fig 6m: Comparison of Roots and Tubers Prices With Those of Maize and Fuel 2008 1.40

Prices in Gh cedis per kg or litre

1.20

1.00

Maize

0.80

Fuel Yam Cocoyam Cassava

0.60

Gari

0.40

0.20

0.00 Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul Month

126

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Figure 7:

Yam Marketing Channel in Techiman, Kintampo and Nkoranza Districts

Farmers

Village Level Traders

Consumers (Road Side)

Traders from Other Cities

Yam Production and Export Association

Export

Town Wholesalers

Town Retailers

Consumers of other Cities

Source: Anchirinah et.. al. 1996

127

Town Consumers

128

Fig 11 Educational Levels of Respondents in Roots and Tubers Production 100% 90% 80%

% of respondents

70% 60%

Yam Sweet potato

50%

Cocoyam Cassava

40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Attended Completed JHS Completed literacy classes (or middle primary school school)

Completed SHS (or secondary school)

Completed tertiary (polytecnic or university)

Eductional Levels

129

No formal education

Fig 12: Percentage of Respondents in Various Familiy Sizes

1% 1%

10%

36% >20 1 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 16 to 20

52%

Fig 13: Age Groups of Household Members by Regions 100%

% of Household members

80%

60% >65 36-65 16-35 0-15

40%

20%

0% Ashanti

Brong Ahafo

Central

Eastern

Gt Accra Northern Region

130

Upper East

Upper West

Volta

Western

Fig 14:Educational Levels of Household Members by Regions 100%

No formal education

60%

In school Day Nursery Completed tertiary (polytecnic or university) Completed SHS (or secondary school)

40%

Completed primary school Completed JHS (or middle school)

20%

es te rn W

Vo lta

th er n Up pe rE as t Up pe rW es t

ra cc tA G

No r

er n Ea st

Ce nt ra l

Ah af o

on g

nt i

0% As ha

Regions

Fig 15: Distribution of Extension Agents by Gender Across Districts 25

15 No of Extension Agents 10 Female Male

ab oa

C o Fa alta r nt ea kw Aw a G ut a u Ef We ut st u Se ny Bi a ab C ap ian i e C oa st Ak Ej at ur No r s a Se th T i on As key gu an ed um te Ak a im se So ut h W en Te chi ch W im a a M un n ic ip W al a Ea Eas t st G on W Ka ja e ss st G en on a ja N an ka na

Su hu m

% of Househodl Members

80%

Districts

131

132

Indicators - Ghana WAAPP Output area Technology generation/dissemination

Indicators No of technologies generated by research

No of technologies made available for transfer

Yield

Increase in crop yield/unit area

Training

No of farmers attendance at short term training

Current Status Production 2005 to date Cassava 6 improved varieties released Yam 3 improved varieties released Sweet potato 8 improved varieties released

Yield (t/ha)

Processing/storage Cassava High quality cassava flout (HQCF) Parboiling of chips Mechanical cassava grater Gari fortified with soybean Yam Yam flour Cocoyam Cocoyam flour Sweet potato Sweet potato gari 17 improved varieties Gari fortified with soyabean HQCF, Yam flour and cocoyam flour Mechanical cassava grater

20.0 – 25.0

Crop (i) Cassava (ii) Yam : (iii) Cocoyam (iv) Sweet potato Gender (i) Female (ii) Male

UCC CSIR-CRI 9 KNUST 10 CSIR-FRI 11 SRID/MoFA 8

Yield (2008) 12.8 tonnes/ha 14.1 tonnes/ha 6.7 tonnes/ha 8.0 tonnes.ha 2006 - 2009 49

.0-49.9 33.0-59.0

Data sources 7 UCC 8 CSIR-CRI CSIR-CRI CSIR-CRI CSIR-CRI 9 KNUST

CSIR-FRI

SRID/MoFA SRID/MoFA SRID/MoFA SRID/MoFA

Interview with farmers in sampled districts

299

University of Cape Coast Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – Crops Research Institute Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – Food Research Institute Statistical Research and Information Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture

133

Exports

Imports

Volume and value of international exports

Volume and value of international imports

Commodity (i) Gari Volume: Value: Value/tonne:

2008 3.404.0 tonnes US$ 1,679,716.00 US$ 443.0

(ii) HQCF Volume: Value: Value/tonne:

2008 670 tonnes US$ 399,982.00 US$ 597.00

(iii) Yam Volume: Value: Value/tonne:

2008 20,841 tonnes US$ 14,888,800.0 US$ 714.00

(iv) Cocoyam Volume: Value: US$ 776.00 (i) Wheat Volume Value Value/tonne

- 2008 272.73 tonnes US$ 211,690.00 Value/tonne:

(ii) Starch Volume Value Value/tonne

2008 337,176.9 tonnes US$ 212,896,000.00 US$ 448.8

Ghana Export Promotion Council

Ghana Statistical Service

2008 934.4 tonnes US$ 580,700.00 US$ 882.5

This indicator shows how much Ghana will save in foreign exchange if it is able to replace wheat flour with high quality cassava flour (HQCF) in bakery products and the plywood industry and if it is able to replace various types of starch with cassava starch.

134