Assessment of Ghana’s Comparative Advantage in Maize Production and the Role of Fertilizers

Lilli Scheiterle and Regina Birner ()
Additional contact information
Lilli Scheiterle: Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics (Hans-Ruthenberg-Institute), University of Hohenheim, Wollgrasweg 43, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: Maize is one of the most important cereal crops produced and consumed in West Africa, but yields are far under their potential and the production gap leads to growing import bills. After the structural adjustment program, fertilizer subsidies again became a popular intervention to increase yields in most African countries. Ghana introduced fertilizer subsidies in 2008, with high government expenses. This study assesses the competitiveness of Ghanaian maize production and the significance of socio-economic and management variables in determining high yields in northern Ghana. Household survey data and secondary data were applied in a Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) to test private and social profitability of the fertilizer subsidy policy. Additionally, a probit model is used to determine the characteristics that contribute to higher yields. The results suggest that production systems with Ghana’s above-average yields of 1.5 Mt/ha are profitable at household level and contribute to its economic growth, whereas production systems below this threshold report negative social profits and depend on government intervention. However, fertilizers did not increase the likelihood of a household to fall in the category of high-output production system, whereas the use of improved seeds and herbicides does. In conclusion, the analysis highlights the importance of additional measures, especially the use of supporting inputs as well as management practices, to increased maize productivity.

Keywords: maize; Policy Analysis Matrix; comparative advantage; probit; Ghana (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4181/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4181/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4181-:d:182542

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().