Measuring sustainability of conservation and conventional practices in maize production in Ghana
Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development
Abstract
Scientists and researchers worldwide have recommended Conservation
Agriculture has the potential to promote sustainability in agriculture. This
paper attempts to measure and compare the economic, social, and environmental
sustainability of both conservation and conventional practices used for maize
production in the northern region of Ghana employing the Multi-Attribute Value Theory
(MAVT) approach. Based on the three pillars of sustainability (economic, social, and
environmental), adopters of minimum tillage practice (scoring 0.5, 0.6, 0.82), and the
combined adoption of minimum tillage and integrated organic-inorganic fertilizer
application (scoring 0.53, 0.5, 0.88) emerged as sustainable practices. Despite these
scores, the z-test of difference in means of the conservation practices and conventional
ones were all insignificant, indicating that the conservation practices in use were not
different from the conventional ones in terms of their contribution to sustainable maize
production. Technical assistance and training that aids in ensuring the appropriate
application of conservation practices should be ensured if the goal of sustainability is to
be realized.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
sustainability, conservation practices, Multi Attribute Value Theory, Ghana, Northern region