Factors Affecting Cocoa Production in Upper Denkyira West District

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Date
2013-12-10
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Abstract
Ghana is one of the largest suppliers of cocoa on the world market and the sector employs millions of people. For sixty-six (66) years, (1911 - 1977), Ghana was the leading producer of cocoa. Thereafter production continued to decline to the lowest in 1983/84. The people of Upper Denkyira West District in the Central Region are predominantly cocoa farmers. Most of these cocoa farmers own few acres of land. Farmers depend on yield per acre of cocoa farm for their survival. The objective of the study is to ascertain the factors affecting cocoa production in the Upper Denkyira West Districts of the Central Region of Ghana. Using structured questionnaires, a total of one hundred and fifty (150) cocoa farmers were selected from five (5) communities by simple random and purposive sampling techniques. Data was collected on the socio-economic or personal characteristics of cocoa farmers (gender, age, educational level, religious background, marital status years of farming and family size), output or yield of cocoa and other factors such as farm size, size of labour, years of cocoa trees in farm and others. Data was analyzed by using descriptive analysis, test of associations using Pearson Chi-square statistic and logistic regression model. The results revealed that out of (150), cocoa farmers 78% were predominantly males while 22% are females. The numbers of farmers was found to increase with age with majority of aged 44 years and above. Almost half of the farmers sampled were with no formal education. It was observed that gender and age was not associated with high output or yield of cocoa but the level of education, years of cocoa trees in farm, size of farm and size of labour showed significant effect on high output of cocoa.  
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Mathematics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Science, April-2013
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