ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Ecological zones rather than molecular forms predict genetic differentiation in the malaria vector anopheles gambiaes.s. in Ghana

The malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiaes.s. is rapidly becoming a model for studies on the evolution of reproductive isolation. Debate has centered on the taxonomic status of two forms (denoted M and S) within the nominal taxon identified by point mutations in the X-linked rDNA region. Evidence is accumulating that there are significant barriers to gene fow between these forms, but that the barriers are not complete throughout the entire range of their distribution. The sampled populations from across Ghana and southern Burkina Faso, West Africa, from areas here the molecular forms occurred in both sympatry and allopatry. Neither Bayesian clustering methods nor FST-based analysis of microsatellite data found differentiation between the M and S molecular forms, but revealed strong differentiation among different ecological zones, irrespective of M/S status and with no detectable effect of geographical distance. Although no M/S hybrids were found in the samples, admixture analysis detected evidence of contemporary interform gene fow, arguably most pronounced in southern Ghana here forms occur sympatrically. Thus, in the sampled area of West Africa, lack of differentiation between M and S forms likely reflects substantial introgression, and ecological barriers appear to be of greater importance in restricting gene flow

Source: UCC
The Ecology of Lowe’s Monkey (Cercopithecus Campbelli Lowei) in Kakum Conservation Area, Ghana

The ecology of Lowe’s monkey (Cercopithecus campbelli lowei) was investigated at Kakum Conservation Area of Ghana in both dry and wet seasons in 2009 and 2010. Analysis of satellite images and field survey was done to evaluate the dynamics in canopy coverage, species density and composition of the living components were determined. Foraging and feeding behavior were studied plus proximate analyses of three fruits consumed by the monkeys were determined by ‘ Weende system of Analysis’. The number of tree species enumerated was 97, distributed from 37 to 92 trees per 0.20 ha in eight sampled areas. The mean density of Lowe’s monkey was found to be 0.99 and 1.07 per km in the wet and dry seasons respectively. With reference to the implementation of conservation practices in 1993, the average density of the Lowe’s monkeys has increased from 0.31 to 1.03 with an average group size of 10.2 in the wet season while in the dry season the mean group size was 11.8. Proximate analysis of three fruits found to be commonly consumed by Lowe’s monkey indicated high carbohydrate (Maize = 67%, Banana = 75%, Spondias 66%) and moisture (Maize = 8%, Banana = 14%, Spondias = 16%) contents. Hunting which could negatively affect the population of monkeys has largely been controlled in the Kakum Conservation Area in recent times. The Lowe’s monkey should be promoted as an icon species for it to get conservation, political and public attention and so as to save their populations from collapse.

Source: UCC
An econometric analysis of internal travel patterns in Ghana and the implications for domestic tourism

This paper examines the general travel patterns of Ghanaians and, based on these, explores the implications for domestic tourism. Employing discrete choice models, data from the Ghana Statistical Service (specifically, the fifth round of the Ghana Living Standard Survey) are used for the analysis. In addition to providing a quantitative analysis of the determinants of travel propensity, which had not previously been examined for Ghana, the authors test two hypotheses. First, they assert a three-way (positive–negative–positive) relationship between age and travel propensity. Second, they argue that the mother’s education is more likely to influence the decision to travel than the father’s education. The travel patterns of Ghanaians were found to bear the inherent hallmarks of domestic tourism. The authors also observe that, although the degree of travel is low, the frequency of repeat visits is high. Social imperatives dominated the motives for travel, while key socio-demographic variables (especially the respondent’s age) were found to influence travel propensities significantly

Source: UCC
Economic Analysis of Inclusive and Sustainable Business Models for Smallholder Vegetable Farmers in the Eastern Region of Ghana

The essence of this study was to examine inclusive business models that could promote the adoption of new technologies among smallholder vegetable farmers in the Denkyembour District in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Data collection for the study was done through the administering of a structured questionnaire. Census was carried out on 150 smallholder vegetable farmers who were beneficiaries of the project titled: Building vegetable farmers' resilience to climate change. Descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis, stochastic profit frontier efficiency model, correlation, and binary logistic regression were used in analyzing the data. Findings from the study indicated that farmers who cultivated both okra and garden eggs had a gross margin of (83.23%) and were found to be more profitable than only okra farmers and only garden egg farmers. With the mean profit efficiency value of (93%), only okra farmers were found to be more profit efficient than the other vegetable-farmer categories. The results also showed that smallholder vegetable farmers had high competencies in Vegetable Production Management Practices (VPMPs) with moderate knowledge, high attitude, high skills, and high aspirations. Direct Farming was the existing Business Model type commonly practiced by the majority of farmers as a result of insufficient knowledge of farmers on inclusive business models (IBM). Farmers’ choice of business model types was influenced by: age, level of education, main occupation, the use of irrigation facility, farmer group, number of times of accessing extension services, knowledge and attitude in VPMPs, and their awareness of IBM. The study proposed that smallholder vegetable farmers in the study area could extremely do well in an improved vegetable value chain model situated in an enabling regulatory framework with a financial mechanism. The study recommended that MOFA and other stakeholders in agriculture should educate smallholder farmers on the relevance of IBM in the vegetable industry, help to link them to other vegetable value chain actorsd regulate the contractual agreement between the farmers and their partners to minimize cheating or fraud in the value chain.

Source: UCC
Economic analysis of value added activities along the Pineapple value chain in selected districts in the Central Region, Ghana

The purpose of the study was to analyse the value added activities along the pineapple value chain in selected districts in the Central Region. The study employed the descriptive survey design while interview schedules were used as the instruments to collect data from respondents. A sample size of 320, 66 and 169 pineapple farmers, processors and marketers was obtained. The study revealed that pineapple production and processing were profitable whereas marketing was not. The study rejected the null hypothesis that there was no significant difference in the profit share of the actors. Revenue, capital and planting materials were the determinants of farmer profit; capital, pineapple fruits and packaging materials were the predictors of the processors’ profit and transportation, revenue and loading and off-loading cost predicts the profit of the marketer. The study found that pineapple farmers, processors and marketers were technically inefficient. In addition, the study revealed that the farmers were faced with the lack of credit facilities as a major constraint. For the processors, lack of raw materials was their major constraint whereas the marketers were faced with fruit perishability as their main problem. Furthermore, the activities by the pineapple farmers and marketers were highly sustainable while the activities of the processor was very highly sustainable. The study recommended among others that NGOs and other partner agencies promote the pineapple industry in various ways to assist decrease the country's poverty by providing the actors with credit facilities that will enhance their productivity, profitability, and sustainability.

Source: UCC
Economic analysis of value-added activities along the Pineapple value chain in selected districts in the Central region, Ghana

The purpose of the study was to analyse the value-added activities along the pineapple value chain in selected districts in the Central Region. The study employed the descriptive survey design while interview schedules were used as the instruments to collect data from respondents. A sample size of 320, 66 and 169 pineapple farmers, processors and marketers were obtained. The study revealed that pineapple production and processing were profitable whereas marketing was not. The study rejected the null hypothesis that there was no significant difference in the profit share of the actors. Revenue, capital and planting materials were the determinants of farmer profit; capital, pineapple fruits and packaging materials were the predictors of the processors' profit and transportation, revenue and loading and off-loading cost predicts the profit of the marketer. The study found that pineapple farmers, processors and marketers were technically inefficient. In addition, the study revealed that the farmers were faced with the lack of credit facilities as a major constraint. For the processors, ack of raw materials was their major constraint whereas the marketers were faced with fruit perishability as their main problem. Furthermore, the activities by the pineapple farmers and marketers were highly sustainable while the activities of the processor were very highly sustainable. The study recommended among others that NGOs and other partner agencies promote the pineapple industry in various ways to assist decrease the country's poverty by providing the actors with credit facilities that will enhance their productivity, profitability, and sustainability.

Source: UCC
Economic and social upgrading by farmers in the mango value chain in the Shai-Osudoku district of the Greater Accra Region, Ghana

The study examined the economic and social upgrading in the mango value chain for smallholder producers in the Shai-Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region. A mixed method research approach was used while the cross-sectional design constituted the study design. The study adopted the census approach in selecting a population size of 133 respondents. Interview schedule, interview guide, focus group discussion guides and an observation guide were used for data collection. Data analysis involved the application of descriptive statistics, chi- square test, margin analysis, ANOVA, independent t-test and a thematic analysis. The study found that mango production in the district is highly efficient and profitable. In addition, producers have economically upgraded their operations and others transcended to export their own produce, yet, there were inadequate improvement in the social conditions of workers. The study identified certain constraints that impede economic and social upgrading, as well as some potential opportunities. The study concludes that producers are experiencing economic upgrading, however, substantial improvements are still essential for social upgrading. The study recommended that Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) should effectively initiate well documented policies on mango production and scale up capacity building initiatives toward attitudinal and behaviour change to help producers appreciate the need for ensuring decent and healthy working environment for workers. Furthermore, producers should forge partnership with other mango farmer-based groups and/or buyers to create a financial scheme to address the financial and market inefficiencies.

Source: UCC
Economic Drivers of Domestic Violence among Women: A Case Study of Ghana

Violence against women seems to be more of an economic than a sociological problem. In Ghana, no study has investigated the economic causes of domestic violence against women. The chapter seeks to investigate the economic factors that are likely to drive domestic violence among married couples. The study uses a survey of 260 married women from selected communities around the University of Cape Coast. Due to the nature of the measurement of domestic violence, the study adopts the binary logit model to estimate the key economic variables that affect the likelihood of being subjected to domestic violence. Average income, property ownership, economic activities, and their interactions seem to drive domestic violence after controlling for some household covariates. It is found that income and a combination of being economically engaged and owning an asset significantly affected domestic violence at their desired level of significance. Stemming from this, the authors call on the appropriate authorities to make credit facilities available to women to enable them to be economically engaged. Empowering women through the provision of microcredit facilities has the potential to reduce the economic dimensions of domestic violence.

Source: UCC
Economic effect of pests and diseases on cocoa production and its implication on income of smallscale farmers in mankranso cocoa district.

Pest and disease have been reported as one of the major factors that has caused steadily decline in cocoa yield and farmer‘s income from cocoa production. A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used to assess the economic effect of pest and disease on cocoa production and its implication on livelihood outcomes (income) among small-scale farmers in Mankranso cocoa district. The population composed of all smallholder cocoa farmers who cultivate cocoa in the district under consideration. A total of 200 out of the 234 cocoa farmers responded the questionnaire. Structured interview guides in a face-to-face meeting in the Mankranso cocoa district was used in the data collection. The results revealed that, the main diseases that infest cocoa in the study area are Black Pod and Vascular Streak Dieback. Again, the major pest that attack cocoa in the study area were Capside, Stem borer, Anomis, Termites and Mistletoes. The average yield per hectare was 488.3kg. The mean technical efficiency of the cocoa farmers was estimated to be 64.5%. This implies that there is scope for cocoa farmers in the study area to increase their output by 35.5%, Furthermore, there was significant effect between disease and farmer income from cocoa production. The average income from cocoa production on hectare of land in Mankranso Cocoa District was 3980.80 Ghana cedis. It is recommended among others that, COCOBOD and MoFA must devise strengthen existing to pest and disease programs in the study area.

Source: UCC
Economic efficiency of mango production in the Yilo Krobo municipality in the eastern region of Ghana

Mango has been the major cash crop grown by farmers in the Yilo Krobo Municipality. The productivity of this crop has been persistently low despite various private and public sector interventions. Studies have suggested that one key factor of productivity growth is efficiency in resource and technology use. This study estimated the economic efficiency of mango production to determine the scope for additional increase in mango production. A multistage sampling technique was used to randomly select and collect primary data from sixty two registered mango farmers. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the state of mango production. Stochastic production frontier analysis was used to estimate the economic efficiencies and their determinants among mango farmers. Kendall coefficient of concordance was used to measure the degree of agreement among farmers concerning the constraints associated with mango production. The results of the analysis indicated that mango farmers were economically inefficient, and that the presence of technical and allocative inefficiencies had effects on mango production. In addition, the results revealed that farm-specific and farmer-specific characteristics were significant predictors of the economic inefficiency levels exhibited by mango farmers. The Kendall W statistic also revealed a strong degree of agreement among mango farmers concerning the constraints associated with mango production. Based on these findings, policy makers should focus on promoting efficient use of existing technology and resources in mango production. For instance, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture should develop an integrated and holistic extension strategy to provide training for farmers on resource use efficiency, information, and access to inputs and services.

Source: UCC
Economic Impacts of Energy Transition Rapidity on the Electricity Sector in Ghana

The ongoing energy transition demands significant increase in the shares of low carbon energy technologies in the supply mix. The intention is to ultimately phaseout fossil-fuel technologies to keep global temperatures well below 2oC relative to pre-industrial levels. Despite opening clear possibilities to solve global climate challenges, energy transition is significantly front-loaded with plausible economic and social costs. The existing spectrum of literature on the transition in developing electricity markets is yet non-exhaustive, especially for Ghana in the sense of accounting for the economy-wide implication across all sectors of a national economy arising from carbon abatement policies. This study employs forward-looking approaches in computable general equilibrium (CGE) and microsimulation modelling to compute the economic costs associated with accelerated deployment of three transition policies in the electricity sector. The simulated policies include carbon taxes, carbon capping, and renewable energy feed-in-tariffs (REFITs). The simulated polices achieve decent growth in renewable electricity supply but with increasing adverse impacts on growth and welfare rapid penetration rates. Relatively, carbon tax has less adverse impact on welfare than carbon capping through revenue re-distribution. REFITs also make available revenue from ratepayers to fund renewable electricity production albeit accompanied by higher consumer welfare losses as REFITs increase. Finally, a tractable pathway is proposed with minimal impact of each policy option towards decarbonising the electricity sector in Ghana by 2030.

Source: UCC
Economic Stability and Economic Growth in Ghana

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship existing between economic stability and economic growth (real GDP growth) in Ghana. The intuition was that though it has been acknowledged that economic stability and economic growth have bear some connection, but the direction of causality is inconclusive or ambiguous. The study employed the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to co-integration technique with a help of a secondary data ranges between 1980 and 2016, sourced from World Bank (World Development Indicators). It was revealed from the stationarity tests that all the variables were stationary of order 1. The diagram showed that the trends of inflation had been non-linear however, those of exchange rates and interest rates were partly linear. The study revealed that inflation, Interest and exchange rates affect economic growth both in the short run and the long run but, interest rates influence growth at 10 percent in the short run. The idea is that any instability in an economy negatively affects the growth patterns of the country. Apart from inflation and exchange rates, the study revealed that government expenditure, and trade openness, affect the economic growth of Ghana in the long run. Additionally, it was seen that direction of causality between inflation and growth was bi-directional while that of exchange rates and interest rates the direction of causality was only from stability to economic growth. The study therefore recommends that central bank do well to curtail rates of interest and inflation rates since increases in such variables reduce economic growth.

Source: UCC
Economic Uncertainty And Financial Asset Returns

Economic uncertainties pose a major problem to global economies. The issue of economic uncertainties in recent times has become a cause of excessive worry to investors and policymakers. This study examines the effect of economic uncertainty proxied by country-level and global economic policy uncertainty (EPU), oil volatility index (OVX) and geopolitical risk (GPR) on the returns of financial assets (G7 stocks, gold, Bitcoin, and the European Union Allowance Future market). Considering data spanning from 1st January 2012 to 31st December 2022, the study employed the Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD) based quantile regression and quantile-on-quantile regression analysis, followed by the wavelet analysis and the Disk and Panchenko causality test. The findings from the VMD-based quantile regression revealed that the influence of global and country-level EPU, OVX and GPR on the returns of financial assets is dependent on the market condition and investment horizons. The results of the quantile regression revealed that financial assets are greatly affected adversely during the bearish market conditions. Likewise results from the wavelet analysis revealed an economic uncertainty-led adverse comovement during times of high uncertainty. Again, the Disk and Panchenko causality test supported the findings of the quantile regression and wavelet techniques, where the study observed a short term causal nexus between economic uncertainties and the financial assets under study. The significant adverse effect of economic uncertainty on the returns of financial assets is of interest and relevance to investors and policymakers as the findings have practical application to enlighten their decision-making.

Source: UCC
Economic, social and political developments in Ghana: A relook at the Guggisburg era in the Gold Coast (1919-1927)

In Africa and most countries of the developing world, infrastructural projects are mostly carried out with the goal of eradicating poverty, misery, diseases and deprivation, as well as to ensure equity in the sharing of national cake. Therefore, right after colonization of Africa, the colonial authorities set in motion the process of providing one infrastructural project or the other in their colonies. Typical examples were construction of roads and railways, harbours, pipe borne water, electricity, construction of school buildings, hospitals or dispensaries, sinking of wells and the like. Though, these projects were seen to be woefully inadequate by some African Historians, who have been critical of the colonial administrations’ provision of the so called infrastructural projects as tools for exploitation of the resources of the colonies for the benefit of their home country, to the neglect of the improvement of the circumstances of the colonial subjects or territories. This paper using primary and secondary data examines the developments that occurred in Ghana in the economic, social and political spheres focusing on the era of Guggisberg as the Governor of Colonial Ghana (the Gold Coast) from 1919 to 1927 and discusses its implication for the current political gimmick

Source: UCC