Globally,cocoa is famous for the production of chocolates and beverages.However,it also serves as a source of raw material for the manufacturing of high-quality cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. Due to its high de...Globally,cocoa is famous for the production of chocolates and beverages.However,it also serves as a source of raw material for the manufacturing of high-quality cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. Due to its high demand,cocoa is regarded as a major commodity for poverty alleviation in deprived cocoa farming communities. Government has therefore instigated relevant measures to address issues facing the sector by investing in extension programs. These programs act as information dissemination tools for teaching modern farming technologies and enhancing learning among farmers. This study highlighted the effects of the Cocoa Life Project (CLP) by Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) International on farm productivity and income of 200 cocoa farmers in three districts of the Eastern Region,Ghana. Regression on covariates,Heckman’s treatment effects model,and propensity scores were used to test the robustness of the estimates. A positive association between extension program participation,farm productivity,and household income was discovered. Specifically,after correcting for selection bias,the estimated results of the Heckman’s model showed that the extension program significantly increased participating farmers’ cocoa yield by 14.3%. The effects on total farm income showed a significant increase of 25.1 and 42.9%,respectively from regression on propensity scores and the Heckman’s model. Across all three models,program participation led to an increase in total household income by 46.1,31.7,and 69.3%,respectively. Other variables such as farming characteristics,institutional and demographic factors affected farmers’ income,depending on the estimation method used. This study reiterated the supporting role played by extension programs in enhancing cocoa production and increasing household income in Ghana. Conclusively,government and development partners should invest in extension programs by providing enough logistics,training qualified agents,and creating a conducive atmosphere to support learning and technology adoption.展开更多
Swine rearing and pork production has recently attracted the growing interest of Ghanaian farmers who seek diversification of enterprises and existing farmers looking for alternatives following a period of low profita...Swine rearing and pork production has recently attracted the growing interest of Ghanaian farmers who seek diversification of enterprises and existing farmers looking for alternatives following a period of low profitability. Piggery was established to combine science and technology to generate innovations for anyone seeking to establish a new pig production enterprise. Results show that since 2008 to 2013, pork prices in Ghana rose rapidly between 115-120%. Also the rate of returns was higher at 43.62% compared to bank interested rate. Feed, as a percentage of total costs, were minimised from 70% to 55% with integrated lactobacillus brewer spent malt as supplement to formulated feed. The piggery project was highly successful and invested capital was recouped within two years of project take-off. Collaborating with other farms, organisations and entrepreneurs, a lot of research innovations in the area of improving feed cost, animal nutrition, waste management practices, and breeding have been generated and shared with both small and large-holder pig farmers. In all aspect of the farm management, results achieved so far especially with pork carcass quality and profit margins are encouraging which have led to the expansion of the piggery project.展开更多
Three field trials, one for establishment and two for mature phases respectively, were conducted to develop weed management strategies for cashew cultivation in Ghana. The treatments for the establishment phase consis...Three field trials, one for establishment and two for mature phases respectively, were conducted to develop weed management strategies for cashew cultivation in Ghana. The treatments for the establishment phase consisted of hoe weeding of whole plot, hoe weeding of cashew lines and slashing of inter-rows, herbicide application with glyphosate of whole plot or cashew lines with slashing of inter-rows, relay cropping of the cashew plot with sorghum and a legume and intercropping with a legume. In one trial of the mature phase, the treatments were hoe weeding of whole plot two or three times a year, high slashing of whole plot three times a year, herbicide application （glyphosate） of whole plot and ring application of herbicide （glyphosate） plus high slashing of inter-rows twice a year. In the other trial, which was carried out on farmers＇ fields, glyphosate （Roundup） at 2.0 l/ha was tested against manual slashing. In the study of the establishment phase, neither the girth nor height of the cashew seedlings was significantly affected by the treatments. The first year and four year cumulative cashew yields were significantly affected by treatments with the intercrops giving higher yields than the glyphosate-treated plots. Intercropping as a weed control measure was generally more costly than glyphosate application or manual weeding. In the mature trials, chemical weed control slightly improved cashew nut yield and was cheaper to apply. It is recommended to adopt chemical weed control in cashew cultivation in Ghana.展开更多
An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to assess the effect of soybean meal （SBM）, groundnut meal （GNM） and blood meal （BM） addition in diets with or without （1%） fishmeal on the performance, N-digestibility an...An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to assess the effect of soybean meal （SBM）, groundnut meal （GNM） and blood meal （BM） addition in diets with or without （1%） fishmeal on the performance, N-digestibility and cost of production of growing grasscutters. Fifty-four grasscutters （9-week-old） of mixed sexes were randomly assigned to six dietary treatments, using a completely randomized design （CRD） in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement, with three grasscutters per treatment and three replicates each. Treatments 1-3 （TI-T3） contained no fishmeal, whilst treatments 4-6 （T4-T6） had 1% fishmeal added. The diets were formulated to be isocaloric and isonitrogenous. N-digestibility was significantly high for SBM diets with or without fishmeal, 83.91% and 82.19%, respectively, followed by BM diets. Average daily gain （ADG） was significantly （P 〈 0.05） high （12.95 g） for BM diet without fishmeal. Feed cost per kg diet was the lowest （US$0.195） for the same BM diet. The results indicated that the inclusion of SBM and BM in the diet of grasscutters with or without 1% fishmeal could improve performance and it may be the most economical for feeding BM in the diet without fishmeal.展开更多
基金This research was funded by the Academy–Locality Cooperation Project of Chinese Academy of Engineering (2019-JL-1-5).
文摘Globally,cocoa is famous for the production of chocolates and beverages.However,it also serves as a source of raw material for the manufacturing of high-quality cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. Due to its high demand,cocoa is regarded as a major commodity for poverty alleviation in deprived cocoa farming communities. Government has therefore instigated relevant measures to address issues facing the sector by investing in extension programs. These programs act as information dissemination tools for teaching modern farming technologies and enhancing learning among farmers. This study highlighted the effects of the Cocoa Life Project (CLP) by Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) International on farm productivity and income of 200 cocoa farmers in three districts of the Eastern Region,Ghana. Regression on covariates,Heckman’s treatment effects model,and propensity scores were used to test the robustness of the estimates. A positive association between extension program participation,farm productivity,and household income was discovered. Specifically,after correcting for selection bias,the estimated results of the Heckman’s model showed that the extension program significantly increased participating farmers’ cocoa yield by 14.3%. The effects on total farm income showed a significant increase of 25.1 and 42.9%,respectively from regression on propensity scores and the Heckman’s model. Across all three models,program participation led to an increase in total household income by 46.1,31.7,and 69.3%,respectively. Other variables such as farming characteristics,institutional and demographic factors affected farmers’ income,depending on the estimation method used. This study reiterated the supporting role played by extension programs in enhancing cocoa production and increasing household income in Ghana. Conclusively,government and development partners should invest in extension programs by providing enough logistics,training qualified agents,and creating a conducive atmosphere to support learning and technology adoption.
文摘Swine rearing and pork production has recently attracted the growing interest of Ghanaian farmers who seek diversification of enterprises and existing farmers looking for alternatives following a period of low profitability. Piggery was established to combine science and technology to generate innovations for anyone seeking to establish a new pig production enterprise. Results show that since 2008 to 2013, pork prices in Ghana rose rapidly between 115-120%. Also the rate of returns was higher at 43.62% compared to bank interested rate. Feed, as a percentage of total costs, were minimised from 70% to 55% with integrated lactobacillus brewer spent malt as supplement to formulated feed. The piggery project was highly successful and invested capital was recouped within two years of project take-off. Collaborating with other farms, organisations and entrepreneurs, a lot of research innovations in the area of improving feed cost, animal nutrition, waste management practices, and breeding have been generated and shared with both small and large-holder pig farmers. In all aspect of the farm management, results achieved so far especially with pork carcass quality and profit margins are encouraging which have led to the expansion of the piggery project.
文摘Three field trials, one for establishment and two for mature phases respectively, were conducted to develop weed management strategies for cashew cultivation in Ghana. The treatments for the establishment phase consisted of hoe weeding of whole plot, hoe weeding of cashew lines and slashing of inter-rows, herbicide application with glyphosate of whole plot or cashew lines with slashing of inter-rows, relay cropping of the cashew plot with sorghum and a legume and intercropping with a legume. In one trial of the mature phase, the treatments were hoe weeding of whole plot two or three times a year, high slashing of whole plot three times a year, herbicide application （glyphosate） of whole plot and ring application of herbicide （glyphosate） plus high slashing of inter-rows twice a year. In the other trial, which was carried out on farmers＇ fields, glyphosate （Roundup） at 2.0 l/ha was tested against manual slashing. In the study of the establishment phase, neither the girth nor height of the cashew seedlings was significantly affected by the treatments. The first year and four year cumulative cashew yields were significantly affected by treatments with the intercrops giving higher yields than the glyphosate-treated plots. Intercropping as a weed control measure was generally more costly than glyphosate application or manual weeding. In the mature trials, chemical weed control slightly improved cashew nut yield and was cheaper to apply. It is recommended to adopt chemical weed control in cashew cultivation in Ghana.
文摘An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to assess the effect of soybean meal （SBM）, groundnut meal （GNM） and blood meal （BM） addition in diets with or without （1%） fishmeal on the performance, N-digestibility and cost of production of growing grasscutters. Fifty-four grasscutters （9-week-old） of mixed sexes were randomly assigned to six dietary treatments, using a completely randomized design （CRD） in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement, with three grasscutters per treatment and three replicates each. Treatments 1-3 （TI-T3） contained no fishmeal, whilst treatments 4-6 （T4-T6） had 1% fishmeal added. The diets were formulated to be isocaloric and isonitrogenous. N-digestibility was significantly high for SBM diets with or without fishmeal, 83.91% and 82.19%, respectively, followed by BM diets. Average daily gain （ADG） was significantly （P 〈 0.05） high （12.95 g） for BM diet without fishmeal. Feed cost per kg diet was the lowest （US$0.195） for the same BM diet. The results indicated that the inclusion of SBM and BM in the diet of grasscutters with or without 1% fishmeal could improve performance and it may be the most economical for feeding BM in the diet without fishmeal.
