|
African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development
Rural Outreach Program
ISSN: 1684-5358 EISSN: 1684-5358
Vol. 20, No. 5, 2020, pp. 16278-16289
|
Bioline Code: nd20074
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge
|
|
African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, Vol. 20, No. 5, 2020, pp. 16278-16289
en |
GOVERNMENT AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDY PROGRAMMES IMPACT ON RICE PRODUCTION IN GHANA FROM 2005 TO 2018
Badu, DB & Lee, Y
Abstract
Agricultural subsidies are considered an essential tool of policy to improve food
production (or productivity), farmers’ income and welfare in developing countries. There
is no doubt that the role of subsidies programmes is important for farmers or rural areas,
but impacts of subsidies are different from crops, inputs, government programmes and
so on. Over the past years, Ghana’s agricultural sector has experienced policies changes
such as Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA I and II), Food and
Agricultural Sector Development Policy (FASDEP I and II) and Medium Term
Agricultural Sector Investment Plan (METASIP I and II) that support improving
agricultural productivity, creating jobs and increasing income. The government of Ghana
recognizes that food and nutrition are high priorities and conducts various subsidy
programmes of agricultural inputs and outputs. Rice is the second most consumed crop
in Ghana. Rice consumption in Ghana would keep increasing due to the growing
population, urbanization and change in consumer lifestyles or food preference. This
study analyzed the impacts of different subsidy programmes on rice production across
the 10 regions in Ghana. The data used in the study starts from 2005 to 2018. The first
estimation model evaluated the impacts of before-subsidies and after-subsidies on rice
production in Ghana. The results from the first model showed that rice production
increased after subsidies. Specifically, fertilizer after subsidies had a positive impact on
rice production. However, labor after subsidies did not have statistically significant
effects on rice production. The second estimation model compared two different subsidy
programmes: Fertilizer Subsidy Programme (FSP) and Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ).
This study found fertilizer with FSP was more effective than with PFJ; however, labor
with FSP was less effective with PFJ. The programme of FSP was intensively focused
on fertilizer; however, the programme PFJ aims to cover a diverse range of fertilizer,
seed, extension services, marketing and so on.
Keywords
Rice; Ghana; Fertilizer; Labour; Subsidy programme; Random effects
|
|
© Copyright 2020 - African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development Alternative site location: http://www.ajfand.net/
|
|