Analysis of production efficiency and the impact of extension services and policies on cocoa productivity in the western region of Ghana

Michael Amponsah Odei, BSc

Master's thesis

Abstract:

In Ghana, cocoa production dominates the agriculture sector and plays a crucial role in the national economy. The crop has been country’s backbone and the major agricultural export and foreign exchange earnings as well as the main source of livelihood for rural households since the 1960s. However, over the past decades, the sector has been experiencing a decline in production prompting successive governments and stakeholders to come up with policies and initiatives to improve productivity. Despite the numerous efforts, production has not seen appreciable increase. As a result, Ghana has dropped from its second position after Ivory Coast to third position in the world cocoa export ranking. In view of this, the study seeks to assess the efficiency of resource utilisation among cocoa farming households and examine the factors that influence cocoa productivity in the Western Region of Ghana. The study used the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to analyse technical efficiency and resource used in cocoa production and the Structural Equation Model (SEM) to analyse the influence of policies on cocoa productivity. Farm-level data of 90 cocoa farmers was obtained using semi-structured questionnaires complemented by purposive sampling techniques. DEA results indicated that cocoa farmers were inefficient with a mean pure technical efficiency of 70 %. Factors that influenced cocoa productivity were established to be fertiliser subsidies offered by the government and the extension advisory and services. Addressing issues of productivity, it is recommended that extension advisory and services should be directed towards managerial efficiency of cocoa farmers. Also, government should strengthen and expand the CODAPEC spraying programme to cover greater mass of the rural farming households in order to improve the efficiency and productivity of the cocoa sector.

Keywords

Government policy, Resource use, Data envelopment, Cacao, Subsidies

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 27. 4. 2018

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Miroslava Bavorová

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

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