Preliminary results of

baseline study and

profile of smallholders

farmers in Cocoa and

oil-palm farming

systems in Ghana

Martha Ataa Asantewaa

Outline of presentation

Introduction

Objectives

Methods

Preliminary Results

Conclusion

INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION

Smallholder cocoa and oil-palm farmers

Who are they and how do we identify them ? Who are they and how do we identify them ?

Multiple

production

constraints

What about diversity, are they all the same?

Literature Definitions

Categorization

oProduction objectives

oMarket orientation

oIncome source

oLand holdings

oCapital intensity

oLabour

oProduction objectives

oMarket orientation

oIncome source

oLand holdings

oCapital intensity

oLabour

OBJECTIVES OF THE BASELINE OBJECTIVES OF THE BASELINE

1. Snapshot of cocoa and oil-palm farmers

2. Starting point for complex analysis of different

livelihood trajectories

STUDY AREAS STUDY AREAS

Site- Eastern Region

3 regions,`18 communities

Period-February, 2015

Sampling tech.- Purposeful

sampling

Sample size-148 farmers

cocoa and oil-palm farmers

PRELIMINARY RESULTS PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Farmer’s characteristics

Age of household head

100.0

95.0

90.0

85.0

80.0

75.0

70.0

65.0

60.0

55.0

50.0

45.0

40.0

35.0

30.0

25.0

20.0

Age of household head

Fre

qu

en

cy

40

30

20

10

0

Std. Dev = 12.29

Mean = 52.3

N = 148.00

Age of farmers

Aging farmers

Youth under-represented??

What is youth?

Total number of farms own by household

14.012.010.08.06.04.02.0

Total number of farms own by household

Fre

qu

en

cy

80

60

40

20

0

Std. Dev = 2.36

Mean = 4.2

N = 148.00

Total agricultural lands including home gardens in hectares

47.5

45.0

42.5

40.0

37.5

35.0

32.5

30.0

27.5

25.0

22.5

20.0

17.5

15.0

12.5

10.0

7.5

5.0

2.5

0.0

Total agricultural lands including home gardens in hectares

Fre

qu

en

cy

50

40

30

20

10

0

Std. Dev = 6.34

Mean = 7.3

N = 148.00

Landholding size

Smallholder farmers >2ha

Medium-scale farmers

Large –scale farmers

Majority of farmers not smallholder!!!

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

% o

f fa

rmers

em

plo

yed

Employment status , household

Employment status

HH head Spouse

Farmer’s employment status

full time farmers

Part time farmers

Part time/SMEs

Part time/trading

Note: 57 % of heads been to high

school.

Is farming a career?

Diverse and complex farming

sole cocoa /oil palm farmers

Multiple cash crop farmers

Diverse crops farmers

Commercial farmers

Non- commercial farmers

Is total subsistence farming fading out?

92%

1%

5%

1% 1%

Farmers source of income

Farming Remitance SMEs Trading Salary

Income and expenditure distribution of farmers

Farming dependent farmers

Multiple-income farmers

Is agriculture a profitable

career??

01020304050607080

% o

f in

com

e

Types of spending

Household expenditure

Diverse aspirations

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Education Farming Family

upkeep

Farmily

projects

Debts Funerals

% o

f in

com

e

Types of spending

Household expenditure

Ambitious farmers

Non-ambitious farmers

Exiting farmers

Permanent farmers

Limited reinvestment in farming?

Yes 99%

NO 1%

Need to improve production

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Govnt support NGO support

Nu

mb

er

of

farm

ers

Institutional support for farmers

Yes

No

Institutional support and farmer organizations

Note: only 1 farmer received support on animal husbandry

Supported farmers

Non-supported farmers

Cooperative farmers

Non cooperative farmers

Wide coverage of government support

Limited NGO support to farmers

Limited farmer cooperation

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Farmer orgainzation study group

% o

f fa

rmers

Types of group

Yes

NO

CONCLUSIONS CONCLUSIONS

Several farmers characteristics

• Part time farmers

• Multiple cash crop farmers

• Diverse crops farmers

• Commercial farmers

Farmers overlap within these characteristics

Further analysis and clustering into farmer profiles

Thank YOU