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Revisiting agricultural input and farm support subsidies in Africa: The case of Ghana’s mechanization, fertilizer, block farms, and marketing programs

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Listed:
  • Benin, Samuel
  • Johnson, Michael E.
  • Abokyi, Emmanuel
  • Ahorbo, Gerald
  • Jimah, Kipo
  • Nasser, Gamel
  • Owusu, Victor
  • Taabazuing, Joe
  • Tenga, Albert

Abstract

Use of agricultural input and farm support subsidies in Africa has returned strongly to the development agenda, particularly following the recent high food and input prices crisis. Many of the donors who opposed them in the past and subsequently put pressure to discontinue them due to their high cost and distortionary effect on the domestic economy are now providing aid in the form of farm support and agricultural subsidies. In Ghana, for example, the country of study in this paper, the government has since 2007 introduced four major subsidy and support programs on fertilizer, mechanization, block farms, and marketing. Therefore, a key question that arises is how the structure and policies of these current programs account for any of the general lessons and controversies experienced in the past and, in the process, achieve their intended goals in a more effective and economically viable manner.

Suggested Citation

  • Benin, Samuel & Johnson, Michael E. & Abokyi, Emmanuel & Ahorbo, Gerald & Jimah, Kipo & Nasser, Gamel & Owusu, Victor & Taabazuing, Joe & Tenga, Albert, 2013. "Revisiting agricultural input and farm support subsidies in Africa: The case of Ghana’s mechanization, fertilizer, block farms, and marketing programs," IFPRI discussion papers 1300, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1300
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    File URL: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153645
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Adams, Abdulai; Osei-Amponsah, Charity; Jumpah, Emmanuel Tetteh, 2020. "Analysing the determinants, constraints and opportunities of smallholder farmers access to input markets: Evidence from northern Ghana," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute.
    2. Ragasa, Catherine & Lambrecht, Isabel & Kufoalor, Doreen S., 2018. "Limitations of Contract Farming as a Pro-poor Strategy: The Case of Maize Outgrower Schemes in Upper West Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 30-56.
    3. Richard Ansong Omari & Sonoko Dorothea Bellingrath-Kimura & Elsie Sarkodee Addo & Yosei Oikawa & Yoshiharu Fujii, 2018. "Exploring Farmers’ Indigenous Knowledge of Soil Quality and Fertility Management Practices in Selected Farming Communities of the Guinea Savannah Agro-Ecological Zone of Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, March.
    4. Sumberg, James & Anyidoho, Nana Akua & Chasukwa, Michael & Chinsinga, Blessings & Leavy, Jennifer, 2014. "Young people, agriculture, and employment in rural Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 080, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Thomas Daum & Regina Birner, 2017. "The neglected governance challenges of agricultural mechanisation in Africa – insights from Ghana," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(5), pages 959-979, October.
    6. Mr. Daouda Sembene, 2015. "Poverty, Growth, and Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Did the Walk Match the Talk under the PRSP Approach?," IMF Working Papers 2015/122, International Monetary Fund.
    7. repec:osf:thesis:2bmzr_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Chikutuma, Mutsvandiani, 2019. "Analysing the social network of technology and information transfer for maize sheller service providers in Zimbabwe," Thesis Commons 2bmzr, Center for Open Science.
    9. Sylvester Amoako Agyemang & Tomáš Ratinger & Miroslava Bavorová, 2022. "The Impact of Agricultural Input Subsidy on Productivity: The Case of Ghana," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(3), pages 1460-1485, June.
    10. Resnick, Danielle & Mather, David, "undated". "Agricultural Inputs Policy Under Macroeconomic Uncertainty: Applying The Kaleidoscope Model To Ghana’S Fertilizer Subsidy Programme (2008–2015)," Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Papers 259059, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security (FSP).
    11. Samuel Benin, 2015. "Impact of Ghana's agricultural mechanization services center program," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 46(S1), pages 103-117, November.

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