Introduction

For many Sub-Saharan African countries, agriculture remains the major source of income and a backbone to economic activities. In Ghana, agriculture has been the main driver of economic growth and development pre and post-independence.  Agriculture is the main driving force behind Ghana's economy, accounting for approximately 42% of the country's GDP and employing 54% of its work force. According to Okudzeto et al. (2014), even though agriculture revenue has declined in recent times with the emergence of other sectors, the contribution of agriculture to GDP and employment remains significant. Some agricultural outputs include major crops like cocoa, palm oil, pineapples, cotton, tomatoes, bananas, tobacco, cashew and fresh vegetables are primary exports. Considering the impact on the country’s output, policy documents of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) policy documents, continues to note that, the agricultural sector is key to “overall economic growth and development in Ghana and agriculture is expected to lead the growth and structural transformation of the economy and maximise the benefits of accelerated growth” (MOFA, 2010).

Agriculture in Ghana continues to remain relevant, with agriculture production in all parts of the country. Farmlands abound inland and almost all coastal areas are fishing communities. Inland fishing is also rife in areas where there are water bodies and animal farming is also widespread. In recognising the importance of agriculture to the country, there is the annual celebration of the National Farmers Day on the first Friday of the last month of the year. This occasion celebrates large and small scale farmers as well as agriculture stakeholders. Agricultural affairs are controlled by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture through its various sub-departments.

Ghana is divided into five distinct agro-ecological zones. These are: the Coastal Savannah, Transition, Northern Savannah, Deciduous Forest, and Rainforest zones. Each respective zone is particularly dominant in a different farming system.

Contribution of Agriculture to Ghana’s Economy

The relevance of the agricultural sector is observed in the sector’s contribution to the Ghanaian economy. Agriculture has contributed in various ways to local economic development. In fact, considering its effect on GDP, the sector has played an important part in income generation, generation of foreign exchange and foreign currencies and the creation of revenue streams. A trend study of the country’s budget denotes that, agriculture’s contributes to more than 20% of Ghana’s GDP (MOFA, 2018). It plays an important role in the supply of factors, especially labour, industry and other modern sectors due to its volume as regards the number of employees in the sector. The sector can also be a major capital outlet for modern economic development. Breisinger, Diao, Thurlow and Al-Hassan (2008) purport that, agriculture is a key source of capital for developing nations in early stages of development. Moreover, agriculture production is vital in the Government’s efforts at ensuring food security and achieving significant reductions in poverty.

Trends in Ghana’s Agriculture: The role of Women

A large share of Ghana’s female population is self-employed in the agricultural sector. Besides the fact that women account for a large share of agricultural production through farm employment, women are also involved in the marketing and distribution of agro-output across the country. The role of women in agriculture starts from farm production, market and intra household distribution of food. They are also becoming increasingly visible in farm tasks which traditionally have been designated as male preserves, thus breaking ground in typical male dominated areas such as land clearance and growth of cash crops (Tsiboe et al., 2018).

However, despite this importance of women to the agricultural economy, women are seldom regarded as key players in the sector. They have the least access to productive resources and, compared with men, benefit least from the farming system. Women also earn less income from agriculture as compared to men, with many women having to deal with underpaid or unpaid labour situations.  Furthermore, women also have an eroded decision-making power, poor occupational safety, challenges of employment and weak access to credit, land, services and agencies. These continue to restrain their ability to increase their productivity and incomes.

Considering their impact, the acknowledgment and availability of the tools available to support women of the agriculture sector would facilitate the fight for equal rights, equality for women and also help to reduce food insecurity directly.

Trends in Ghana’s Agriculture: Mechanisation of Agriculture

Whereas in most of the developed world, agriculture has been mechanised with the use of tractors and other farm machinery, agriculture in Ghana is still to a large extent reliant on human effort, small tools and equipment. Mechanisation schemes have been largely driven by the government through policies and initiatives driven by agricultural extension services. However, failure in policy continuity has often led to gaps in technology adoption. This leaves much to be desired since the experience of mechanization in in Asia and other parts of continent has led to improved agricultural yields.

The emergent of hybrid seeds, technological fertilizer application, and use of power-tillers, irrigation pumps and threshing machines have not only improved large-scale farming, but expanded access to small-scale machinery for smallholders (Mandal et al. 2017). Sadly, this is not the case for Ghana where mechanization of agricultural operations has been low, especially among small scale farmers who make up majority of the agricultural sector (Mrema et al., 2008).  In recent times, new technology like satellite farming and smart farming have all been deployed with hopes of improving agriculture and its related business in Ghana. For many large scale farms, technology use has advanced beyond the employment of tractors and heavy equipment, considering drone use as well. Even as these processes remain under-utlilized, there is a smirk of hope for technology in Ghana’s agriculture.

Challenges

Despite the relevance of the agricultural sector in the economic development of the country, the sector continues to face challenges which need to be resolved. These challenges have severely limited the ability of the sector to improve productivity, increase incomes from agriculture related activities, and the modernisation of the sector. The agriculture sector is now faced with low productivity resulting from poor farming practices, poor land preparation and weed management, low usage of improved seed varieties. These are challenges that highlight the need for technology in farming in Ghana. Generally, there are low levels of technology employed by farmers and fishermen, which is the result of the use of basic tools and equipment and the absence of large-scale mechanisation at a broad national level.

Again, there is an over reliance on natural factors such as the heavy dependence on rainfall, because of very little use of mechanised irrigation systems and small land sizes. Many farms are more likely to count on the seasonal changes than put in measures to provide sunshine and rain that agricultural process needs. Furthermore, land is a vital component of agriculture in Ghana. Yet, the land tenure system in Ghana which is mainly traditional only encourages small scale farm activities and discourages long-term investment by farmers to improve land quality. This makes capital mobilisation for farming difficult.

Again, there is inadequate and poor extension services, which have become worsened since the inception of the introduction of economic recovery programs, where the government has had to cut back on many public provided services in the agriculture sector. This problem is challenging because of the low level of education among the majority of farmers and fishermen.

In the case of capital, there is still a prevalent lack of credit facilities to finance long-term investment in agriculture activities. The Agricultural Development Bank set up to provide credit to farmers, has instead shifted to performing commercial functions, leaving small, medium and large scale farmers to face the challenge of capital.

In many ways, the resulting poor investment in Agriculture has led to post-harvest losses because of the lack of secure storage facilities and silos, many of which have been abandoned or poorly maintained. To add to his, farming areas/regions have poorly developed infrastructure to support agri-business.

On a more socio-economic front, issues like gender inequality and discrimination against women continues to repeal efforts by the women in agriculture. These tend to affect ownership, cultivation and even distribution of agricultural products. Other challenges remain the unavailability of high-yielding planting material, limited market access, weak and poor agronomic practices among others.

In summary, slow agricultural productivity growth continues to constrain farm income growth. Also, low yields from agriculture has been associated with limited technology adoption and poor soils. Furthermore, agricultural trade and agroprocessing is also constrained. This is as a result of the weak infrastructural systems in place.

Addressing the Challenges

Some solutions have been undertaken by both private and public sector to address the myriad challenges facing the sector of agriculture in Ghana. First, policy formulation has suggested the promotion of plants like rubber and oil palm on the basis of comparative and competitive advantage of agro-ecological zones and availability of markets. This is intended to reduce dependency on major crops.

Also, there has been the creation of departmental and district unis to promote linkage of smallholder production to industry. Government has pushed for formation of viable farmer-based organisation with gender equity to enhance their knowledge, skills and access to resources along the value chain, and for stronger bargaining power in marketing.

From private stakeholders, there is some form of advocacy for improved rural infrastructure to assist in agriculture, considering most of the large-scale agricultural centres are located in rural areas. These advocacies suggest a strong promotion of farmer links to improve small-scale farmers access to credit, planting material and capacity to expand farm size.

Conclusion

The mechanisation of labour is a predominant feature of commercial agriculture. The expectations of a thriving employment industry as modern large-scale farms dominate the rural landscape has not come to fruition. Nonetheless, many have no employment seasonally because of the preference for mechanized agriculture and the resultant impoverishment of the people without access for livelihood to soil. The treatment of women, who are vital for agriculture also lead them only from one form of family farm oppression, to exploitation by farmers without the former's social support systems.

The commercialization of agriculture in Ghana has gradually progressed from colonial times to its present globalized phase through policies of restrictions, commitment and opportunities. These have led to huge shifts in property and labour rights in the industry. The development of commercial farming of major export crops was encouraged, by both colonial and postcolonial land policies. Traditional land ownership and management structures have evolved from free citizenship and donations and share-holding schemes, to lease, rented and selling.

Export pressure has led to increased competition for land in a competitive environment, where the powerful are pushing the poor. In the decades, a growing increase has been seen in land accumulation, resulting in large foreign purchases, which rob entire communities from their rights. The shifting agricultural systems are characterized by a renegotiation of the rules of the game on the distribution to capital and political power in society. Initially and then through market mechanisms the exploitation of farmers through cash crop development was supported by land tenure policies aimed at allocating soil to the affluent farmers.

Finally, the forms of land concentration and working relations created and increased riches in Ghana's agriculture sector is undisputedly at the detriment of the emerging poor who still lack access to capital.

REFERENCES

Breisinger, C., Diao, X., Thurlow, J., & Al-Hassan, R. M. (2008). Agriculture for development in Ghana: New opportunities and challenges. Intl Food Policy Res Inst.

Mandal, M. A. S., Biggs, S. D., & Justice, S. E. (2017). Rural Mechanzation: A Driver in Agricultural Change and Rural Development. Dhaka, Bangladesh: Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development.

Mrema, G., Baker, D., & Kahan, D. (2008). Agricultural mechanization in sub-Saharan Africa: Time for a new look (Agricultural Management, Marketing and Finance Occasional Paper No. 22). Rome. Retrieved from http://agris.fao.org/agrissearch/search/display.do?f=2010/XF/XF0908.xml;XF2009438289

Okudzeto, E., Mariki, W.A., De Paepe, G. and Sedegah, K. (2014) Ghana 2014 – African Economic Outlook. Paris: African Development Bank (AfDB), Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development (OECD) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Tsiboe, F., Zereyesus, Y. A., Popp, J. S., & Osei, E. (2018). The effect of women’s empowerment in agriculture on household nutrition and food poverty in Northern Ghana. Social Indicators Research, 138(1), 89-108.

ABOUT ME (CV)

Email: wangdoreenwang1198

Student ID: 2016110601032

OBJECTIVE.

I aspire to be part of a hard working team, working towards the realization of organizational goals, proven ability as a team player and group motivator, with good interpersonal skills, flexible in adapting to changes in the working environment. I have the right attitude and relevant academic background to be great at what I do.  I am an enthusiastic individual with good communication skills and a good work ethic. I am also a dedicated and an approachable student with a passion to succeed in everything I do.

My full is Wang Doreen born and raised in Ghana-Accra. I am a student of UESTC and I major in business administration.

I spent the most part of my life in Ghana with my father Wang-Jianhua, who comes from china (Harbin), which explains how I got my Chinese name. My father has worked as an engineer/contractor in Ghana for over 25 years whilst over seeing so many projects. He worked with a government company for a period of time before transferring with a private company.

One of his first projects was in Kumasi (Obuasi goldmine) where he built over 30 flat houses for the Australian and England staff where he stayed for 1 years while overseeing the project

He then proceeded to Kumasi to build the Kumasi soil research in Ghana around 1995, he stayed about three years in Kumasi it was during this period he met my mother Juliana Akua Afriyie.

From Kumasi, he moved to Accra to work on other projects such as renewing the old banquet hall, the old parliament house, the state house office complex, Tang palace hotel where he oversaw the entire project, the Spintex road apartment complexes among many others.

He now permanently resides in Accra even though he visits china every other year.

    Priscilla Owusu-Ansah is a Ghanaiangraduate from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. Asa master student in the school of Public Affairs and Administration,Priscilla’s research interest is in public policy. As anassistantfor CWAS ofUESTC, she works to create awareness of the profound relationship China haswith west African nations.