FAO ROLES OF AGRICULTURE (ROA)

PROJECTSocio-Economic Analysis and

Policy Implications of the Roles of Agriculture in Developing

Countries

NATIONAL REPORT, GHANA

FAO ROME, 20 - 23 OCTOBER, 2003

Samuel Asuming-Brempong, PhD.Ghana ROA Project Team Leader

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

• Agriculture in Ghana’s Economy• Modules Studied in Ghana•Summary of some Results from the Modules•Synthesis of some of the Results

ROA Project - FAO

Ghana: Sector Contribution (%) to GDP at Constant 1993 Prices

Year/Period Sector Contributions to GDPAgric Services Industry

1996 40.8 31.3 27.9

1997 40.4 31.6 28.0

1998 40.6 32.1 27.4

1999 40.5 31.9 27.6

2000 39.6 32.7 27.8

20012002

39.639.5

33.033.0

27.427.5

ROA Project - FAO

Ghana: Sector Growth Rates (%)

Year/Period

Sector Contributions to GDPAgric Services Industry All

Sectors

1996 5.2 4.2 4.8 4.6

1997 4.3 6.5 6.4 4.2

1998 5.1 6.0 3.2 4.7

1999 3.9 5.0 4.9 4.4

2000 2.1 5.4 3.8 3.7

20012002

4.04.4

5.14.7

2.94.7

4.24.5

ROA Project - FAO

ROA Country case studies

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Agriculture, value added (% of GDP) Rural population (% of total population)

ROA Project - FAO

Modules Studied in Ghana

• Module 1: Review of Recent Economic and Agricultural Policies

• Module 2: Environmental Externalities• Module 3: Poverty Reduction Role• Module 4: Food Security Role• Module 5: Buffer Role • Module 6: Social Viability Role• Module 7: Cultural Perceptions Role

ROA Project - FAO

Major Farming Systems in Ghana

• Rotational bush fallow system•Permanent tree crop system•Mixed farming system•Compound farming system •Horticultural farming system

ROA Project - FAO

Sources of Data:

• Secondary data, except for the environment and cultural/perception modules where data were generated through field surveys

• A major source of data for the ROA studies has been the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS) data --- GLSS 1987/88, GLSS 1988/89, GLSS 1991/92 and GLSS 1998/99

ROA Project - FAO

Summary of Results:Environment & Poverty

• Environment --- Roles of agriculture are both positive and negative

• Poverty --- Role of agriculture in reducing poverty in Ghana should target the poor and promote the production and marketing of non-tradeable starchy staples, livestock and fish, IN ADDITION to promoting cash crops.

ROA Project - FAO

Summary of Results:Food Security & Buffer

• Food Security --- Role of agriculture more in availability and accessibility of food to all the population

• Buffer Role --- Most important positive externality is the Social Security role. Evidence adduced shows that the rural farm family served as migrants’ insurance towards unemployment in the absence of formal insurance.

ROA Project - FAO

Summary of Results: Social Viability

• Social Viability Role --- Generally , transformation of agriculture in Ghana is inadequate and it is not serving as a pool effect on migration.

• Analysis of the reasons for people moving from one place to another in 1999 suggested that it is domestic considerations, rather than employment needs, which have the greatest influence on migration flows

ROA Project - FAO

Summary of Results: Culture

• Cultural Perception Role --- Farming is, in general, and by all classes of respondent viewed as fundamental, natural, given by God, and before everything else

• Farming as an occupation is traditional, but farmers do not consider themselves traditionalists in crops or practice

ROA Project - FAO

Synthesis of Module Results

• Environmental Role• policy effects of agricultural activities on

the environment, such as the promotion of export commodities, the exploitation of timber and forest resources, and indiscriminate sale and use of agro-chemicals in Ghana have been negative in many respects.

• However, trade liberalization and agricultural subsidy removal have limited the use of improved agricultural technologies (for example, high fertilizer prices have increased production cost), and subsequently worsened the extent of soil degradation.

ROA Project - FAO

PovertyAgriculture is the major occupation of a majority of the rural population, any interventions in agriculture (especially starchy staples) and their subsequent effects on agricultural incomes and income distribution can have profound effect on poverty alleviation among the rural folks.

Food SecurityThe promotion of food production could

improve the ability of Ghanaian farmers to feed the growing population and increase their incomes, but at the same time generate externalities as more lands are brought into cultivation.

ROA Project - FAO

BufferAgriculture thus provided the urban skilled and un-skilled retrenched labour a buffer against sudden deterioration in their living standards, and this role could be enormous, considering the relatively large numbers of

public sector retrenched workers. Social ViabilityThe social viability role of agriculture in

Ghana has manifested itself primarily in agricultural population re-distribution as farmers chased emerging opportunities across ecological zones (e.g. new frontiers for the cultivation of cocoa and other non-traditional export crops).

ROA Project - FAO

CultureThe symbolic importance of agriculture in its various manifestations (such as a status symbol) and for the various “national culture” actors, and how policy facilitates the shaping of these perceptions to understand the consequences for such symbolic importance, provide avenues for improved interaction between agriculture

and its cultural environment