A Local-Level Agricultural Transformation in the Making? : The Case of the Cassava Industry in the Ashanti and Volta Regions of Ghana

Summary, in English

In sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana is recognized as one of the countries undergoing rapid economic transformation. Drawing on an agricultural transformation framework, this study sheds light on the current farm and nonfarm developments in the cassava subsector in five communities across four districts in Ghana. Using a qualitative exploratory research design based on field-work surveys, the study identifies several factors that together showcase manifestations of a transformation process in the studied areas. These include a combination of growing farm sizes, use of new technologies, higher productivity, expanding market opportunities, increased profitability, improved lives and livelihoods, and changing labour structures. These micro-level findings allow the study to offer a richer understanding of dynamics of change underway that could complement macro-oriented analyses of agricultural transformation in Africa.

• Author: Martin Andersson; Gonzalo Davila; Magnus Jirström; Chekhros Kilichova; Hedvig Lagercrantz; Ibrahim Wahab
• Department/s: Department of Economic History; Economic development of the Global South; LU Profile Area: Human rights; Department of Human Geography; Department of Sociology of Law
• Publishing year: 2024
• Language: English
• Pages: 310-324
• Publication/Series: Oxford Development Studies
• Volume: 52
• Issue: 3
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2024.2418002
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Routledge
• Topic: Economic History
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1360-0818