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Empirical Analysis of Determinants of Poverty Among Farmers in Rural Northern Ghana

Received: 26 December 2020    Accepted: 6 February 2021    Published: 29 April 2021
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Abstract

In the northern parts of Ghana, the prevalence of extreme poverty is threatening security of household food and nutrition. Deprivation is more extreme compared to the southern territories of the country. Though poverty is more of a rural phenomenon, its severity is much prominent among farmers living in the rural savannah enclave of the northern territories. In line with the universal declaration of human rights, some forms of commitments have been made to ameliorate the living conditions of the poor people. However, in spite of large number of state and privately initiated poverty alleviation programmes, the levels of poverty remain significantly high in the northern part of Ghana. The impact of such intervention programmes towards poverty reduction in the region is modest. This study seeks to evaluate the possible causes of poverty among smallholder farmers in rural northern Ghana. The study used data from a recent survey of 420 smallholder farmers in five randomly selected districts of northern region, Ghana. The study applied multi-stage sampling strategy to select 420 famers from 188,275 farmers in the five selected districts of the northern region of Ghana. The study applied simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques as part of the multi-stage sampling process. Five districts were selected at random in the first level and the second stage involved a selection of six farming communities in each of the five districts. Purposive sampling technique was then used to identify the required number of farmers. Analytically, logit regression estimation was applied to establish the strength of the correlation between the independent variables and the dependent variable (poverty). The survey revealed that the most important determining factors of household poverty were labour force (workforce), gender, farm experience, assistance to farmers, access to farm lands (land holding) and dependency ratio. As far as the literature search on the subject is concerned, the author is convinced that this study is the first of its kind to examine the determinants of poverty among smallholder farmers in the northern Ghana.

Published in International Journal of Agricultural Economics (Volume 6, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijae.20210602.14
Page(s) 88-97
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Smallholder Farmers, Poverty, Determinants of Poverty, Logit Regression

References
[1] Addison, T., Hulme, D. & Kanbur, R. (2009). Poverty Dynamics: Measurement and Understanding from an Interdisciplinary Perspective. In: Addison, T., Hulme, D. & Kanbur, R. (eds.) Poverty Dynamics: Interdisciplinary Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[2] Alhassan Eliasu (2012). Gender Access Gap: Factors Affecting Gender Disparity in enrolment and Attendance in Basic Schools in the Northern Region of Ghana.
[3] Audet, M., Boccanfuso, D., Makdissi, P., (2006). The Geographic Determinants of Poverty in Albania. Groupe de Recherche en Économie et Développement International Cahier derecherche Working Paper 06-12.
[4] Baulch, B., and J. Hoddinott (2000). Economic Mobility and Poverty Dynamics in Developning Countries. London: Frank Cass.
[5] Christopher B. B., Holden S., Clay D. C (2002) Can food-for-works programmes reduce vulnerability? WIDER Discussion Papers//World Institute for Development Economics (UNU-WIDER).
[6] Geda, Alemayehu; de Jong, Niek; Kimenyi, Mwangi S.; and Mwabu, Germano (2005). "Determinants of Poverty in Kenya: A Household Level Analysis" (2005). Economics Working Papers. 200544.
[7] Ghana Statistical Services (2018), Ghana Living Standards Survey Round 7, Poverty Trends in Ghana 2005-2017.
[8] Ghana Statistical Services (2016), The Ghana Poverty and Inequality Report Using the Ghana Living Standards Survey Round 6.
[9] Ghana Statistical Service, (2015). Ghana Poverty Mapping, s.l.: Ghana Statistical Service.
[10] Ghana Statistical Service (2014). Ghana Living Standards Survey 6: Poverty profile in Ghana.
[11] Ghana Statistical Service (2013). Non-Monetary Poverty in Ghana, s.l.: Ghana Statistical Service.
[12] Ghana Statistical Services (GSS) (2012). Ghana Population Census. Accra, Ghana Statistical Service.
[13] Ghana Statistical Service (2010). 2010 Population & Housing Census report. Accra.
[14] Government of Ghana (2005a). Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy, Pattern and Trends of Poverty in Ghana 1991-2006. Accra: Ghana Statistical Service.
[15] Government of Ghana (2005b). Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II, 2006-2009. Accra.
[16] International Dund for Agricultural Development (2015), The state of food insecurity in the world, meeting the international hunger targets.
[17] International Dund for Agricultural Development (2014), Estimating poverty dynamics using synthetic panels for IFAD supported projects, a case study of Vietnam.
[18] International Fund for Agricultural Development (2011). New realities, new challenges; new opportunities for tomorrow’s generation. Rural poverty report. Rome: IFAD.
[19] Makhura, T. M. (2001). Overcoming transaction costs barriers to market participation of smallholder farmers in the Northern Province of South Africa. Unpublished PhD thesis, Pretoria, University of Pretoria.
[20] Mastromarco C., Peragine V., Russo F., Serlenga L., (2010). Poverty, Inequality and Growth in Albania: 2002-2005 Evidence, February 2010.
[21] Maxwell, D., Levin, C., Armar-Klemesu, M., Ruel, M., Morris, S., Ahiadeke, C. (2001). Urban Livelihoods and Food and Nutrition Security in Greater Accra, Ghana. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), in collaboration with Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and the World Health Organization, WHO.
[22] Mduduzi Biyase and Talent Zwane (2017), Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Poverty and Household welfare in South Africa.
[23] Mknelly Barbara, Christopher Dunford (1998). Impact of Credit with Education on Mothers and Their Young Children’s Nutrition: Lower Pra Rural Bank credit With Education Programme in Ghana.
[24] MoFA (2016), Agriculture in Ghana, Facts and Figures, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Statistics, Research and Information Directorate (SRID), 25, 1-13.
[25] Odusola, AF (2001). “Conceptual issues in poverty and poverty measurement” Paper presented at NCEMA Workshop on poverty alleviation policies and strategies, 15th-26th, October.
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[39] World Bank (2007). World Development Report: Development and the Next Generation. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW.
[40] World Bank (2005). World Development Report 2005. Washington, D. C: The World Bank.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Abdul-Mumin Abdulai. (2021). Empirical Analysis of Determinants of Poverty Among Farmers in Rural Northern Ghana. International Journal of Agricultural Economics, 6(2), 88-97. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijae.20210602.14

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    ACS Style

    Abdul-Mumin Abdulai. Empirical Analysis of Determinants of Poverty Among Farmers in Rural Northern Ghana. Int. J. Agric. Econ. 2021, 6(2), 88-97. doi: 10.11648/j.ijae.20210602.14

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    AMA Style

    Abdul-Mumin Abdulai. Empirical Analysis of Determinants of Poverty Among Farmers in Rural Northern Ghana. Int J Agric Econ. 2021;6(2):88-97. doi: 10.11648/j.ijae.20210602.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijae.20210602.14,
      author = {Abdul-Mumin Abdulai},
      title = {Empirical Analysis of Determinants of Poverty Among Farmers in Rural Northern Ghana},
      journal = {International Journal of Agricultural Economics},
      volume = {6},
      number = {2},
      pages = {88-97},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijae.20210602.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijae.20210602.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijae.20210602.14},
      abstract = {In the northern parts of Ghana, the prevalence of extreme poverty is threatening security of household food and nutrition. Deprivation is more extreme compared to the southern territories of the country. Though poverty is more of a rural phenomenon, its severity is much prominent among farmers living in the rural savannah enclave of the northern territories. In line with the universal declaration of human rights, some forms of commitments have been made to ameliorate the living conditions of the poor people. However, in spite of large number of state and privately initiated poverty alleviation programmes, the levels of poverty remain significantly high in the northern part of Ghana. The impact of such intervention programmes towards poverty reduction in the region is modest. This study seeks to evaluate the possible causes of poverty among smallholder farmers in rural northern Ghana.  The study used data from a recent survey of 420 smallholder farmers in five randomly selected districts of northern region, Ghana. The study applied multi-stage sampling strategy to select 420 famers from 188,275 farmers in the five selected districts of the northern region of Ghana. The study applied simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques as part of the multi-stage sampling process. Five districts were selected at random in the first level and the second stage involved a selection of six farming communities in each of the five districts. Purposive sampling technique was then used to identify the required number of farmers. Analytically, logit regression estimation was applied to establish the strength of the correlation between the independent variables and the dependent variable (poverty).  The survey revealed that the most important determining factors of household poverty were labour force (workforce), gender, farm experience, assistance to farmers, access to farm lands (land holding) and dependency ratio.  As far as the literature search on the subject is concerned, the author is convinced that this study is the first of its kind to examine the determinants of poverty among smallholder farmers in the northern Ghana.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Empirical Analysis of Determinants of Poverty Among Farmers in Rural Northern Ghana
    AU  - Abdul-Mumin Abdulai
    Y1  - 2021/04/29
    PY  - 2021
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    AB  - In the northern parts of Ghana, the prevalence of extreme poverty is threatening security of household food and nutrition. Deprivation is more extreme compared to the southern territories of the country. Though poverty is more of a rural phenomenon, its severity is much prominent among farmers living in the rural savannah enclave of the northern territories. In line with the universal declaration of human rights, some forms of commitments have been made to ameliorate the living conditions of the poor people. However, in spite of large number of state and privately initiated poverty alleviation programmes, the levels of poverty remain significantly high in the northern part of Ghana. The impact of such intervention programmes towards poverty reduction in the region is modest. This study seeks to evaluate the possible causes of poverty among smallholder farmers in rural northern Ghana.  The study used data from a recent survey of 420 smallholder farmers in five randomly selected districts of northern region, Ghana. The study applied multi-stage sampling strategy to select 420 famers from 188,275 farmers in the five selected districts of the northern region of Ghana. The study applied simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques as part of the multi-stage sampling process. Five districts were selected at random in the first level and the second stage involved a selection of six farming communities in each of the five districts. Purposive sampling technique was then used to identify the required number of farmers. Analytically, logit regression estimation was applied to establish the strength of the correlation between the independent variables and the dependent variable (poverty).  The survey revealed that the most important determining factors of household poverty were labour force (workforce), gender, farm experience, assistance to farmers, access to farm lands (land holding) and dependency ratio.  As far as the literature search on the subject is concerned, the author is convinced that this study is the first of its kind to examine the determinants of poverty among smallholder farmers in the northern Ghana.
    VL  - 6
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Author Information
  • Department of Agriculture, Tamale Technical University, Tamale, Ghana

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