Although Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) promotes technical change in cocoa farming with innovative technologies and input support, crop productivity is better advanced by improving on the efficiency of input use by farmers. This study thereby investigates the technical efficiency of cocoa farmers in Ghana. The study uses cross sectional field data covering Western North, Ashanti, Eastern, Volta and Brong-Ahafo regions of Ghana on a sample of 899 cocoa farmers and adopts Meta frontier stochastic frontier analysis to derive production efficiencies for each region.

The promotion of cocoa farm productivity has necessitated the intensification of input use with ensuing loss of natural pollinators. Ghana Cocoa Board’s (COCOBOD) remedy to declining pollinator population is addressed in the rolling out of hand pollination in the 2016/17 crop year. Applying contingent valuation on field data covering 608 farmers in five cocoa growing regions, we estimate the value of pollinator services to the cocoa industry in Ghana and farmers willingness to pay for the service.

AbstractAdequate flow of appropriate information to farmers is vital for accelerating the uptake of modern agricultural technologies and improving access to markets, all of which are important for the transformation of African economies. Yet there is limited evidence regarding how information should be disseminated to farmers to achieve the needed impact. Should ICT‐based approaches be used together with traditional methods, or should they be used alone?

This paper uses panel data and qualitative interviews from southwestern Ghana to analyse farmers’ heterogeneous oil palm marketing decisions and the effect on household welfare. We show that despite the supposed benefits that smallholders could derive from participation in global agribusiness value chains via formal contracts, such arrangements are rare although two of Ghana’s ‘big four’ industrial oil palm companies are located in the study area. In the absence of formal contracts, farmers self-select into four main oil palm marketing channels (OPMCs).

Environmental problems have accompanied the accelerated land use and land cover change (LULCC), yet few local level studies make an attempt to assess the dynamics of LULCC. This work employed GIS and remote sensing to quantify the past and predict future dynamics of LULCC based on the synergy Cellular Automata (CA) - Markov Chain Model (MCM).

AbstractThis study complements the extant literature by assessing the role of governance dynamics in food security in Ghana for the period 1980–2019. The empirical evidence is based on the fully modified ordinary least squares technique and governance is categorized into political (entailing political stability and voice and accountability), economical (consisting of regulatory quality and government effectiveness), and institutional (entailing corruption‐control and the rule of law) governance dynamics. The study finds that the engaged governance dynamics improve food security in Ghana.

The promotion of cocoa farm productivity has necessitated the intensification of input use with ensuing loss of natural pollinators. Ghana Cocoa Board’s (COCOBOD) remedy to declining pollinator population is addressed in the rolling out of hand pollination in the 2016/17 crop year. Applying contingent valuation on field data covering 608 farmers in five cocoa growing regions, we estimate the value of pollinator services to the cocoa industry in Ghana and farmers willingness to pay for the service.

Abstract

AbstractRegional trade agreements (RTAs) have experienced significant growth worldwide, leading to an increase in studies assessing their impact on bilateral trade flows. With the availability of disaggregated trade data, numerous studies have examined the influence of these agreements specifically on agri‐food trade. However, the results of these studies exhibit heterogeneity, posing challenges for policymakers seeking to understand the effects of RTAs on agri‐food trade.

AbstractThe COVID‐19 pandemic profoundly affected food security by disrupting supply chains through border closures Our study concentrates on South Asia and examines the interplay between COVID‐19, agri‐food trade, and inflation using monthly panel data spanning 2018–2021. Our findings demonstrate that the pandemic notably escalated food inflation in the region. Nevertheless, the robust interaction of agri‐food trade with COVID‐19 helped alleviate this effect. This underscores the significance of trade policies in controlling food inflation during the pandemic in South Asia.