Browsing by Author "Asem, F.E."
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Item Bayesian technical efficiency analysis of groundnut production in Ghana(Cogent Economics & Finance, 2022) Chakuri, D.; Asem, F.E.; Onumah, E.E.This paper considered Bayesian Stochastic Frontier Model to analyse technical efficiency and their determinants of groundnut farmers in Ghana. The paper used cross-sectional data of three-hundred (300) observations to obtain posterior distributions of the farmers’ technical efficiency levels. All computations were done using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods (MCMC). results revealed that the groundnut farmers produce at an increasing return to scale of 1.10. Average technical efficiency of the farmers was found to be 70.5%, ranging from a minimum of 13.0% to a maximum of 95.1%. Frequency of extension visit, educational level and gender of the farmers were identified to significantly explain inefficiency of the farmers. The paper concluded that groundnut farmers in the northern part of Ghana are operating in the first stage of the production function and could increase their frontier output by 29.5%.Item Consumer food storage practices and methods at the household-level: a community study in Ghana(Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 2023) Afriyie, E.; Zurek, M.; Asem, F.E.; Okpattah, B.; Ahiakpa, J.K.; Zhu, Y-G.Introduction: Household-level food storage can make food available to consumers, and promotes food security. Nevertheless, attention is mostly devoted to enhancing food storage at the farmer and national levels, neglecting the household level. It is therefore critical to assess food storage practices of households. This study examined food storage practices of households, evaluated expert opinions on household-level food storage, and assessed the effect household characteristics has on food storage and food security. Methods: Dzorwulu and Jamestown communities in Accra, Ghana, were chosen as the study locations. The study consisted of a survey, expert interviews and structural equation modeling. For the survey, 400 food household heads selected using systematic sampling method responded to a semi-structured questionnaire. Seventeen (17) experts were also purposively sampled and interviewed. Results and Discussion: The results showed that, most households stored foodstuffs they often consumed, with generally low storage of fruits and vegetables. Perishable foods such as cassava, tomato, yam, and banana were stored by 37.8, 42, 38.3 and 43.8% of households, respectively, for 1–3 days. Households often stored food within a period of 2 weeks, due to poor storage facilities and lack of food storage knowledge. About 85.8% of households had never received training on food storage. Most households used baskets, bowls, sacks and polyethylene bags to store food at home, and some used refrigerators and deep freezers. Regarding the link between food storage and food security, household heads’ income showed a significant positive moderating effect (p≤ 0.01), households’ socioeconomic status had a positive effect, while household size indicated a significant negative moderating effect (p≤ 0.01). The experts asserted that, household-level food storage enhances food security and food safety, and reduces food expenditure and food wastage. The limited food storage knowledge of households should be a basis for intervention to enhance proper food storage practices within households.Item Determinants of Household-Level Food Storage Practices and Outcomes on Food Safety and Security in Accra, Ghana(Foods, 2022) Afriyie, E.; Asem, F.E.; Aidoo, E.K.; et al.Household-level food storage can help families save money, minimize food waste, and enhance food safety and security. Storing food within households may, however, be affected by domestic routines like food shopping and cooking. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate how consumers’ attitudes and behaviors influence food storage at the household level. This study aimed to assess the determinants of household-level food storage, ascertain consumers’ behavior and perception towards food storage, and assess the effect of household-level food storage on food safety, wastage, food expenditure and security. Dzorwulu and Jamestown, both located in Accra, Ghana, served as the study’s primary sites. The study employed a survey and structural equation modeling to evaluate key determinants of household-level food storage practices and their impacts. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 400 food household heads, sampled using systematic sampling procedure. The results showed that food shopping drives food storage. There was, however, a significant negative association (p < 0.001) between food shopping and time of food storage. Although cooking impedes household-level food storage; there was significant positive association (p < 0.001) between frequency of cooking and storage period of food commodities. The findings also revealed that household-level food storage promotes food safety, reduces food expenditure and waste, and contributes to enhancing food security by 43%. To promote household-level food storage and ensure food safety and security, future study should concentrate on enhancing conventional household-level food storage practices that are efficient, cheaper and easily implementable.Item Effects of capitation grant on education outcomes in Ghana(Accra, Institute of Social and Economic Research, 2009-04) Osei, R.D.; Owusu, G.A.; Asem, F.E.; Afutu-Kotey, R.L.This study provides an assessment of how capitation grant is impacting on key education outcomes in Ghana. In particular it provides an empirical platform for assessing how this policy is contributing to the achievement of the MDGs, and more. The key education outcome indicators which form the basis of the study are gross enrolment rates at the Junior High school level, the pass rates for the national examinations at the Junior High school level and the gap in the examination performance of boys and girls. It employs an econometric estimation model to assess how capitation grant affects these variables. Using district level data over the period 2005- 2007 and across the country, the study finds that capitation grant have not had any significant effect on these key education outcomes. The study concludes by noting that although the results are not consistent with a priori expectations, the findings may reflect the fact that the capitation grant in Ghana only started in 2005 and so it is too early to begin to see its effects. The inability of the study to account for demand-side factors may also be contributing to the results. However the study notes that these results may be a pointer to the fact that capitation grant alone cannot deliver on important education outcomes as enshrined in the MDGs.Item Efficiency and productivity analysis of pineapple farmers in the Akwapim-South District of Ghana: A distance function approach(Taylor & Francis Group, 2021) Ofori-Appiah, Y.; Onumah, E.E.; Asem, F.E.he study sought to analyze the efficiency and productivity of pineapple farmers in the Akwapim-South District of Ghana. The paper employs the stochastic translog distance function technique to analyze the influence of inputs on outputs whilst highlighting the technical efficiency and its determinants of the pineapple farmers. A total of 135 respondents were randomly selected using the multi-stage sampling technique. The results reveal that all the input variables (fertilizer, labour, cost of pineapple suckers and intermediate cost) are significant and have a positive influence on the productivity of pineapple production. The shadow share of other crops is estimated to be negative relative to the production of pineapple in the output mix. The mean technical efficiency score is found to be 85%. This implies that pineapple farmers in the Akwapim-South District have the potential to increase their output level by 15% using the current technology available to them. The results further indicate that age, number of extension visits, education and FBO (farmer-based organization) membership significantly and positively affect the technical efficiency of pineapple farmers. The paper recommends that government policies should ensure inputs are available to farmers at subsidized prices. Furthermore, regular education of extension agents and properly structured extension and FBO service delivery systems should be put in place to enhance the productivity of farmers.Item The state of food security and its determinants in Ghana: an ordered probit analysis of the household hunger scale and household food insecurity access scale(Scientific African, 2023) Kolog, J.D.; Asem, F.E.; Mensah-Bonsu, A.The issue of food insecurity has been well documented to be severe in northern Ghana. Several attempts have been made to curb the situation, but the effects of these interventions are unknown. Using responses from 405 rural households, this paper estimates the determinants of food insecurity in the Upper East region. Data were analysed using de scriptive statistics and an ordered probit regression. The Household Food Security Access Scale (HFIAS) and the Household Hunger Scale (HHS) were the two measures of household food security used in the study. This paper validates and compares the two measures used to check whether determinants and status of household food security differ between the two measures. The findings show that the two measures of food security agreed on most of the significant determinants of household food security. Factors such as education of household head, households’ farm size, access to credit and access to extension services were significant determinants of household food security by both measures. Factors such as household size, access to good roads, access to formal cooperative and availability of paid jobs were found to be significant determinants of household food security with the HFIAS, while gender of household head and distance to market were significant determinants of food security in the HHS model. The study recommends improved education, social structures such as good roads and markets as well as support services such as credit and extension to combat food insecurity. These key steps should be taken as pillars to the sustainable implementation of Agenda 2063 for a food secure Africa.Item Urban Sprawl in sub-Saharan Africa: A review of the literature in selected countries(Ghana Journal of Geography, 2020) Yiran, G.A.B.; Ablo, A.D.; Asem, F.E.; Owusu, G.Urban sprawl has gained popularity in academic discourse in recent times, but the majority of the research was conducted in developed countries. There is a marginal body of works on the character and nature of urban sprawl in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), although the region is experiencing one of the fastest rates of sprawl. Urbanisation in SSA is very rapid, and in addition to the emerging challenges of globalisation, climate change and poverty, SSA cities have an enormous task to manage urban sprawl. This paper reviews the literature on urban sprawl in SSA to identify research gaps and propose a research agenda. Published articles from five Anglophone countries in three of the four regional blocks in SSA were selected. The literature was organised into the causes and effects of urban sprawl and showed that the previous research on the subject focused mainly on its environmental impacts. Few studies have looked at the effects of sprawl on rural livelihoods, agriculture and food security considering the challenges of global climate change and poverty. Other studies have used Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems, but these were conducted largely for change detection. The paper recommends the deployment of a more comprehensive methodology incorporating remote sensing/GIS with ethnographic methods to capture better the complexity and impacts of urban sprawl in SSA. Additionally, further research attention must be paid to the effects of urban sprawl on rural livelihoods and overall sprawl-induced agrarian change.Item Urbanisation and domestic energy trends: Analysis of household energy consumption patterns in relation to land-use change in peri-urban Accra, Ghana(Land Use Policy, 2020) Yiran, G.A.B.; Ablo, A.D.; Asem, F.E.Urban living has become a dominant lifestyle in the 21st century. The period also comes with far-reaching changes in knowledge-gathering, which has become more compartmentalised, fragmented and specialised. This is reflected in the ways of working of both academic and government institutions, and has led to incomplete knowledge and understanding of human ecology, and the formulation of unwise, strongly sectoral policies, not least in respect to the understanding, planning and managing the dynamics of energy use and land-use change in an era of global climate change. This study contributes to addressing the perceived shortcoming by comparing patterns of energy consumption in two research locations in peri-urban Accra: representing a more urbanised, and a cluster of rural communities, respectively. The study applied an inter-disciplinary approach combining expert interviews, a literature review, and an in-depth change analysis based on remote sensing/geo-information systems. The paper establishes a relationship between land-use change and wood-fuel and LPG usage mediated by geographical and socioeconomic discrepancies. We conclude that different peri-urban patterns are driven by geographic, historical, cultural and economic disparities. Therefore, if energy policies and strategies for sus tainable development are to be successfully constructed, there is the need to accommodate and enforce land-use policies by adopting a comprehensive approach to governance