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    To diversify or not to diversify, that is the question. Pursuing agricultural development for smallholder farmers in marginal areas of Ghana

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    U20ArtBellonDiversifyInthomDev.pdf (775.9Kb)
    Date
    2020
    Author
    Bellon, M.R.
    Kotu, B.H.
    Azzarri, C.
    Caracciolo, F.
    Type
    Journal Article
    Target Audience
    Scientists
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract/Description
    Many smallholder farmers in developing countries grow multiple crop species on their farms, maintaining de facto crop diversity. Rarely do agricultural development strategies consider this crop diversity as an entry point for fostering agricultural innovation. This paper presents a case study, from an agricultural research-for-development project in northern Ghana, which examines the relationship between crop diversity and self-consumption of food crops, and cash income from crops sold by smallholder farmers in the target areas. By testing the presence and direction of these relationships, it is possible to assess whether smallholder farmers may benefit more from a diversification or a specialization agricultural development strategy for improving their livelihoods. Based on a household survey of 637 randomly selected households, we calculated crop diversity as well as its contribution to self-consumption (measured as imputed monetary value) and to cash income for each household. With these data we estimated a system of three simultaneous equations. Results show that households maintained high levels of crop diversity: up to eight crops grown, with an-average of 3.2 per household, and with less than 5% having a null or very low level of crop diversity. The value of crop species used for self-consumption was on average 55% higher than that of crop sales. Regression results show that crop diversity is positively associated with self-consumption of food crops, and cash income from crops sold. This finding suggests that increasing crop diversity opens market opportunities for households, while still contributing to self-consumption. Given these findings, crop diversification seems to be more beneficial to these farmers than specialization. For these diversified farmers, or others in similar contexts, interventions that assess and build on their de facto crop diversity are probably more likely to be successful.
    https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104682
    Multi standard citation
    Permanent link to this item
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12478/6381
    Non-IITA Authors ORCID
    Bekele Hundie Kotuhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5788-6461
    Carlo Azzarrihttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0345-1304
    Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
    https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104682
    Research Themes
    SOCIAL SCIENCE & AGRICUSINESS
    IITA Subjects
    Crop Husbandry; Crop Systems; Farming Systems; Livelihoods; Smallholder Farmers
    Agrovoc Terms
    Crops; Production; Diversification; Ghana; Agricultural Development; Smallholders
    Regions
    Africa; West Africa
    Countries
    Ghana
    Journals
    World Development
    Collections
    • Journal and Journal Articles4835
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