Mechanization in Ghana
Emerging demand, and the search for alternative supply models
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11929454 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Xinshen Diao (0000-0003-4843-1670, International Food Policy Research Institute, corresponding author), Frances Cossar (International Food Policy Research Institute), Nazaire Houssou (0000-0002-9198-3342, International Food Policy Research Institute), Shashidhara Kolavalli |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Pages | 168-181 |
| Publication date | 2014-06-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Food Policy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0306-9192 • E-ISSN: 1873-5657 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.foodpol.2014.05.013 |
| OpenAlex | W2046540481 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 46 |
| References cited | 20 |
Influential studies in the 1980s and early 1990s drew on the Boserup–Ruthenberg theories of farming systems evolution to argue that African countries were not yet ready for widespread agricultural mechanization. Through applying the theories of farming systems evolution and of induced innovation in technical change, this paper shows that demand for certain mechanized farming operations particularly plowing has emerged even among smallholders, suggesting that supply issues may now be the main constraint to successful mechanization. We therefore adopt a supply chain approach to analyze two types of mechanization practices in Ghana, i.e., a recent state-led mechanization program and the private sector-led service hiring market, against an international perspective by drawing on three Asian supply models. We identify two major flaws in existing policies. First, the agricultural mechanization service centers that the government promotes fail to use tractors services with sufficient intensity. Second, direct importation of agricultural machinery by the government inhibits imports of appropriate and affordable machinery. In contrast, the development of mechanized service hiring market in which medium and large scale farmers who are tractor owners provide hiring-out services to small-scale farmers represents a promising model for sustainable mechanization in Ghana. This private sector-led second model is consistent with international experiences
Agricultural economics · Agriculture · Business · Constraint (computer-aided design · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Government (linguistics · Industrial organization · Mechanization · Private sector · Service (business · Supply and demand · Supply chain · Tractor · Agricultural Innovations and Practices · Agriculture and Rural Development Research · Engineering · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development · Marketing
Rwanda’s Agricultural Transformation Revisited
Digital financial inclusion and agricultural modernization development in China—a study based on the perspective of agricultural mechanization services
Internet use and technical efficiency of grain production in China
State policies and smallholders politics in Ghana’s agriculture ‘Modernization’ paradigm
Motivations and incentives for mechanization in Zambia
Built-up area expansion in the Wa Municipality of Ghana
Agricultural mechanization, environmental degradation, and gendered livelihood implications in northern Ghana
Traditional agriculture in transition
Agricultural mechanization and land productivity in China
The Exclusion of Smallholders in Transformations of Agricultural Machinery Service Markets
Donors and domestic policy makers
The rapid rise of agricultural mechanization in Myanmar
Of zinc roofs and mango trees
Cities and rural transformation
Brazil’s Agricultural Politics in Africa
Protecting habitats in low-intensity tropical farmland using carbon-based payments for ecosystem services
Exploring the effects of farm mechanization, financial development, and renewable energy on China’s food production
Innovative fire policy in the Amazon
What factors are inducing or impeding the adoption of agricultural mechanization? Revisiting farm scale, overhead capital and spatial divergence
The role of agricultural cooperatives in improving mechanization levels
Women’s access to mechanization and the productivity gap between men and women on small rice farms in Côte d’Ivoire
A feminist political ecology of agricultural mechanization and evolving gendered on-farm labor dynamics in northern Ghana
Brazil’s Tropical Solutions for Africa
Changes in Ghanaian farming systems
Using smartphone app collected data to explore the link between mechanization and intra-household allocation of time in Zambia
Implications of socioeconomic change for agrarian land and labour relations in rural Ghana
Land consolidation on Ghana's rural customary lands
Effects of tractor ownership on returns-to-scale in agriculture
Does agricultural intensification pay in the context of structural transformation
Land pressures, the evolution of farming systems, and development strategies in Africa
Can small farms benefit from big companies’ initiatives to promote mechanization in Africa? A case study from Zambia
Contested commons
Household-owned farm machinery vs. outsourced machinery services
Subsidization of mechanized tillage as an alternative to fire-based land preparation by smallholders
Scale-appropriate mechanization impacts on productivity among smallholders
Responsible consolidation of customary lands
Land consolidation activities in Sub-Saharan Africa towards the agenda 2030
Unpacking the behavioral intentions of ‘emergent farmers’ towards mechanized conservation agriculture in Zambia
Use of the Migrating Birds Optimization (MBO) Algorithm in solving land distribution problem
A clustering-based approach to land valuation in land consolidation projects
Mechanisation of small-scale farms in South Asia
Assessing the Implications of Agricultural Mechanisation for Customary Land Tenure Relations in the Transitional Zone, Ghana
Empowerment and agricultural mechanisation
Old tractors, new policies and induced technological transformation
Simmering Tensions and Emerging Conflicts Among Key Group Actors Amid Capitalist Transformation in Northern Ghana
Tractors, states, markets and agrarian change in Africa
Farming systems in the tropics
Policy Planning for Agricultural Development
An Ecological and Historical Perspective on Agricultural Development in Southeast Asia
Production pressure and environmental change in the forest-savanna zone of Southern Ghana
Adaptation to land constraints
Population and agriculture in the dry and derived savannah zones of Ghana
Factor Prices and Technical Change in Agricultural Development
Productivity Growth in World Agriculture
Behavioral and Material Determinants of Production Relations in Land-Abundant Tropical Agriculture
| Unique citing works | 46 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,83 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2026 (13) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 45 |