Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Vol. 3(1), pp. 001-011, February 2014 ISSN 2327-3151 ©2014 Academe Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Influence of agricultural trade liberalization policies on production and poverty reduction among Ghanaian rural smallholder cocoa and rice farmers

Samuel Afotey Anang* and Tan Yanwen

College of Economics and Management, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, P. R. China. Post Code: 510642.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: afonang@yahoo.com. Tel: 008615920394105.

Accepted 23 January, 2014

Abstract

This study assessed the influence of Agricultural trade liberalization policies on production and poverty reduction among rural smallholder cocoa and rice farmers in Ghana. Both cross-sectional and secondary data were used in this study. Two hundred respondents were sampled from six districts due to their intense cultivation of cocoa and rice, across the six agro-ecological zones in the country using the simple random sampling technique and structured questionnaire was administered to them. Data analyses involved the use of multiple and logistic or logit regression models. The study indicated that government’s investment in the agricultural sector, the total land area cultivated of both cocoa and rice significantly influenced positively the gross outputs of both crops. The total imports of rice significantly influenced negatively the gross output of rice. For cocoa, export tariffs on agricultural commodities and total export quantity of cocoa negatively influenced gross output of cocoa but were not statistically significant. Again, the total export quantities of rice and increase in import tariffs on agricultural commodities showed a higher likelihood of enhancing increase in rice production. The study also found that agricultural trade liberalization policies have generally contributed to the increase in income levels of the farmers. It was concluded that Agricultural trade liberalization policies adopted by Ghana in the early 1980s generally had more positive effect on the production of cocoa than rice over the years but have generally contributed to the increase in income levels of the farmers hence it contributed to poverty reduction.

Key words: Ghana, logistic and multiple regressions, poverty reduction, smallholder farmers.