Farmers’ perceived effect of urban vegetable production on their livelihoods in the Kumasi metropolis of Ashanti region of Ghana

Abstract

The study examined farmers’ perceived effect of urban vegetable production on their livelihoods in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ashanti Region of Ghana. Descriptive survey design was used for the study. Based on a simple random sampling technique, 300 urban vegetable farmers were selected and interviewed for the primary data from mid June to July 2010. The data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 15. From the study, lettuce was the most cultivated vegetable crop with a production area of 39.7ha and French beans the least (0.4ha). The study also revealed that the vegetable industry was male dominated. The effect of vegetable production on farmers’ livelihoods was perceived generally to be ‘low’. However, it impacted ‘moderately high’ on their natural and physical capitals. Farmers’ vegetable production and marketing challenges such as high input cost, inadequate credit facilities, fluctuating demand and low price offer affected the level of impact on their livelihoods. From the ANOVA results, there were statistically significant differences among the mean livelihood assets at 0.05 alpha level. The formation of formal or informal farmer associations would provide the platform to address common challenges of high input cost, inadequate credit facilities and improve marketing avenues to improve farmers’ incomes and livelihoods. The associations’ functions should be diversified to include training on new innovations to increase productivity of members. Research-Extension-Farmer Linkage should be strengthened to enhance contacts with farmers and also update their knowledge and skill levels for improved productivity.