Small-scale farmers' challenge of integration into the world market

Abstract

Concerns about the effects of globalization on small-scale farmers in Africa have been an issue of debate for the past two decades. Globalization comes with rewards as well as challenges and affects farmers around the world in different ways, based on their specific characteristics, the nature of their market networks and cropping patterns. Field results from three farming systems in Ghana show that winner households in the process of globalization have relatively larger farms, produce high value crops, have a relatively well educated household member and have stronger market networks. Loser households had a small share of their output that is traded. The geographic location, nature of market linkages, environmental conditions, and the extent of infrastructural development of a particular farming system were found to affect the degree of market integration. Targeted support to acquire production inputs and effectively market farm produce can enhance the opportunities for better integration into the global market system, reduce poverty, and increase farmer incomes. © Common Ground, Ivy Drafor, George T-M. Kwadzo, All Rights Reserved.