IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v57y2015icp73-82.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Household-specific food price differentials and high-value crop production in rural Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Dzanku, Fred M.

Abstract

Using panel data from Ghana we have examined the relationship between household-specific producer–consumer price differentials and rural household cropland allocation between food and high-value crops. We test the hypothesis that cereal price bands induce a shift of resources away from high-value crop production, making smallholders appear unresponsive to price incentives. Our results lend support to this hypothesis, implying that a policy aiming at increasing farmers’ income through high-value crop production may fail if hard and soft infrastructure does not improve in rural areas, and if staple crop productivity does not increase significantly.

Suggested Citation

  • Dzanku, Fred M., 2015. "Household-specific food price differentials and high-value crop production in rural Ghana," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 73-82.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:57:y:2015:i:c:p:73-82
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2015.09.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030691921500113X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.foodpol.2015.09.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Birkhaeuser, Dean & Evenson, Robert E & Feder, Gershon, 1991. "The Economic Impact of Agricultural Extension: A Review," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(3), pages 607-650, April.
    2. Hans P. Binswanger, 1980. "Attitudes Toward Risk: Experimental Measurement in Rural India," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 62(3), pages 395-407.
    3. Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep & Mendelsohn, Robert, 2008. "Crop switching as a strategy for adapting to climate change," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, March.
    4. Z. Bar‐Shira & R.E. Just & D. Zilberman, 1997. "Estimation of farmers' risk attitude: an econometric approach," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 17(2-3), pages 211-222, December.
    5. Kurosaki, Takashi & Fafchamps, Marcel, 2002. "Insurance market efficiency and crop choices in Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 419-453, April.
    6. Robert Mendelsohn & Ariel Dinar, 2009. "Climate Change and Agriculture," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12990.
    7. Jean-Paul Chavas & Matthew T. Holt, 1990. "Acreage Decisions Under Risk: The Case of Corn and Soybeans," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 72(3), pages 529-538.
    8. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1993. "A theory of real wage growth in LDCs," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 243-269, December.
    9. Christopher Udry & Santosh Anagol, 2006. "The Return to Capital in Ghana," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 388-393, May.
    10. William Greene, 2004. "The behaviour of the maximum likelihood estimator of limited dependent variable models in the presence of fixed effects," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 7(1), pages 98-119, June.
    11. de Brauw, Alan, 2014. "Gender, control, and crop choice in northern Mozambique:," IFPRI discussion papers 1333, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    12. Seo, S. Niggol & Mendelsohn, Robert, 2008. "An analysis of crop choice: Adapting to climate change in South American farms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 109-116, August.
    13. Chavas, Jean-Paul & Holt, Matthew T, 1996. "Economic Behavior under Uncertainty: A Joint Analysis of Risk Preferences and Technology," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(2), pages 329-335, May.
    14. Alderman, Harold & Shively, Gerald, 1996. "Economic reform and food prices: Evidence from markets in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 521-534, March.
    15. World Bank & Food and Agriculture Organization & International Fund for Agricultural Development, 2009. "Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook [Agricultura y desarrollo rural : manual sobre género en agricultura]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6603.
    16. Carr, Edward R., 2008. "Men's Crops and Women's Crops: The Importance of Gender to the Understanding of Agricultural and Development Outcomes in Ghana's Central Region," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 900-915, May.
    17. Portugal-Perez, Alberto & Wilson, John S., 2012. "Export Performance and Trade Facilitation Reform: Hard and Soft Infrastructure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(7), pages 1295-1307.
    18. Takashi Kurosaki, 2008. "Crop choice, farm income, and political control in Myanmar," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 180-203.
    19. Sadoulet, Elisabeth & de Janvry, Alain & Benjamin, Catherine, 1996. "Household Behavior With Imperfect Labor Markets," CUDARE Working Papers 25044, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    20. von Braun, Joachim, 1995. "Agricultural commercialization: impacts on income and nutrition and implications for policy," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 187-202, June.
    21. Govereh, Jones & Jayne, T. S., 2003. "Cash cropping and food crop productivity: synergies or trade-offs?," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 39-50, January.
    22. Steven Were Omamo, 1998. "Transport Costs and Smallholder Cropping Choices: An Application to Siaya District, Kenya," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(1), pages 116-123.
    23. C. Peter Timmer, 1997. "Farmers and Markets: The Political Economy of New Paradigms," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(2), pages 621-627.
    24. Theriault, Veronique & Tschirley, David L., 2014. "How Institutions Mediate the Impact of Cash Cropping on Food Crop Intensification: An Application to Cotton in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 298-310.
    25. Minten, Bart & Randrianarison, Lalaina & Swinnen, Johan F.M., 2009. "Global Retail Chains and Poor Farmers: Evidence from Madagascar," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 1728-1741, November.
    26. Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2011. "Fractional response models with endogeneous explanatory variables and heterogeneity," CHI11 Stata Conference 12, Stata Users Group.
    27. Salazar-Espinoza, César & Jones, Sam & Tarp, Finn, 2015. "Weather shocks and cropland decisions in rural Mozambique," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 9-21.
    28. Amber Peterman & Agnes Quisumbing & Julia Behrman & Ephraim Nkonya, 2011. "Understanding the Complexities Surrounding Gender Differences in Agricultural Productivity in Nigeria and Uganda," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(10), pages 1482-1509.
    29. Steven Were Omamo, 1998. "Farm-to-market transaction costs and specialisation in small-scale agriculture: Explorations with a non-separable household model," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 152-163.
    30. Deininger, Klaus & Ali, Daniel Ayalew, 2008. "AJAE Appendix: ‘Do Overlapping Land Rights Reduce Agricultural Investment? Evidence from Uganda’," American Journal of Agricultural Economics APPENDICES, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(4), pages 1-6.
    31. Daryl Pregibon, 1980. "Goodness of Link Tests for Generalized Linear Models," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 29(1), pages 15-24, March.
    32. Saha, Atanu, 1994. "A two-season agricultural household model of output and price uncertainty," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 245-269, December.
    33. Nigel Key & Elisabeth Sadoulet & Alain De Janvry, 2000. "Transactions Costs and Agricultural Household Supply Response," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(2), pages 245-259.
    34. Barrett, Christopher B., 2008. "Smallholder market participation: Concepts and evidence from eastern and southern Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 299-317, August.
    35. Albert Park, 2006. "Risk and Household Grain Management in Developing Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(514), pages 1088-1115, October.
    36. Dercon, Stefan, 1996. "Risk, Crop Choice, and Savings: Evidence from Tanzania," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(3), pages 485-513, April.
    37. Papke, Leslie E. & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 2008. "Panel data methods for fractional response variables with an application to test pass rates," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 145(1-2), pages 121-133, July.
    38. Jock R. Anderson, 2004. "Agricultural Extension: Good Intentions and Hard Realities," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 41-60.
    39. Stephan Klasen & Jan Priebe & Robert Rudolf, 2013. "Cash crop choice and income dynamics in rural areas: evidence for post-crisis Indonesia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(3), pages 349-364, May.
    40. Banful, Afua Branoah, 2011. "Old Problems in the New Solutions? Politically Motivated Allocation of Program Benefits and the "New" Fertilizer Subsidies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 1166-1176, July.
    41. Marcel Fafchamps, 1992. "Cash Crop Production, Food Price Volatility, and Rural Market Integration in the Third World," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 74(1), pages 90-99.
    42. Barrett, C. B. & Reardon, T. & Webb, P., 2001. "Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 315-331, August.
    43. de Janvry, Alain & Fafchamps, Marcel & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 1991. "Peasant Household Behaviour with Missing Markets: Some Paradoxes Explained," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(409), pages 1400-1417, November.
    44. Klaus Deininger & Daniel Ayalew Ali, 2008. "Do Overlapping Land Rights Reduce Agricultural Investment? Evidence from Uganda," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(4), pages 869-882.
    45. repec:bla:devpol:v:25:y:2007:i:3:p:275-292 is not listed on IDEAS
    46. Jayne, T S, 1994. "Do High Food Marketing Costs Constrain Cash Crop Production? Evidence from Zimbabwe," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(2), pages 387-402, January.
    47. Doss, Cheryl R., 2002. "Men's Crops? Women's Crops? The Gender Patterns of Cropping in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 1987-2000, November.
    48. Jolly, Curtis M. & Gadbois, Millie, 1996. "The effect of animal traction on labour productivity and food self-sufficiency: The case of mali," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 453-467, August.
    49. J. Taylor & Irma Adelman, 2003. "Agricultural Household Models: Genesis, Evolution, and Extensions," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 33-58, January.
    50. H. M. G. Herath & J. Brian Hardaker & Jock R. Anderson, 1982. "Choice of Varieties by Sri Lanka Rice Farmers: Comparing Alternative Decision Models," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 64(1), pages 87-93.
    51. Papke, Leslie E & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M, 1996. "Econometric Methods for Fractional Response Variables with an Application to 401(K) Plan Participation Rates," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(6), pages 619-632, Nov.-Dec..
    52. Erica Field & Alfred Field, 2007. "Globalization, Crop Choice and Property Rights in Rural Peru, 1994-2004," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2007-72, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    53. Søren Arnberg & Lars Gårn Hansen, 2012. "Short‐run and long‐run dynamics of farm land allocation: panel data evidence from Denmark-super-1," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 43(2), pages 179-190, March.
    54. Jinxia Wang & Robert Mendelsohn & Ariel Dinar & Jikun Huang & Scott Rozelle & Lijuan Zhang, 2009. "The impact of climate change on China's agriculture," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(3), pages 323-337, May.
    55. Emma C. Stephens & Christopher B. Barrett, 2011. "Incomplete Credit Markets and Commodity Marketing Behaviour," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 1-24, February.
    56. Oriana Bandiera, 2007. "Land Tenure, Investment Incentives, and the Choice of Techniques: Evidence from Nicaragua," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 21(3), pages 487-508, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dzanku, Fred Mawunyo, 2019. "Food security in rural sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the nexus between gender, geography and off-farm employment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 26-43.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fred Mawunyo Dzanku, 2018. "Rational But Poor? An Explanation for Rural Economic Livelihood Strategy," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(2), pages 365-381, June.
    2. Montalbano, P. & Pietrelli, R. & Salvatici, L., 2018. "Participation in the market chain and food security: The case of the Ugandan maize farmers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 81-98.
    3. Salazar-Espinoza, César & Jones, Sam & Tarp, Finn, 2015. "Weather shocks and cropland decisions in rural Mozambique," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 9-21.
    4. Tesfaye, Wondimagegn & Tirivayi, Nyasha, 2020. "Crop diversity, household welfare and consumption smoothing under risk: Evidence from rural Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    5. Kurt B. Waldman & Stacey Giroux & Jordan P. Blekking & Kathy Baylis & Tom P. Evans, 2020. "Smallholder food storage dynamics and resilience," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(1), pages 7-20, February.
    6. Muriithi, Beatrice W. & Matz, Julia Anna, 2014. "Smallholder Participation in the Commercialisation of Vegetables: Evidence from Kenyan Panel Data," Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, Humboldt-Universitaat zu Berlin, vol. 53(2), pages 1-28, May.
    7. Proscovia Renzaho Ntakyo & Marrit Berg, 2019. "Effect of market production on rural household food consumption: evidence from Uganda," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(5), pages 1051-1070, October.
    8. Tesfaye Woldeyohanes & Thomas Heckelei & Yves Surry, 2017. "Effect of off-farm income on smallholder commercialization: panel evidence from rural households in Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(2), pages 207-218, March.
    9. Hoffmann, Vivian & Gatobu, Ken Mwithirwa, 2014. "Growing their own: Unobservable quality and the value of self-provisioning," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 168-178.
    10. Paul Fenton Villar & Tomasz Kozakiewicz & Vinitha Bachina & Sarah Young & Shannon Shisler, 2023. "PROTOCOL: The effects of agricultural output market access interventions on agricultural, socio‐economic and food and nutrition security outcomes in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic revi," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), September.
    11. Tanguy Bernard & Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse & Eleni Gabre‐Madhin, 2008. "Impact of cooperatives on smallholders' commercialization behavior: evidence from Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(2), pages 147-161, September.
    12. Mintewab Bezabih & Mare Sarr, 2012. "Risk Preferences and Environmental Uncertainty: Implications for Crop Diversification Decisions in Ethiopia," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 53(4), pages 483-505, December.
    13. Barrett, Christopher B., 2008. "Smallholder market participation: Concepts and evidence from eastern and southern Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 299-317, August.
    14. Embaye, Weldensie T. & Bergtold, Jason S. & Schwab, Benjamin & Zereyesus, Yacob A., 2018. "Modeling Farm Household’s Productivity under Inseparable Production and Consumption decisions," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274226, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    15. Nuthalapati, Chandra S.R. & Sutradhar, Rajib & Reardon, Thomas & Qaim, Matin, 2020. "Supermarket procurement and farmgate prices in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    16. Pierre Marion & Etienne Lwamba & Andrea Floridi & Suvarna Pande & Megha Bhattacharyya & Sarah Young & Paul Fenton Villar & Shannon Shisler, 2024. "The effects of agricultural output market access interventions on agricultural, socio‐economic, food security, and nutrition outcomes in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), June.
    17. Leavy, Jennifer & Colin, Poulton, 2008. "Commercialisations in Agriculture," Ethiopian Journal of Economics, Ethiopian Economics Association, vol. 16(1), pages 116-116, May.
    18. Wondimagegn Tesfaye & Gebrelibanos Gebremariam, 2020. "Consumption smoothing and price enhancement motives for grain storage: empirical perspectives from rural Ethiopia," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-19, December.
    19. Ruben, Ruerd & Pender, John, 2004. "Rural diversity and heterogeneity in less-favoured areas: the quest for policy targeting," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 303-320, August.
    20. Fujimoto, Takefumi & Suzuki, Aya, 2021. "Do Fertilizer and Seed Subsidies Strengthen Farmers' Market Participation? the Impact of Tanzania NAIVS on Farmers' Purchase of Agricultural Inputs and Their Maize-Selling Activities," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315044, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:57:y:2015:i:c:p:73-82. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.