The sources and dynamics of technological change in cassava farming in Ghana
(2023) EKHS22 20221Department of Economic History
- Abstract
- Farm size expansion in some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including in Ghana, is a recent phenomenon, and is indicative of the agricultural transformation process taking place in the region. Technology use and adoption level is an integral and complex part of this process, which is studied in relation to the expanding farm sizes and agricultural transformation in this study. It follows an explorative qualitative research design drawing on the 35 semi-structured interviews with cassava farmers and agricultural extension officers in Volta and Ashanti regions in Ghana. The research findings indicate that the farms are growing in size. They also suggest that technological change in cassava farming in Ghana is happening unevenly across time,... (More)
- Farm size expansion in some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including in Ghana, is a recent phenomenon, and is indicative of the agricultural transformation process taking place in the region. Technology use and adoption level is an integral and complex part of this process, which is studied in relation to the expanding farm sizes and agricultural transformation in this study. It follows an explorative qualitative research design drawing on the 35 semi-structured interviews with cassava farmers and agricultural extension officers in Volta and Ashanti regions in Ghana. The research findings indicate that the farms are growing in size. They also suggest that technological change in cassava farming in Ghana is happening unevenly across time, space and sometimes farm sizes. The study finds that the farmers are increasingly adopting such labour-saving technologies as mechanical ploughing and weedicides, which serve as major enablers of the farm size expansion. While some progress can be observed in land-saving technologies such as improved cassava varieties, but the use of fertilisers is quite low. The farmers are also constrained by the changing rainfall patterns, absence of irrigation infrastructure and high input prices. Extension officers and formal ways of learning remain to be the major sources of knowledge and skills expansion for farmers, while cassava processing factories, farmer associations, vendors of agro-inputs shops, as well as NGOs and micro-finance organizations also contribute to a lesser extent. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9111794
- author
- Kilichova, Chekhros LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- EKHS22 20221
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Ghana, cassava, technology adoption, agricultural transformation, farm size, agricultural extension service
- language
- English
- id
- 9111794
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-09 12:21:46
- date last changed
- 2023-06-09 12:21:46
@misc{9111794,
abstract = {{Farm size expansion in some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including in Ghana, is a recent phenomenon, and is indicative of the agricultural transformation process taking place in the region. Technology use and adoption level is an integral and complex part of this process, which is studied in relation to the expanding farm sizes and agricultural transformation in this study. It follows an explorative qualitative research design drawing on the 35 semi-structured interviews with cassava farmers and agricultural extension officers in Volta and Ashanti regions in Ghana. The research findings indicate that the farms are growing in size. They also suggest that technological change in cassava farming in Ghana is happening unevenly across time, space and sometimes farm sizes. The study finds that the farmers are increasingly adopting such labour-saving technologies as mechanical ploughing and weedicides, which serve as major enablers of the farm size expansion. While some progress can be observed in land-saving technologies such as improved cassava varieties, but the use of fertilisers is quite low. The farmers are also constrained by the changing rainfall patterns, absence of irrigation infrastructure and high input prices. Extension officers and formal ways of learning remain to be the major sources of knowledge and skills expansion for farmers, while cassava processing factories, farmer associations, vendors of agro-inputs shops, as well as NGOs and micro-finance organizations also contribute to a lesser extent.}},
author = {{Kilichova, Chekhros}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The sources and dynamics of technological change in cassava farming in Ghana}},
year = {{2023}},
}