Technical Efficiency of Vegetable Farmers in Peri-Urban Ghana Influence and Effects of Resource Inequalities

Samuel Twumasi Amoah; Irene Akobour Debrah; Razak Abubakari

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14

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Technical Efficiency of Vegetable Farmers in Peri-Urban Ghana Influence and Effects of Resource Inequalities

Samuel Twumasi Amoah, Irene Akobour Debrah, Razak Abubakari

Published in American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry (Volume 2, Issue 3)

Received: 16 April 2014 Accepted: 4 May 2014 Published: 20 May 2014

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Abstract

In Ghana, statistics indicate that women account for about 70% of total food production and are the most important actors in the food chain which begins from the farm production, market and intra household distribution of food. They play a lead role in post-harvest activities such as shelling of grains, storage, processing and marketing. They are also becoming increasingly visible in farm tasks which traditionally have been designated as male preserve. Despite the increasing central role of women in food production, they have much more limited access to resources than their male counterparts especially in the areas of education, land, agricultural extension services and access to credit, all of which combine to restrain their ability to increase productivity. This study was therefore undertaken toexamine the technical efficiency of male and female vegetable farmers in the Kumasi Metropolis using the stochastic production frontier model. Female vegetable farmers were found to be producing at high levels of inefficiency. The predicted efficiencies differed substantially from between 2 and 85 percent, with mean efficiency of 24 percent. The low mean efficiency index is an indication of inefficiencies in resource use. Also, female headed farms recorded a mean technical efficiency of 16.5 percent with a range between 2 and 66 percent. The male headed farms, on the other hand, showed a mean technical efficiency of 30.8 percent, and a range between 2 and 85 percent. The results imply that on the average, female vegetable farmers were relatively technically inefficient than their male counterparts. The paper concludes that since women farmers contribute immensely of domestic food supply in Ghana, it is important that efforts be made to build their capacity to produce efficiently.

Published in	American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry (Volume 2, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14
Page(s)	79-87
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), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Inefficiency, Stochastic Frontier Model,Peri-Urban, Vegetable, Farmers

References

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APA Style

Samuel Twumasi Amoah, Irene Akobour Debrah, Razak Abubakari. (2014). Technical Efficiency of Vegetable Farmers in Peri-Urban Ghana Influence and Effects of Resource Inequalities. American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 2(3), 79-87. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14

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ACS Style

Samuel Twumasi Amoah; Irene Akobour Debrah; Razak Abubakari. Technical Efficiency of Vegetable Farmers in Peri-Urban Ghana Influence and Effects of Resource Inequalities. Am. J. Agric. For. 2014, 2(3), 79-87. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14

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AMA Style

Samuel Twumasi Amoah, Irene Akobour Debrah, Razak Abubakari. Technical Efficiency of Vegetable Farmers in Peri-Urban Ghana Influence and Effects of Resource Inequalities. Am J Agric For. 2014;2(3):79-87. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14

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@article{10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14,
  author = {Samuel Twumasi Amoah and Irene Akobour Debrah and Razak Abubakari},
  title = {Technical Efficiency of Vegetable Farmers in Peri-Urban Ghana Influence and Effects of Resource Inequalities},
  journal = {American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry},
  volume = {2},
  number = {3},
  pages = {79-87},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajaf.20140203.14},
  abstract = {In Ghana, statistics indicate that women account for about 70% of total food production and are the most important actors in the food chain which begins from the farm production, market and intra household distribution of food. They play a lead role in post-harvest activities such as shelling of grains, storage, processing and marketing. They are also becoming increasingly visible in farm tasks which traditionally have been designated as male preserve. Despite the increasing central role of women in food production, they have much more limited access to resources than their male counterparts especially in the areas of education, land, agricultural extension services and access to credit, all of which combine to restrain their ability to increase productivity. This study was therefore undertaken toexamine the technical efficiency of male and female vegetable farmers in the Kumasi Metropolis using the stochastic production frontier model. Female vegetable farmers were found to be producing at high levels of inefficiency. The predicted efficiencies differed substantially from between 2 and 85 percent, with mean efficiency of 24 percent. The low mean efficiency index is an indication of inefficiencies in resource use. Also, female headed farms recorded a mean technical efficiency of 16.5 percent with a range between 2 and 66 percent.  The male headed farms, on the other hand, showed a mean technical efficiency of 30.8 percent, and a range between 2 and 85 percent. The results imply that on the average, female vegetable farmers were relatively technically inefficient than their male counterparts. The paper concludes that since women farmers contribute immensely of domestic food supply in Ghana, it is important that efforts be made to build their capacity to produce efficiently.},
 year = {2014}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Technical Efficiency of Vegetable Farmers in Peri-Urban Ghana Influence and Effects of Resource Inequalities
AU  - Samuel Twumasi Amoah
AU  - Irene Akobour Debrah
AU  - Razak Abubakari
Y1  - 2014/05/20
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14
T2  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
JF  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
JO  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
SP  - 79
EP  - 87
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8591
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14
AB  - In Ghana, statistics indicate that women account for about 70% of total food production and are the most important actors in the food chain which begins from the farm production, market and intra household distribution of food. They play a lead role in post-harvest activities such as shelling of grains, storage, processing and marketing. They are also becoming increasingly visible in farm tasks which traditionally have been designated as male preserve. Despite the increasing central role of women in food production, they have much more limited access to resources than their male counterparts especially in the areas of education, land, agricultural extension services and access to credit, all of which combine to restrain their ability to increase productivity. This study was therefore undertaken toexamine the technical efficiency of male and female vegetable farmers in the Kumasi Metropolis using the stochastic production frontier model. Female vegetable farmers were found to be producing at high levels of inefficiency. The predicted efficiencies differed substantially from between 2 and 85 percent, with mean efficiency of 24 percent. The low mean efficiency index is an indication of inefficiencies in resource use. Also, female headed farms recorded a mean technical efficiency of 16.5 percent with a range between 2 and 66 percent.  The male headed farms, on the other hand, showed a mean technical efficiency of 30.8 percent, and a range between 2 and 85 percent. The results imply that on the average, female vegetable farmers were relatively technically inefficient than their male counterparts. The paper concludes that since women farmers contribute immensely of domestic food supply in Ghana, it is important that efforts be made to build their capacity to produce efficiently.
VL  - 2
IS  - 3
ER  -

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Author Information

Samuel Twumasi Amoah

Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University for Development Studies, WA, Ghana
Irene Akobour Debrah

Faculty of Education, University for Development Studies, WA, Ghana
Razak Abubakari

School of Business and Law, University for Development Studies, WA, Ghana

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Samuel Twumasi Amoah, Irene Akobour Debrah, Razak Abubakari. (2014). Technical Efficiency of Vegetable Farmers in Peri-Urban Ghana Influence and Effects of Resource Inequalities. American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 2(3), 79-87. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14

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ACS Style

Samuel Twumasi Amoah; Irene Akobour Debrah; Razak Abubakari. Technical Efficiency of Vegetable Farmers in Peri-Urban Ghana Influence and Effects of Resource Inequalities. Am. J. Agric. For. 2014, 2(3), 79-87. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14

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AMA Style

Samuel Twumasi Amoah, Irene Akobour Debrah, Razak Abubakari. Technical Efficiency of Vegetable Farmers in Peri-Urban Ghana Influence and Effects of Resource Inequalities. Am J Agric For. 2014;2(3):79-87. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14

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@article{10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14,
  author = {Samuel Twumasi Amoah and Irene Akobour Debrah and Razak Abubakari},
  title = {Technical Efficiency of Vegetable Farmers in Peri-Urban Ghana Influence and Effects of Resource Inequalities},
  journal = {American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry},
  volume = {2},
  number = {3},
  pages = {79-87},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajaf.20140203.14},
  abstract = {In Ghana, statistics indicate that women account for about 70% of total food production and are the most important actors in the food chain which begins from the farm production, market and intra household distribution of food. They play a lead role in post-harvest activities such as shelling of grains, storage, processing and marketing. They are also becoming increasingly visible in farm tasks which traditionally have been designated as male preserve. Despite the increasing central role of women in food production, they have much more limited access to resources than their male counterparts especially in the areas of education, land, agricultural extension services and access to credit, all of which combine to restrain their ability to increase productivity. This study was therefore undertaken toexamine the technical efficiency of male and female vegetable farmers in the Kumasi Metropolis using the stochastic production frontier model. Female vegetable farmers were found to be producing at high levels of inefficiency. The predicted efficiencies differed substantially from between 2 and 85 percent, with mean efficiency of 24 percent. The low mean efficiency index is an indication of inefficiencies in resource use. Also, female headed farms recorded a mean technical efficiency of 16.5 percent with a range between 2 and 66 percent.  The male headed farms, on the other hand, showed a mean technical efficiency of 30.8 percent, and a range between 2 and 85 percent. The results imply that on the average, female vegetable farmers were relatively technically inefficient than their male counterparts. The paper concludes that since women farmers contribute immensely of domestic food supply in Ghana, it is important that efforts be made to build their capacity to produce efficiently.},
 year = {2014}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Technical Efficiency of Vegetable Farmers in Peri-Urban Ghana Influence and Effects of Resource Inequalities
AU  - Samuel Twumasi Amoah
AU  - Irene Akobour Debrah
AU  - Razak Abubakari
Y1  - 2014/05/20
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14
T2  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
JF  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
JO  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
SP  - 79
EP  - 87
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8591
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20140203.14
AB  - In Ghana, statistics indicate that women account for about 70% of total food production and are the most important actors in the food chain which begins from the farm production, market and intra household distribution of food. They play a lead role in post-harvest activities such as shelling of grains, storage, processing and marketing. They are also becoming increasingly visible in farm tasks which traditionally have been designated as male preserve. Despite the increasing central role of women in food production, they have much more limited access to resources than their male counterparts especially in the areas of education, land, agricultural extension services and access to credit, all of which combine to restrain their ability to increase productivity. This study was therefore undertaken toexamine the technical efficiency of male and female vegetable farmers in the Kumasi Metropolis using the stochastic production frontier model. Female vegetable farmers were found to be producing at high levels of inefficiency. The predicted efficiencies differed substantially from between 2 and 85 percent, with mean efficiency of 24 percent. The low mean efficiency index is an indication of inefficiencies in resource use. Also, female headed farms recorded a mean technical efficiency of 16.5 percent with a range between 2 and 66 percent.  The male headed farms, on the other hand, showed a mean technical efficiency of 30.8 percent, and a range between 2 and 85 percent. The results imply that on the average, female vegetable farmers were relatively technically inefficient than their male counterparts. The paper concludes that since women farmers contribute immensely of domestic food supply in Ghana, it is important that efforts be made to build their capacity to produce efficiently.
VL  - 2
IS  - 3
ER  -

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