Analysis of Crop Diversification Among Cocoa, Oil Palm and Rubber Farmers in Atiwa West District and Kwaebibirem Municipality.

Abstract

Lots of studies have been conducted on arable crop diversification but little work exists on diversification among tree crop farmers and its effects on farmer welfare. In the study area of Kwaebibirem Municipality and Atiwa West District in the Eastern region of Ghana, not much literature exists on tree crop diversification and its effects on household food insecurity and farm incomes. This study, therefore, sought to ascertain the extent of diversification practiced by tree crop farmers, the factors that influence diversification and the effect of diversification on farm income and household food insecurity (access) status. The study further explored the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of tree crop production in order to design strategies that can help tree crop farmers to be more food secure and more resilient to market and climate risks. Structured interviews with 740 farmers, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were tools used for data collection for the study. A Crop Diversification Index (CDI) based on the Herfindahl Index, gross profit analysis, z-tests, Tobit regression and SWOT-TOWS analysis were used to analyse the data. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) was used to assess the access dimension of household food insecurity. Low crop diversification was observed among tree crop farmers with an average CDI of 0.23. Majority (96.89) of farm households belong to the low diversification group with more than 95% of lands allocated for the production of tree crops. The study identified number of farm plots, distance to farms, frequency of information access, sex, and dependency ratio as factors that influenced the extent of crop diversification among tree crop farmers. Low levels of food insecurity was observed among tree crop farmers with a mean HFIAS score of 3.91. Farmers who produced only one type of tree crop recorded the highest average gross profit (GHS 6377.60) and also had the highest HFIAS score (4.31) in the access dimension of food insecurity. Slightly diversified farming presents a good compromise for food insecurity (2.79) and for gross profit (GHS 5727.50). The gross profits of highly diversified farmers were significantly different (lower) from that of lowly diversified farmers. However there was no significant difference in the household food insecurity status of farmers. Farmers practice temporal diversification during the immature stage of tree crop farms while mature tree crop farms are maintained as monocrops due to closed canopies. The study recommends that tree crop farmers should diversify mature farms by including leguminous cover crops to fix organic nitrogen into the soil in order to reduce the rate of fertiliser application, labour for weed control and other variable costs. Research should be conducted on the inclusion of groundnuts, sweet potato and Aframomum melegueta (fom wisa) in tree crop farms. Further research should be conducted to modify tree crop density per acreage in order to enable intercropping with other tree or food crops. Research institutions should establish model farms of diversified tree crop farm systems in order to conduct research to influence policy. Market-oriented diversication should be the objective of research since the tree crops in this study area are cash crops. The OVCF and other funding sources should include crop diversification in the design of funded portfolios for tree crop production