Modeling optimal farm plan for cashew farming households in Northern Ghana
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Date
May, 2016
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Abstract
The choice of the farming household at every season on what to grow is driven by profit
maximization. Cashew farming households with an established cashew farm cultivate other food
crops for home consumption and also for sale in order to generate income during periods when
fruiting of the crop have not started. Notwithstanding the benefits derived from this approach,
farmers are faced with a decision on what and how much should be added that maximize their
socio-economic benefits in line with the resource restrictions. This study therefore has developed
a farm optimization model for cashew farming households in Bole district that cultivate other
food crops alongside cashew. The study employed a multi-stage sampling technique to select 150
cashew farming households. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data which was
analyzed with General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) software to perform the
optimization. The goal of the study was to identify the best mix of crops that maximizes gross
farm income for both actual and best farm practices under different farm sizes. The optimal
cropping plan under actual practices suggest that in order for cashew farming households with
5.25ha of land to maximize gross farm income, maize, cassava, yam and groundnut should be
cultivated. Also, as production tends to be commercialized, maize, cassava, groundnut and millet
should be cultivated to maximize gross farm income. The optimal cropping plan under best farm
practices suggest that shea, sorghum, groundnut and cassava should be cultivated by farming
households with 5.25ha of farm land and as production tends to be commercialized the acreages
cultivated of these crops increase with shea gaining more focus. A significant difference exists
between the optimal cropping plan for the baseline scenario and other alternate scenarios. If farm
households were to allocate all their resources to the production of cashew under both farm
practices, they would be able to gain enough income to cater for the crop consumption
requirement of the household by purchasing from the external market. In periods of displacement
of labor where there is less supply of family labor, the acreages of cultivation of the optimal
crops should be reduced and sorghum featuring into the optimal plan under actual practices and
the acreages of cultivation of the best mix of crops should be reduced and focused on the
cultivation of shea under best farm practices. It is therefore recommended based on the
optimization results that farming households cultivates these crops alongside their wild shea
kernel gathering activities.
Description
A thesis submitted to The Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness, and Extension, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy,