Farmland abandonment and its drivers on the urban-rural fringes of Ghana.

Dominic Nyendu

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Farmland has suffered significant losses in many emerging countries because of rapid urbanization, industrialization, and economic expansion. Farmers are also diversifying their livelihood and becoming less reliant on farming and hence resulting in farmland abandonment. This phenomenon would result in the possibility of food insecurity, and a low level of living standard due to farmers' low income. Hence this study investigates the determinants of abandonment of farmland in the rapidly urbanizing metropolis of Shai-Osudoku District in Ghana. About 142 semi-structured questionnaires were administered to farm household heads in five communities in the Shai-Osudoku District. Multiple linear regression was used to examine the effect of household, institution, farm, and location characteristics on farmland abandonment. The results revealed five key factors that had influence on farmland abandonment: off-farm income (0.018) p< 0.05, access to labour (0.040) p< 0.05, farmland size (0.003) p< 0.01, land disputes (0.063) p< 0.10, and distance from the farmhouse to the nearest urban area (0.038) p< 0.05. Based on the findings, the study recommended that Ghana implement an urban development policy to mitigate the harmful consequences of land-use changes on urban ecosystems in the Shai-Osudoku District and throughout Ghana. The purpose of such policies should be to maintain a reasonable balance between urban infrastructure growth, ecological sustainability, and agricultural productivity.

Keywords

Farmland abandonment, Urban agriculture, Land tenure, Land-use change, Questionnaire survey

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 21. 4. 2022

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedúci: doc. Ing. Miroslava Bavorová, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Master programme / odbor:
Tropical Agriculture / International Development and Agricultural Economics