Fertilizer Quality Assessment: Perception versus testing in selected Ghanaian districts

Fertilizer Quality Assessment: Perception versus testing in selected Ghanaian districts PDF Author: Asante, Seth
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 18

Get Book Here

Book Description
Fertilizer use in Sub-Saharan Africa remains below recommended rates, contributing to low yields, and increasing poverty. Poor quality fertilizer – whether perceived or real – is often cited as a reason for low adoption rates. In Ghana, for example, there are widespread but often unsubstantiated claims of substandard fertilizers. This is a concern for farmers with limited purchasing power and without the means to independently substantiate the quality of agricultural inputs. This paper describes the agricultural input sector in Ghana, compares farmers’ perception of fertilizer quality with those of input dealers, and analyses chemical tests of fertilizers performed in a laboratory. The fertilizers were sampled from selected districts participating in the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative, a large-scale farm input subsidy program. We find that input dealers and farmers are somewhat suspicious of the quality of commercially supplied and government subsidized fertilizers. However, the true quality measures based on laboratory testing of fertilizers sold in agricultural input shops were found to largely meet the labeled chemical composition.

Fertilizer Quality Assessment: Perception versus testing in selected Ghanaian districts

Fertilizer Quality Assessment: Perception versus testing in selected Ghanaian districts PDF Author: Asante, Seth
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 18

Get Book Here

Book Description
Fertilizer use in Sub-Saharan Africa remains below recommended rates, contributing to low yields, and increasing poverty. Poor quality fertilizer – whether perceived or real – is often cited as a reason for low adoption rates. In Ghana, for example, there are widespread but often unsubstantiated claims of substandard fertilizers. This is a concern for farmers with limited purchasing power and without the means to independently substantiate the quality of agricultural inputs. This paper describes the agricultural input sector in Ghana, compares farmers’ perception of fertilizer quality with those of input dealers, and analyses chemical tests of fertilizers performed in a laboratory. The fertilizers were sampled from selected districts participating in the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative, a large-scale farm input subsidy program. We find that input dealers and farmers are somewhat suspicious of the quality of commercially supplied and government subsidized fertilizers. However, the true quality measures based on laboratory testing of fertilizers sold in agricultural input shops were found to largely meet the labeled chemical composition.

Fertilizer Use in African Agriculture

Fertilizer Use in African Agriculture PDF Author:
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821368818
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 162

Get Book Here

Book Description
The good practice guidelines - which form the basis of an interactive policymaker's tool kit included on a CD accompanying the book - relate not only to the more focused problem of encouraging increased fertilizer use by farmers, but also to the broader challenge of creating the type of enabling environment that is needed to support the emergence of efficient, dynamic and commercially viable fertilizer marketing systems."--Jacket.

Agricultural Input Subsidies

Agricultural Input Subsidies PDF Author: Ephraim Chirwa
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199683522
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book takes forward our understanding of agricultural input subsidies in low income countries.

Integrated Soil Fertility Management in Africa

Integrated Soil Fertility Management in Africa PDF Author: Nteranya Sanginga
Publisher: CIAT
ISBN: 9290592613
Category : Soil fertility
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Get Book Here

Book Description
Forward. A call for integrated soil fertility management in Africa. Introduction. ISFM and the African farmer. Part I. The principles of ISFM: ISFM as a strategic goal, Fertilizer management within ISFM, Agro-minerals in ISFM, Organic resource management, ISFM, soil biota and soil health. Part II. ISFM practices: ISFM products and fields practices, ISFM practice in drylands, ISFM practice in savannas and woodlands, ISFM practice in the humid forest zone, Conservation Agriculture. Part III. The process of implementing ISFM: soil fertility diagnosis, soil fertility management advice, Dissemination of ISFM technologies, Designing an ISFM adoption project, ISFM at farm and landscape scales. Part IV. The social dimensions of ISFM: The role of ISFM in gender empowerment, ISFM and household nutrition, Capacity building in ISFM, ISFM in the policy arena, Marketing support for ISFM, Advancing ISFM in Africa. Appendices: Mineral nutrient contents of some common organic resources.

Irrigated Urban Vegetable Production in Ghana

Irrigated Urban Vegetable Production in Ghana PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Irrigation farming
Languages : en
Pages : 172

Get Book Here

Book Description


Maize productivity in Ghana

Maize productivity in Ghana PDF Author: Ragasa, Catherine
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 4

Get Book Here

Book Description
Maize is an important food crop in Ghana, accounting for more than 50 percent of the country’s total cereal production. The Ghana Grains Development Project (1979–1997) and the Food Crops Development Project (2000–2008) made major investments to improve maize yield. Despite these efforts, the average maize yield in Ghana remains one of the lowest in the world, much lower than the average for Africa south of the Sahara.

Pakistan’s fertilizer sector

Pakistan’s fertilizer sector PDF Author: Ali, Mubarik
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 76

Get Book Here

Book Description
The fertilizer industry in Pakistan, with US$3.74 billion per year in sales, now stands at a crossroads where, after an initial substantial contribution in boosting crop productivity, its future potential is being challenged. Fertilizer-responsive crop varieties, supplementary irrigation water, and a favorable policy environment in Pakistan have induced fast growth in fertilizer demand. On the supply side, the availability of gas at low prices along with a favorable investment environment resulted in the buildup of excessive manufacturing capacity. But recently, a shortage of gas and monopolistic behavior has led to underutilization and greater imports. Restrictive laws put fertilizer processing and marketing in a few hands, which has also affected its efficiency. Moreover, the yield response of fertilizer has tapered off and per hectare use is fast reaching its optimal level. The existing policy environment leads to higher costs, inefficient use, and a heavy burden on the government as it charges one-fourth of the market price for feedstock gas used in fertilizer manufacturing. In addition, the government imports urea and absorbs the difference in international and domestic prices.

Transfers, nutrition programming, and economic well-being: Experimental evidence from Bangladesh

Transfers, nutrition programming, and economic well-being: Experimental evidence from Bangladesh PDF Author: Akhter Ahmed
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 41

Get Book Here

Book Description
Interest has grown in leveraging cash transfer programs with nutrition interventions to improve child nutrition at scale. However, little is known about how doing so affects household economic well-being. We study a program providing cash or food transfers, with or without nutrition behavior change communication (BCC), to poor women in rural Bangladesh. We find that adding BCC to cash or food transfers leads to larger impacts on both consumption and assets - an apparent puzzle, given the transfer value is unchanged. Evidence suggests this occurs through the BCC inducing increases in income generation - plausibly by improving households’ social capital and empowerment.

Sustainable Intensification

Sustainable Intensification PDF Author: Jules N. Pretty
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136529276
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book Here

Book Description
Continued population growth, rapidly changing consumption patterns and the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds worldwide. These pressures are likely to be substantial across Africa, where countries will have to find innovative ways to boost crop and livestock production to avoid becoming more reliant on imports and food aid. Sustainable agricultural intensification - producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts - represents a solution for millions of African farmers. This volume presents the lessons learned from 40 sustainable agricultural intensification programmes in 20 countries across Africa, commissioned as part of the UK Government's Foresight project. Through detailed case studies, the authors of each chapter examine how to develop productive and sustainable agricultural systems and how to scale up these systems to reach many more millions of people in the future. Themes covered include crop improvements, agroforestry and soil conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, horticulture, livestock and fodder crops, aquaculture, and novel policies and partnerships.

Postharvest Handling

Postharvest Handling PDF Author: Robert L. Shewfelt
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0080925766
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 375

Get Book Here

Book Description
Postharvest Handling: A Systems Approach introduces a new concept in the handling of fresh fruits and vegetable. Traditional treatments have been either physiologically based with an emphasis on biological tissue or technologically based with an emphasis on storage and handling. This book integrates all processes from production practices through consumer consumption with an emphasis on understanding market forces and providing fresh product that meets consumer expectations. Postharvest physiologists and technologists across the disciplines of agricultural economics, agricultural engineering, food science and horticulture along with handlers of minially-processed products within the fresh produce fruit and vegetable processing industries will find this to be an invaluable source of information. - Uses a systems approach that provides a unique perspective on the handling of fresh fruits and vegetables - Designed with the applied perspective to complement the more basic perspectives provided in other treatments - Provides the integrated, interdisciplinary perspective needed in research to improve the quality of fresh and minimally processed products - Emphasizes that the design of handling systems should be market-driven rather than concentrating on narrow specifics