Donkor Kwame Emmanuel

Agricultural programmes are implemented in sub-Saharan African countries to stimulate rural economic development. One such programme is the Presidential Cassava Initiative (PCI) in Nigeria aimed at reducing poverty and food insecurity, but there is a limited study on contribution of the programme to cassava output and food security. This study estimated the effects of the PCI on cassava output and food security in Nigeria. A three-stage multivariate linear regression model was applied in the empirical analysis. The results showed that the PCI has increased cassava output; promoted food supply; and enhanced national food security. The study concludes that agricultural development interventions are required to achieve a sustainable food supply and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. It is recommended that exit strategy should be incorporated in designing agricultural interventions to enable beneficiaries to enjoy sustainable effects.

This study determines the financial viability of the floricultural industry in Ghana using both discounting and non-discounting investment appraisal methods. The feasibility analysis suggests that large-scale floricultural firms are more profitable particularly with the production of cut flowers. However, investors with limited capital can venture into small-scale production specifically cut flowers. The conclusion is that the floriculture industry is financially viable therefore investors are encouraged to expend their resources in the industry. We recommend that the government and stakeholders need to create institutional support to enable the already established firms to further develop and attract new investors in the sector.

Improving rural farmers' access to direct agricultural markets is required to ensure sustainable supply of food. Rural farmers in the developing world account for the largest share of food supply including cassava. Globally, cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is recognised as an important source of valuable semi-processed industrial raw materials such as ethanol, high-quality cassava flour and starch. However, there is less empirical research on rural farmers' participation in direct marketing channels in the cassava sector. This study focused on analysing the determinants of farmer participation in direct marketing channels using the case of the cassava sector in the Oyo State of Nigeria. The Bivariate Tobit model was applied in the empirical analysis, based on a primary dataset generated from 400 rural cassava farmers from the Oyo State of Nigeria. The result showed that, in general, farmers sold a higher percentage of their cassava output to processors. The Bivariate Tobit results showed that human capital, physical capital, social capital, and market conditions had significant effects on farmers' decisions on whether to sell their cassava output directly to processors or middlemen. On the contrary, natural and financial capitals did not significantly affect farmers' marketing channel decision. The study recommends that policy instruments should target improving road networks in rural areas, enhancing farmers' access to market information, and increasing membership of farmer association to ensure an active participation of farmers in the direct marketing channels.

Achieving a sustainable food supply is crucial to meet the ever-increasing demand emanating from high population growth, rising consumer incomes, and high rates of urbanisation in developing countries including Ghana. The adoption of farm innovations in these countries has proven to be quintessential to the attainment of self-sufficiency in supply food including rice. Nonetheless, the adoption of farm innovations has been challenging. This paper, therefore, analyses the factors that influence the number of farm innovations adopted by rice farmers in two districts of the Upper East Region of Ghana using the Poisson model. The result indicated that the adoption of individual farm innovations was low. The study showed that farm size, labour input, experience in rice farming, access to extension services, and access to credit exerted significant positive effects on the number of farm innovations adopted, whereas farmer age and distance to market tended to decrease the number of farm innovations used by rice farmers. The study concludes that increasing the number of farm innovations adopted tends to promote a sustainable supply of rice output; therefore, food policy should aim at promoting the adoption of different farm innovations in developing countries including Ghana.

The promotion of farm innovations, such as mineral fertiliser, is one of the strategies for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of zero hunger and poverty alleviation in developing countries. However, the adoption of mineral fertilisers has been low in Africa, particularly in Ghana. The present study not only analyses the impact of mineral fertiliser on the land productivity of rice farmers in northern Ghana but also determines factors that are associated with the adoption of mineral fertilisers using a primary dataset from 470 rice farmers. The study employs endogenous switching regression and propensity score matching approaches in the empirical analysis. The result shows that the adoption of mineral fertiliser tends to significantly increase the land productivity of rice farmers by improving soil fertility and making nutrients readily available to rice crops. The empirical finding further indicates that the adoption of mineral fertiliser is positively influenced by land area, seed, improved rice variety and row planting whereas farmers' location and market distance exert negative effects on mineral fertiliser adoption. To maximise the land productivity of farmers, it is imperative for agricultural policy interventions to promote mineral fertiliser application by targeting key policy variables such as getting fertiliser input market outlets closer to farmers.

This study examines the effects of land tenure systems on resource-use productivity and efficiency in the Upper East region of Ghana with data drawn from the Ghana Agricultural Production Survey. A stochastic frontier model is employed to analyse resource-use productivity and efficiency of the
rice farms. The study establishes that rice farms under the various land tenure systems are technically inefficient. Techni cal efficiency for the pooled sample was 61.80%. The estimated
technical efficiencies for the farms under owned, rented and sharecropping were 68.19%, 61.61% and 45.17% respectively. The rice production frontier is influenced by farm size, fertiliser, seed and labour. Furthermore, owned land and fixed rent reduce the inefficiency of rice production. Other
factors, such as dibbling and credit access, increase inefficiency, while marital status, extension
contact and broadcasting decrease inefficiency in rice production. The study suggests that the formulation of appropriate land policies should gear towards ensuring secure rights to farmlands.