ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Poultry Feedmill, Fumesua

Already at the beginning of this century, when domestic animals were still fed with single product such as grass, hay and cereals and by-products from wheat, rye, corn mills, the first steps were taken towards development of feed-milling industry as it exists today. First, very simple mixtures were prepared, consisting of three or four ingredients, which the livestocks owner mixed together with shovels. It is an open question whether those pioneers had a modest insight in the correlations of compound feed, or whether the mixtures were prepared as a result of the fact that the traditionally fed products were becoming scarce. However, the attentive observer in those days already became aware of the fact that by combining certain products better results could be yielded than with the traditional single products. But the steady increase of population and the constantly decreasing rural area due to urbanisation in favour of living space, urged man to scientifically investigate these problems in the search for possible solutions. New processes in the food industry, such as starch manufacture, extraction of oil, manufacturing of sugar malting and brewing as well as improved grinding methods for cereals and legumes supplied. High quality by-products for feed purposes, increasing living standards expansion resulted in higher local demands for next, eggs and dairy products. The trend towards intensive livestock management was a question of immediate interest. However, intensive livestock keeping without higher risks for epidemics is only possible if, besides appropriate stabling, also sound and nourishing feed is available in sufficient quantities i.e. a feed containing all nutritive substances at least to the extent as consumed by the fowls in the open country without human intervention. Based upon these fundamentals and requirements, step by step a new type of industry develops, the Feedmill Industry.

Source: KNUST
Poverty alleviation among poor households in Akuapem North Municipality, the role of microfinance: a case study of Akuapem Rural Bank Limited

The purpose of the research was to find out how the microfinance activities of Akuapem Rural Bank have help to reduce the poverty levels among poor households in its catchment areas. The study was also to ascertain whether or not the activities of the microfinance of the Bank has any positive impact on the living conditions of the beneficiaries and the extent to which it has reached the unbanked population in the rural areas. In the research process, ten (10) groups were selected of which seventy (70) respondents were chosen, seven (7) from each group. All the selected groups and respondents were done through simple random sampling. The Bank also provided information needed on the beneficiaries who patronized the microfinance activities from 2010-2015. All these information were put together and analyzed using Statistical Product and Services Solution (SPSS) version 16. The SPSS was used to generate frequency tables for the analysis. The data analyzed revealed that businesses of beneficiaries and their livelihoods have improved as a result of the microfinance scheme. Also, out of the seventy (70) respondents sampled, 37.1 per cent were new members who never had any banking experience before. This means that the microfinance had been able to reach out to some unbanked population in the rural areas. It is therefore recommended that men must be included in the various groups to help alleviate the level of poverty faster in the rural areas. Also, the bank must expand the activities of the microfinance to cover more qualified people in the rural areas.

Source: KNUST
Poverty Alleviation Strategies of District Assemblies: a case study of the Sekyere East District Assembly in the Ashanti Region

Poverty has become a major global challenge. The 2007 Human Development Report (HDR) from the United Nations Development Programme has noted that, ‘there are still around one billion people living at the margins of survival on less than US$1 a day with 2.6 billion people living on less than US$2 a day’ around the globe. These increasing trends in poverty around the world require the implementation of policies and programmes to alleviate poverty and improve the living standards of the poor. The issue of poverty alleviation is central to the decentralisation programme. One of the objectives of the decentralisation programme is to ensure that people living in the rural areas have access to basic services and infrastructure. A number of poverty alleviation strategies were introduced in Ghana since the 1990s and various policies and programmes have been implemented towards poverty alleviation by District Assemblies with the promulgation of PNDC Law 207. The Sekyere East District is one of the poorest Districts in the country with a high rate of unemployment. This is an indication that measures should be put in place to check poverty level in the District. The objective of this study was to assess the various poverty alleviation strategies of the Sekyere East District Assembly in a community-based sample of 200 respondents who were randomly selected from five communities in the district. Questionnaires were administered to respondents and interviews were also conducted where necessary for data collection. The data gathered from the field was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for windows. Evidences from the study have established the commitment of the District Assembly to provide the rural poor with social amenities and infrastructure, assist farmers with farming inputs and credit facilities, employ more people under the youth employment programme among others. However, this not withstanding, it was found out that poverty in the District is still high. This requires the Assembly to channel a lot of its resources to enhance and improve the livelihoods of the poor in the District.

Source: KNUST
Poverty and disease: effect of guinea worm disease on school attendance in the Tolon-Kumbungu District of the Northern Region of Ghana

This thesis titled “Poverty and disease: Effect of Guinea Worm disease on school attendance in the Tolon/Kumbungu District”, is an attempt at measuring the socio-economic impact of Guinea Worm disease on endemic communities (measured in terms of school attendance). This is with the understanding that Guinea Worm disease is a result of poverty and can consequently trap its victims in a vicious cycle of poverty and ill-health. Background studies across the world reveal that the incidence of Guinea Worm disease had decreased by 93% in the year 2000 from 3.6 million cases in 1986. The reduction could be largely attributed to the interest developed by Jimmy Carter (former president of United States of America) and The Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation towards eradicating Guinea Worm disease within the nearest possible time. Methodologies used in this study varied from utilization of formal questionnaires, focus group discussion and the employment of scoring and ranking tools. Heads of twenty (20) basic schools were interviewed comprising 10 primary schools and 10 Junior high schools, also focus group discussions were carried out with an average of ten (10) students in five (5) Junior high schools. At the community level, 10 endemic communities were selected to participate in focus group discussions whiles 38 patients infected with Guinea Worm disease between January and April 2008 (as presented by the district health directorate) were interviewed using formal questionnaires. Results from data collected have shown that Guinea Worm disease is still a problem in the district and has had a negative effect on the productivity of residents. It also reveals that majority of those infected are within school going age (5 to 18 years) and that students/pupils are absent from school due to direct infection or infection of a relative. More so, 50% of schools surveyed revealed that a number of pupils/students never returned after they had been infected by the disease. Recommendations based on the study include (amongst others) the need for properly equipped Guinea Worm disease containment centres and the inclusion of education on Guinea Worm disease into the curricula of schools in endemic areas. There is also the need to work at alleviating poverty as the only way of permanently eradicating Guinea Worm disease and a clarion call for intense vigilance at the critical end of the eradication process.

Source: KNUST
Poverty Reduction Efforts in Ghana: The Experience of the European Union Micro Projects Programme in the Northern Region

Notwithstanding the poverty related interventions of Micro Projects Programme (MPP) in the Northern Region, there still exist problems of uneven quality of service delivery and availability of funding for new priorities, which have contributed to increasing poverty concentration in the Northern Region. A large contributing factor is inadequate development of rural infrastructure; Households in these regions have remained largely disconnected from economic growth taking place in the rest of the country, with limited opportunities to escape from poverty because of their limited access to education, health services, market and other public services. This study is on the poverty reduction efforts in Ghana: the experience of the European Union MPP in the Northern Region. Specifically, the study focused on the examination of the MPP and how it fits into the poverty reduction policies/programmes of Ghana as well as analysing the contribution of MPP to poverty reduction in the Northern region. The study further sought to identify some of the key challenges that hinder poverty reduction efforts of the MPP. In order to effectively assess the contribution of the MPP to poverty reduction in the study area, the research employed both the case study and comparative research methods and these provided a basis of establishing whether there has been any change and what part of the change could be attributed to the MPP’s interventions. From the result of the study it was realized that the MPP is compatible with the national and local poverty reduction policies and programmes. Furthermore, it was found out that the MPP contributes to poverty reduction in the region; however its impact on poverty reduction was found to be constrained by the nature of infrastructural investment – that is higher impact was realised on physical access rather than on the quality of service. The MPP was also found not to have a clear-cut monitoring and evaluation system that tracks the impact of projects on poverty reduction. The programme did not contribute significantly towards improving community participation in project initiation, planning and management. To improve the MPP’s interventions and poverty reduction effort in the Northern Region it was recommended that the project design be reviewed to ensure that the programme package is not limited to infrastructure provision but where it is so, there should be complementary projects responding to other development needs. It was also recommended that appropriate approaches be developed to encourage effective community participation. It was further recommended that monitoring and evaluation systems are established to ensure that projects focus on original objectives. It was recognised that one intervention cannot address all problems of poverty as a result there is the need for complementary programmes and projects to cater for other developmental needs.

Source: KNUST
The power of micro-credit to small and medium-sized enterprises promotion in ghana: the case of Techiman Municipality

In Africa, the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SMEs) sector is considered the catalyst for economic growth and poverty reduction. This made the development of the sector critical to the overall economic and sustainable growth of the Ghanaian economy. SMEs diversify economic activities by offering products and services that the market demands at a given point in time, thereby resulting in significant contribution to both internal and external trade. Their development is crucial in Ghana’s pursuit to joining the ranks of middle income economies and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. However, SMEs are facing a number of challenges such as fiancing, low technology and stiff competition from multinational companies after the liberalization of the Ghanaian economy in the 1980s due to international trade ploicy. The situation of finance is worsened by high interest rates and the recent global credit crunch which affected the ability of financial institutions, both government and donor agencies to provide the needed credit support. To survive, SMEs have to revitalize their marketing, promotional strategies and galvanize support from government, NGOs and other stakeholders. The study was conducted in the Techiman Municipality to assess credit facilities offered by the various SMEs promotion institutions/agencies to revitalize the promotional strategies of small and medium-sized enterprise. The findings revealed that though high interest rates, demand for collateral and bureaucracy pose hindrance to credit accessibility and repayment challenges, SMEs with access to more credit facility can expand their operational activities. It also revealed that SMEs are adopting coping strategies such as negotiation for credit inputs supply, resorting to financing from middlemen, group “susu” and arrangement for loans from friends and relatives to enable them have flow of resources (inputs) for production. The study recommend strengthening of Credit Reference Service. Also, promotional institutions/agencies which financially deal directly with SMEs in credit support should collaborate with NBSSI to set-up ‘Care Centres’ at selected locations where they could meet often to address SMEs financing and provide information on requirements for loan, timeframe for dealing with SMEs’ loan applications and disbursement, interest rate applicable and other vital information so that SMEs can make meaningful comparisons with other financial institutions, before taking any decision regarding loans and other services which they may need. This would bridge the information gap between financial institutions and SMEs in their financing. To ensure effectiveness of SMEs support packages, the Techiman Municipal Assembly should support, strenthen and equip the SMEs Sub-committee to monitor and co-ordinate the operations of micro finance institutions and incorporate them in to the Medium Term Development Plan of the Assembly for future planning.

Source: KNUST
POWER OUTPUT OF A1/SnO2/n-Si SOLAR CELL

An Al/SnO2/n-Si solar cell from n-type silicon (6.5 f~-cm, (100)) wafers using chemical vapour deposition (CVD) has been fabricated. The fabrication details, I-V characteristics determining conversionefficiency (r/max), open circuit voltage (Voc) and short circuit current (lsc) have been presented. A maximum conversion efficiency of 6.3% for an unencapsulated cell of area 85.20 mrn 2 has been obtained

Source: KNUST
Power Theft Practices in Ghana: Key Perspective Indicators Undermining the Revenue Mobilization Among Some Selected Regions within NEDCo Operational Areas in Ghana

Power theft remains a challenge to electricity companies globally. Presently, despite the invention of new technologies to help combat it is also another difficult task because is not easy to detect and track. In Ghana, power theft practices have been estimated yearly to be one of the indicators that underrates the country’s economic growth. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate power theft practices: perspective keys undermining revenue mobilization in some selected NEDCo operational areas. This will help to determine power theft existence in those area understudy. A crosssectional study design was adopted where 4 regions (Bono, Bono-East, Savanna and Upper West were selected because they serve as the zones in which NEDCo operates. The study regions were stratified into 2 zones thus, middle belt and northern belt zones. 200 participants were recruited for the study based on the eligibility criteria with 100 questionnaires been administered to each of the zones in order to ascertain their views. The study showed that poor service delivery and lack of stringent measure compelled people to steal electricity. Power theft is practiced by all irrespective of location. The best way to reduce power theft practices is by vigorous hous eto house monitoring. More so, this calls for a greater urgency for research and development aimed at identifying proponent measures to mitigate power theft practices.

Source: KNUST
The Practice of Cash Management in the Public Sector: a Case Study of Ghana Statistical Service (GSS)

This thesis sought to identify issues concerning the practice of cash management by the management of Ghana Statistical Service. The main ambition of most public organization today is, to effectively manage their liquid capital or cash very well, (-ash management provides management of organizations with the financial measures to meet long and short term obligations, generate interest income through short term investment, take advantage of discount and procurement opportunities and address many other day to day concerns. Moreover sound cash management practices can free up cash during tough fiscal times, thus mitigating the need for costly short term bono wing. The main methods used were empirical and theoretical (quantitative) research methods. .j- Forty (40) respondents made up of senior management Junior/senior staff (technical and support) from the service were asked to complete the self administered questionnaires. The data collected from the respondent were analyzed quantitatively using excel as a statistical tool to generate the tables. The data analysis and discussion revealed the level management and employees understand the practice of cash management. In conclusion, it can be said that cash management is therefore one of the central concerns facing public sector managers.

Source: KNUST
The practice of lean thinking at the pre-contract stage of building construction projects by selected Ghanaian firms

Construction Firms in the construction industry are faced with the challenge of aptly delivering services and products to clients at the possible minimum cost in order to remain competitive in the industry. The need to address this challenge of delivering valuable but less expensive products and services to fit clients’ needs has become imperative owing to a growing desire by clients to opt for project delivery approaches that will minimise cost but ensure return of value for money. It is, therefore, crucial for construction firms to “think lean” by exploring project delivery systems which focus on delivering value to clients and minimising waste in the project delivery process. The concept of lean thinking is a production based project delivery approach which originated from the manufacturing sector to minimise waste and maximise value in the production process. Increased cost of production, delays in delivering construction products and services, as well as the incidence of waste associated with production are some of the common problems that confront construction firms in Ghana which the study seeks to address. The aim of the study is therefore to establish the possibility of adoption of lean production principles by construction firms in order to address the problems of delays, high cost of project delivery and waste. The objectives of the research among others included identification of the extent of practise of lean thinking and the limitations to the practice of lean construction in Ghanaian construction. The main tools for the collection of primary data included administration of questionnaires, conduction of interviews and personal observation. Secondary data was obtained by reviewing relevant literature in textbooks, journals, reports, research papers and so on. The target population for the data collection included consultants and contractors in the construction industry. Statistical Package for Social Scientists, version 15 (SPSS Version 15) and Microsoft excel were then used to analyse the data. Inadequate familiarity of the construction firms with the concept of lean thinking was among a number of limitations identified in the possible application of the concept Ghanaian construction industry. The possible transfer of knowledge in the application of the concept from foreign construction firms operating in Ghana was one of the opportunities identified for the practice of lean thinking in Ghanaian construction industry. It is recommended among others that consultants in Ghanaian construction industry should become abreast with the lean thinking through professional and academic training programs.

Source: KNUST
The practice of market orientation in the banking industry a case study of Kumasi Banks

The marketing environment within which banks operate has undergone a lot of changes from 2 banks in the pre-colonial era to the current state of about 24 major banks and a number of rural banks and non-bank financial institutions. The banking environment has changed from a state regulated one in the 1950s through to the 70s to the current liberalised state from the 1980s. This may be attributed to a number of conditions or factors like (i) Government deregulation policy (ii) Introduction of new banks in the sector (iii) Sophistication of the customer (iv) Technological advancement These factors have created new behaviours and stiff competition for the banks. The competition on the other hand has lead to the decline of customer loyalty to the banks. Customers are therefore willing to use more than one bank to meet their financial needs. . According to Kotler (1994) banks were slow or reluctant to adopt marketing as a business philosophy. The kind of competition in the industry calls for an understanding of how the banks managing and the methods that they are using to compete. The issue now is how the banks in general and those in Kumasi in particular are managing this competition in the sector. According to Narver and Slater, market orientation is relevant in such an environment as is found in the banking industry today. Market Orientation can however be defined as being close to customers by knowing what they need, at the same time knowing what competitors are doing and coordinating the activities of your firm to meet the customers demands. Therefore a set of 29 questions based on the market orientation scales of Narver and Slater and Kohli and Jaworski was administered to the banks that were operating in Kumasi, to find out their market orientation status. The study therefore sought to find how the banks were competing and to giye recommendations as well. Despite the initial challenge of getting information from the respondents( representatives of banks) partly due to the competition and the oaths of secrecy that they are made to sign, all the 17 banks that were in operation as at may 2008 responded. The data collected was analysed by the SPSS programme. The findings indicated that all the banks were practicing market orientation despite the fact that they were using different aspects of the concept and at different frequencies of time like weekly, monthly and even quarterly. The findings also shown that most of the banks see marketing as a guiding light in their operations and therefore the effective incorporation of market orientation into their operations has help them to to withstand the competition. Some of the recommendations made were that Management should institute regular research to know customers and their needs. Again during recruitment management should look out for abilities that can impact on customer acquisition and retention. The banks were also advised to to give equal attention to all aspects of the concept order to reap the benefits therein.

Source: KNUST