Suchergebnisse

In this study, we sought to identify some economic shocks that have affected the Ghanaian cocoa industry and the effects of these shocks based on available annual data over the 45-year period from 1975 to 2019. The analysis was conducted using a simple autoregressive model of the cocoa industry. The results of the analysis indicated that the major economic shocks affecting the cocoa industry in Ghana were political instability arising from military coups, producer price shock linked to very high producer prices, the La Cote d'Ivoire civil wars between 2002 to 2007, and 2010 to 2011, which resulted in large-scale smuggling of cocoa beans across the border to Ghana for sale, and the El Nino weather shock characterized by severe droughts and very low amounts of rainfall, which dampened the production of cocoa beans in Ghana. The negative shocks were the El Nino weather phenomenon and political instability. The positive shocks were the very high producer prices and La Cote d'Ivoire civil war. We suggest some recommendations. These include increased resourcing of the Ghana Meteorological Agency to improve its prediction of extreme weather effects whose occurrence affect the production of crops such as cocoa, the establishment of bigger price stabilization funds by the Ghana Cocoa Board to support the cocoa industry, and research studies to analyse the apparent link between dramatic drop in cocoa production and explosive depreciation of the Ghanaian currency, the Ghana cedi.

During the Fourth Republican electioneering era in Ghana, starting in November 1992, presidential elections are conducted every four years. The 2000 and 2012 elections closely coincided with the national population censuses of 2000 and 2010, respectively. We constructed meso-level models, based on the concept of "average district voter", to analyse factors influencing voter turnout rates. The results of the analysis indicated that voting was a normal good based on the estimated inelastic price and income elasticities of demand for this good. As expected, the cost of voting incurred by an individual negatively influenced turnout. The other significant negative factors influencing turnout rates included increasing male/female sex ratio (gender), increasing age-based dependency ratio (poverty burden), and disability.

This study analysed income diversification activities of 1,194 rural households in the Northern Region of Ghana using data from the sixth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS) undertaken by the Government of Ghana, through the Ghana Statistical Service. We found that 92% of rural households were engaged in farm activities affirming agriculture as the dominant profession of rural households in the region. The number of income-generating activities undertaken by these households was significantly related to the size of the household, previous apprenticeship training acquired by the household head, ownership of a motor bike/car, and ownership by the household of specific physical assets which also provide information, communication and entertainment services, namely mobile phone, radio and television sets. The share of wage-based income in the total household income was significantly related to the age of the household. The overall income diversification index was positively influenced by the level of remittances and the number of rooms in the house; the latter allowed for increased possibility of renting rooms in the house to workers. We also established that overall income diversification index was associated with decreasing total household consumption expenditures and reduced food security at relatively low levels. However, this index was linked to increasing household consumption expenditures and improved food security at relatively higher levels. Our findings suggest that income diversification could be an important poverty-reducing measure if well-designed Community and State support programmes for rural households are implemented in the region under conditions of peace and good security.