Mechanization in Ghana: Emerging demand, and the search for alternative supply models

By X. Diao, Frances Cossar, N. Houssou, S. Kolavalli. 2014

229 citations recorded by the source corpus.

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.

Subfields: Business and International Management, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/97ab9199c6edddbdc1ed1ce1c58c7497076e6c57

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Citations in the corpus

Traditional agriculture in transition: examining the impacts of agricultural modernization on smallholder farming in Ghana under the new Green Revolution (2018, methodology): “Our analysis builds on previous studies (Diao et al. 2014; Houssou et al. 2014; Benin 2015; Kansanga 2016; Kansanga et al. 2018) that examined mechanization in the Ghanaian context.”