ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Cobweb model with buffer stock for the stabilization of tomato prices in Ghana

In this paper a linear cobweb model is developed to study the phenomenon of commodity price fluctuations and then a buffer stock incorporated into the model to stabilize the price of fresh tomatoes in Ghana. The model performed on the assumptions that fresh tomatoes have no equal substitutes, and that there is no foreign competition and also no exogenous shocks needed to generate price fluctuations. The analysis detected that the slope of the demand function of price was smaller than the slope of the supply function of price curve implying that the price and quantity supplied of the fresh tomatoes would oscillate around a fixed price and quantity and also spiral outward. The “Keep Supply at Average” (KSA) buffer scheme achieved price and quantity stability in the short run. The mean price of the scheme was GH¢17.31, very close to actual price mean of Gh¢ 13.40 in the first 16 quarters. The standard deviation of the scheme price also dropped to 1.2 from 9.13 during price stabilization compared to 14.60 of actual price mean. In the long run the scheme price went up to Gh¢ 18.22, an increase of Gh¢ 0.91 and it is clear that in long run buffer system will fail unless the average supply is reviewed regularly. The scheme price trend equation indicated that with the implementation of the buffer scheme, the average quarterly price of fresh tomatoes increased by only 0.05

Source: UCC
Cocoa farmers' perceived impact of the cocoa high technology programme on their livelihoods in the Eastern region of Ghana

One of the problems accounting for the relatively low level of cocoa production in Ghana is the decline in soil fertility. The Cocoa High Technology Programme (CHTP) was introduced by the Government of Ghana in 2003 with the aim of improving the fertility of the soil thereby increasing the yields and incomes of cocoa farmers. The study was carried out (using a descriptive-correlational survey design) in Birim South, East Akim, Fanteakwah and Birim North districts in the Eastern Region of Ghana to exam ine the perceived impact of the CHTP on the livelihoods of cocoa farmers who adopted the technology. The results from the study revealed that of the 200 respondents interviewed, 74% to 88% implemented all the five components of the programme. The only exception was timely application of fertiliser where only 42% implemented it. Farmers perceived all the five components of the CHTP namely 1. cultural maintenance, 2. fertiliser application, 3. fungicide application, 4. insecticide application, and 5. harvesting, fermentation and drying technologies, to be 'effective' in increasing their yields and incomes. Generally, cocoa farmers perceived that the overall level of impact of the CHTP on their livelihoods was 'moderately high', i.e. high but below their expectations. Fertiliser and insecticide application components were the major strengths farmers found in the CHTP. Main problems farmers faced were late arrival of fertiliser, high cost of weeding as a result of fertiliser application, unavailability of spraying machines and inadequate training and supervision by Agricultural Extension Agents (AEAs). The study further revealed that farmers' yields were significantly improved by the CHTP with mean increase of 72% (from 2.85 bags/acre to 4.9 bags/acre), three years after the implementation of the CHTP. However, the yields were below the expected CHTP yield of 10 or more bags/acre. The mean age of cocoa farmers in the area was 56 years with more than half (54.5%) possessing the Middle School Leaving Certificate. The mean number of years of experience of cocoa farmers was 24. The average land area under cocoa cultivation was 10.5 acres (4.2 ha). There were positive and substantial significant relationships between impact on livelihoods of farmers and each of the five main components of the CHTP at 0.05 alpha level. The results of stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that (l) fertiliser application; (2) harvesting, fermentation and drying technologies; and (3) fungicide application were the best predictors of impact on livelihoods of cocoa farmers, who adopted the CHTP in the study area, with fertiliser application being the overall best predictor variable.

Source: UCC
Cocoa Farmers’ Perceptions of the Factors Associated with Child Labour Use in Cocoa Production in the Sefwi Area of the Western Region of Ghana

There has been concerns raised recently by some individuals and groups following negative media reports about the possible use of child labour in cocoa production, particularly reports of forced child labour on cocoa farms of Cote d’Ivoire which surfaced in the year 2000. The study was conducted between November, 2011 and May, 2012 to identify the factors associated with child labour use in cocoa production in the Sefwi area of the Western Region of Ghana. A descriptive correlational research design was used for the study, which was carried out in the five districts, namely Bia, Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai, Sefwi Wiawso, Akontombra and Juaboso districts. The population for the study was cocoa farmers in the selected districts. An interview schedule was developed and used to collect data from the respondents. The Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS Version 16) software was used to analyse the data collected from the respondents. The analysis included; descriptive statistics, ANOVA, t-test, correlations and Stepwise Multiple regression. All the coefficients of significance in the study were tested at 0.05 alpha level. The results of the best predictors of the factors associated with child labour use were that: (1) It is cheaper to use children in cocoa production (2) Expansion of educational opportunities for children, (3) Law enforcement to prevent child labour use, (4) Ownership of land, (5) Children below 18 years that are used in cocoa production have their parents migrated to the cities, (6) Gender (female), (7) Children below 18 years that are used in cocoa production do not have access to school, (8) Educational background and (9) Some cocoa farmers use their children in cocoa production because they may want to handover their cocoa farms to them in the future. The study recommended that cocoa farmers with low educational levels should be educated about the negative effects of child labour use in cocoa production. Since cost was found to be the best predictor of child labour use in cocoa production, the study recommends that technologies that reduces the requirements for much labour be made available and affordable to farmers. Additionally, more and flexible educational units should be made accessible in cocoa producing areas for more children to be enrolled in. Campaigns against child labour use n cocoa production and farming in general should be intensified by key stakeholders such as Government, Ghana Cocoa Board, Law Enforcement Agencies and foreign partners.

Source: UCC
Cocoa Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Extension Service Delivery in the Agona East District of the Central Region of Ghana

Dissemination of farm relevant information to cocoa farmers though crucial is inadequate in the public extension service. The information-transfer gap could be reduced if information dissemination is prioritised in extension service delivery. This study thus examines cocoa farmers’ willingness to pay for improved extension service in the Agona East District of the Central Region of Ghana. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to elicit information from 151 cocoa farmers. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics, SERVQUAL analysis model, conditional logit model, multivariate regression model and a standard logit model. Evidence from the study indicated that farmers were consistently not satisfied with the quality of extension service being provided by the public sector and that frequent farm visits as well as easy access to farm advisory services were the most important attributes they preferred in an extension service package. They were therefore willing to pay more for improvement in these extension service attributes. The results also indicated that the Assurance and Empathy dimensions of an extension service, good agent-farmer relation and the increase in average yield of a cocoa farm were significant variables that determined farmers’ choice of improved extension service delivery. The study therefore recommends government and potential investors to critically pay attention to and improve frequency of agents’ farm visits and farmers’ access to farm advisory services in extension delivery services.

Source: UCC
Cocoa farming business, financial literacy and social welfare of farmers in Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana

Government of Ghana has put in place many measures to improve the wellbeing of cocoa farmers in the country through increase in the income they receive from cocoa produce. Despite this, cocoa farmers in Ghana do not earn the quality premium received by Ghana cocoa on the international market. This study examined the influence of cocoa farming business and financial literacy on the social welfare of cocoa farmers in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods in the study and data collection was done using questionnaire and interview. A total of 106 cocoa farmers were selected using simple random sampling technique. Analyses of the data were done by using both descriptive and influential analyses. The study revealed that cocoa farmers depend mostly on the income from cocoa, and since most of them are peasant cocoa farmers andthe income they receive is not much, it has an adverse effecton their living standards.Also, the study found that, (65%) of the respondents do not save, thus, having a negative effect on theirwell-being.The study showed that, financial literacy level of cocoa farmers have a positive effect on their well-being. The study also found that educational level has a positive effect on cocoa farmer’s wellbeing whereasnumber of dependents of cocoa farmers and age have negative impacts on the well-being of cocoa farmers. The study thereforerecommends government must increase the cocoa producer price which will help raise the income of cocoa farmersin order to enhance theirwell-being. Also, COCOABOD and government must offer financial literacy education to cocoa farmers.

Source: UCC
Cocoa health and extension division’s programmes and Sustainable Cocoa Production in Ghana: A case of Ahafo Ano Cocoa District

The study set out to investigate the influence of the Cocoa Health and Extension Division’s Programmes (CHED) on Sustainable Cocoa Production in Ghana using Ahafo Ano Cocoa District as the setting. CHED extension services were measured with five variables – Teaching and Learning Methods, Facilitating the Adoption of Technology, Formation of Farm Groups, Information Management, and Linkage with Stakeholders. The researcher employs a quantitative research design and utilized Slovin's formula to determine the sample size, resulting in the distribution of survey questions to 399 cocoa farmers within the Ahafo-Ano North Municipality. Due to the nature of the population, the non-probability sampling technique specifically convenient sampling was used to select the respondents. The researcher used descriptive and inferential statistics for the analysis with the help of SPSS version 20. The cocoa farmers expressed their level of agreement on all the Five variables that happens to be the activity areas of CHED and their influence on sustainable cocoa production. The study indicated four out of the five extension activities – Teaching and Learning Method, Facilitating the Adoption of Technology, Formation of Farm Groups, and Linkage with Stakeholders influence Sustainable Cocoa Production in the study area. The researcher made necessary recommendations for future researchers and policymakers in Ghana and abroad.

Source: UCC
Cocoa Research Innovations and Output in Ghana

Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana has introduced a number of innovations to increase cocoa yield per hectare from 360 to 1,300 Kg but the rate of adoption has been low. The objectives of the study were to determine factors which influence adoption and to estimate the impact of adoption on output. A sample of 600 cocoa farmers was selected through a multistage sampling technique. An interview schedule was used to gather data. The double hurdle model was used to estimate the determinants of adoption and intensity of adoption whilst OLS was used to estimate the impact of adoption on output. Findings were that age of the farmer negatively affected adoption. Household size, farm size, primary education, access to credit, hired labour. non-hired labour, own labour, membership of association and frequency of extension advice positively influenced adoption. The results further indicated that all the variables had positive relationship with intensity of adoption. Also, output of cocoa had positive relationship with household size, farm size. middle school education, hired labour, membership of association, frequency of extension advice, credit access and intensity of adoption. Il is recommended that government should tackle the issue of land ownership: COCOBOD should intensify provision of social interventions like the housing scheme for cocoa farmers to make farming attractive to the youth. intensify extension services, provide (raining and encourage them to join requirements to access credit and the need to repay loans granted.

Source: UCC
Code - switching ET code - mixing Chez quelques fonctionnnaires Dagara dans la ville de Nandom

One of the inevitable results of the co-existence of English and the Ghanaian Languages is the fusion in their form and function. This natural socio- linguistic symbioses has invariably brought about the emergence of an artificial language that some people term « mixed », « hybrid », or even « third» language. This phenomenon is common with Ghanaian languages, as with local languages elsewhere. Today many socio-linguists are interested more concretely in the phenomenon of code-mixing and code-switching. Spoken Dagara has not been an exception to this socio-linguistic transformation. Many Dagara speakers often resort to the use of English words or even switch totally to English in a speech situation. Our preoccupation here is to examine how the phenomenon reflects in the Dagara spoken by literate natives. To realize our objective we undertook to analyze ordinary conversations of people in many locations, especially people who speak both English and Dagara. Our findings indicate that this « third tongue» permits the resort to the English language when the word is not readily available in Dagara. It also has a social and psychological effect on the speakers ofaagara. It also came to light that the phenomenon does not necessarily lead to a grammarless and sub-standard language. Guided by these finding, and also given the fact that code-switching and code-mixing have become the norm in the speech of many today, we propose that one, the phenomenon he seen as a natnral produet of language contact, serving very important communicative and cognitive functions and not one that has been negatively and erroneously considered a confused language, and two, that it be encouraged rather than condemned.

Source: UCC
Code-switching in Political Campaign Speeches: the Case Of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-addo

Code-switching in political discourse has gained considerable attention from researchers over the past decades. These researchers have shown how code-switching is used in political discourse to maximize personal or political gains. Using ten video clips of the 2016 political campaign speeches of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the president of the Republic of Ghana, collected from YouTube and Facebook, the study investigated the types of code-switching, the socio-psychological motivation of code-switching, and the conversational functions of code-switching. The study employed Myers-Scotton’s (1993) Markedness Model and Gumperz’s (1982) Conversational Analysis as a combined analytical framework. The study revealed that all three types of code-switching (the inter-sentential, intra-sentential, and tag switching) were evident in the political campaign speeches of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. However, another code-switching type, the intra-word, was evident in the data. Further, the intra-sentential code-switching was employed frequently by the speaker to fill lexical gaps. Instances of marked code-switching which were employed for various communicative purposes included the following: creating aesthetic effect, increasing social distance via authority and/or anger, revealing speakers as entrepreneurs, expressing group solidarity and ethnic identity. The study, again, revealed that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo employed code-switching to show courtesy and/or refinement in his speech, to perform phatic functions, and to show off his linguistic competence. Finally, this study has implications for political communication and contact linguistics and serves as an impetus for further research.

Source: UCC
Codes of corporate governance: a comparative analysis between Ghana and the UK

We highlight considerable important aspects of the proposed 2010 Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) Code of Ghana and compare them with UK Corporate Governance Codes. Comparisons are undertaken on their respective definitions of corporate governance, compliance and enforcement, board structure and composition and key board committees. Initial findings suggest that both the 2010 SEC of Ghana and UK Codes are voluntary in nature and principally business induced. However, we recommend a more highly regulated business environment in Ghana to enhance corporate governance practices through effective compliance and enforcement. As several Ghanaian firms are characterised by large shareholders who painstakingly influence both the appointments of chief executive officer and board members, enhancements in corporate governance practices in Ghana are vitally important to safeguard the rights of minority shareholders, infuse confidence in investors and compliance with socio-economic goals of Ghana.

Source: UCC
Coerced first sex among adolescent girls in sub-saharan Africa: Prevalence and context

Coercive experiences at sexual debut have been shown to be associated with other sexual risks throughout the life course. Using nationally representative surveys from 12–19 year old girls in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda collected in 2004, we examine the prevalence of sexual coercion at sexual debut among unmarried girls and its correlates. In Malawi, 38 percent of girls said that they were “not willing at all” at their first sexual experience followed by Ghana at 30 percent, Uganda at 23 percent and Burkina Faso at 15 percent. In-depth interviews collected in 2003 with the same demographic shows that there are four primary types of sexual coercion: forced sex; pressure through money or gifts; flattery, pestering, and threatening to have sex with other girls; and passive acceptance. The article concludes with the research and policy implications of these findings

Source: UCC
Coerced, Indebted and Indentured Sex Slaves: Representations of Sex Slavery in Chinwuba’s Merchants of Flesh (2003) and Sanusi’s Eyo (2009)

This qualitative study analyses two West African novels to examine sex slavery's new dimensions as depicted in prosaic works by Third-Generation female West African writers. Using Bales’ Theory of Slavery Forms (2009) and Weissbrodt’s Classifications of Slavery (2002), it categorises sex slavery as coerced, indebted, and indentured through Chinwuba’s Merchants of Flesh (2003) and Sanusi’s Eyo (2009). The findings identify demand variables—purchasers, exploiters, state and culture—and show variations in sex slavery representations across paradigms and modes. It concludes with a recommendation for further exploration on the male and female authorial voices on sex slavery in African literature from a post-colonial standpoint.

Source: UCC
Cognitive test anxiety, academic self-efficacy and academic performance of senior high school students

The purpose of the study was to investigate cognitive test anxiety, academic self-efficacy and academic performance among senior high school students. The study adopted the positivist paradigm predicated on the quantitative approach to research using a descriptive survey research design. The target population (8,978) was all the students from the five SHS’s schools in the district. However, the accessible population consisted of only the second year students totaling 3105. The multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 346 respondents for the study. Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale adapted from Cassady and Johnson (2002) and Academic Self-Efficacy Scale adapted from Muris (2001) was used to collect data from the respondents. Students’ academic performance was measured using test scores from the three subjects’ areas (English Language, core Maths and Integrated Science). Data was analysed using Multiple Linear Regression, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and independent sample t-test. The result revealed that cognitive test anxiety and academic self-efficacy predicted students’ academic performance. In view of this, the study should recommend that educators not only teach the content of the curricular, but also endevour to introduce students to good study skills to increase their level of academic self-efficacy. This alongside will help them to cope with their cognitive test anxiety and ensure a better academic performance

Source: UCC
Coherent imaging of etched fission fragments and alpha particles tracks in a cr-39 ssntd

CR-39 SSNTD detects radioactive emissions and by etching provides a means of studying tracks of emitted particles such as Fission Fragments and alpha particles. A new way of imaging etched fission fragments and alpha tracks in CR-39 detector is presented. A commercial software Image Pro Plus is used in digitizing the images, counting and classifying the tracks. Variations of etched track dimensions with particle energies are presented

Source: UCC
Cohesion in the abstracts of undergraduate dissertations: An Intra-disciplinary study in a Ghanaian University

Following the work of Santos (1996), studies on research articles and dissertation abstracts have elicited considerable attention. The present research examines grammatical cohesion in the Language and Literature abstracts of undergraduate dissertations presented to the Department of English of a public university in Ghana – the University of Cape Coast (UCC). A total of 50 abstracts (25 each from Language and Literature) constituted the data set for the study. Using mixed research design and drawing on Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) influential theory of cohesion, the study points to three key findings. First, of Halliday and Hasan’s four grammatical cohesive devices (that is, conjunction, reference, substitution, and ellipses) reference and conjunction are preponderantly used. Second, the use of these grammatical devices in the Language and Literature abstracts evinces more similarities than differences. Third, although undergraduate students studying English at the University of Cape Coast do use a range of grammatical cohesive devices, they seem to lack sophistication in their use. The findings of this study have implications for pedagogy, theory, academic writing and further research

Source: UCC