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Map of northern Ghana showing the selected MMDAs
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Increasing consumer affluence and concerns over food safety have led to a reemergence of consumers’ appetite for organic food as a way of achieving nutritional security. This research estimates the farmers’ decision making into organic or conventional vegetable production and their technical efficiency. A total of 200 each of organic and convention...
Citations
... Despite fluctuations over the years, vegetable production in Ghana has generally shown an upward trend between 1972 and 2021, with the 2021 output representing a peak in production (Knoema, 2021). The increase in vegetable production is primarily due to the growth of inorganic vegetable production rather than organic vegetable production (Boateng et al., 2022;Blockeel et al., 2023). ...
... Also, this study will contribute to better consumer behavior and patterns towards the consumption of organic vegetables among consumers in cities like Greater Kumasi of Ghana. In addition, few studies have examined the factors that influence the attributes consumers consider when purchasing organic vegetables in East Africa (Radulescu et al., 2021;Nandi et al., 2016) and West Africa (Kuni et al., 2020;Boateng et al., 2022). Finally, the results of this study will contribute to efficient and effective methods of production as well as marketing strategies for organic vegetable producers in Ghana and to support public policy initiatives that stimulate demand for organic vegetables. ...
... This heavy reliance of farmers on chemicals and fertilisers for raising production on unfertile land has increased the social, healthcare, and environmental cost for society (Pimentel, 2005) around the globe. But in today's consumer-centric market, the increasing cognisance of consumers about the health and environment (Rana and paul, 2017) has resulted in a saturation point in the food market of developed nations in quantity terms (Gil et al., 2000;Boateng et al., 2022). The consumers have started demanding environmental quality and health-friendly products (Rehbar and Tuhran, 2002;Radman, 2005) even by paying premium prices which give birth to the concept of organic farming. ...
The shifting from conventional farming to organic farming creates a lot of hurdles and economic constraints for farmers. Therefore, the current study endeavours to examine the perspective and barriers perceived by the farmers in conversion to organic farming in Haryana by employing exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for developing a comprehensive instrumental scale. The proposed instrument is validated with 45 experts selected using snowball random sampling. Finally, the study has collected a random sample of 276 farmers using stratified random sampling. The result of EFA affirms five major barrier factors perceived by farmers in conversion to organic farming explaining 65.166% of the total variance. Moreover, the results of CFA confirm the five factors and proposed instrument. This study will surely assist the government and policymakers in formulating policies on organic farming in making it more viable in India.
... Therefore, two more critical Purchase intention of organic consumers mindsets, i.e. food quality assurance and health consciousness have emerged as the primary drivers of consumer interest in the organic food in today's era (Paul and Rana, 2012). The enlarging cognizance of the consumers regarding health has resulted in a saturation point for products in quantity terms around the world especially in developed nations (Garg et al., 2023;Kamboj et al., 2023;Boateng et al., 2022;Gil et al., 2000). The consumers today are found to be willing to pay even premium prices for healthy and eco-friendly products which have led to the emergence of organic food market around the globe (Chinnici et al., 2002;Rehber and Turhan, 2002;Radman, 2005;Vapa-Tankosi c et al., 2020;Garg et al., 2023). ...
Purpose
The ongoing transition in the attitude of consumers toward health and environment has a direct implication on the organic food industries, making it necessary to examine the drivers of the purchase intention of organic food items, specifically in developing economies like India. Therefore, this study tries to frame and validate the instrumental scale by collecting data from 574 organic food item consumers to examine the determinants of purchase intention among consumers in India.
Design/methodology/approach
This study has employed advanced statistical tools i.e. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Harmon’s single factor test and other statistical measures using SPSS and AMOS 23, for framing and validating the instrumental scale for this study.
Findings
The results of EFA explain 67.714% variance of total research variable variance with six major constructs. Moreover, the result of the CFA confirms the six factors and the proposed instrumental scale. The finding explicates that health consciousness, ecological trustworthiness and functional value are the major drivers of the purchase intention of organic food items.
Practical implications
This study has major policy implications for organic producers, processor and marketers for understanding the complex phenomenon of organic consumer behavior. The result explains that marketers and producers should adopt ad hoc marketing strategies that aim to promote the organic food items as healthy and safe.
Originality/value
There is hardly any study that has proposed and validated an instrumental scale with these factors collectively in India for studying the purchase intention of organic food consumers in India.
... [58] Profitability (%) and other financial outcomes, farm income, milk yield, and other reproductive/ productive indicators [59] Productivity-related indicators Milk yield (milk per cow/year) [61] Productivity (tons/ha) and total factor productivity (TFP) [66] Wheat yield (kg/ha) [68] Productivity (t/ha) [73] Technical efficiency Stochastic frontier of production analysis (SFA) [57] Data envelopment analysis (DEA) method [30] Multidirectional efficiency analysis (MEA) and DEA approach, milk, and meat output (total revenue), other revenue sources [33] DEA method [60] Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier model [67] Cobb-Douglas production function, and productivity (kg/ha) [72] Performance using quasi-objective and subjective measures ...
A strong aptitude for making sound decisions on a farm is closely linked to favorable farm out- comes, and this finding has been observed across diverse types of farm businesses and geographic locations. Traditionally, research in farm management has addressed the drivers of decision- making and performance as separate entities; however, this article presents novel evidence on the relationship between farmers’ decision-making and farm performance. We also examine this association in various contexts of farm decision-making, spanning the past decade. Our comprehensive review encompasses 24 empirical studies conducted in accordance with the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The analysis focuses on research topics, performance measures, and methodological perspectives. The findings reveal seven key research topics: farmers’ management capacity; the influence of man- agement and farm structure; farmers’ emotional attachment to their businesses; personal aspects, farm characteristics, and institutional settings; the significance of farm recordkeeping; joint de- cisions in farm decision-making processes; and rational inefficiencies in farm decisions. Most studies employed conventional farm performance measures, including financial indicators, technical efficiency, and productivity indicators. Existing studies have predominantly used quantitative methodologies. We also identified research gaps and provide suggestions for future investigations in this field. Our results underscore the pivotal role of decision-making ability in shaping farmers’ managerial capacity and, consequently, farm performance.
... This heavy reliance of farmers on chemicals and fertilisers for raising production on unfertile land has increased the social, healthcare, and environmental cost for society (Pimentel, 2005) around the globe. But in today's consumer-centric market, the increasing cognisance of consumers about the health and environment (Rana and paul, 2017) has resulted in a saturation point in the food market of developed nations in quantity terms (Gil et al., 2000;Boateng et al., 2022). The consumers have started demanding environmental quality and health-friendly products (Rehbar and Tuhran, 2002;Radman, 2005) even by paying premium prices which give birth to the concept of organic farming. ...
The shifting from conventional farming to organic farming creates a lot of hurdles and economic constraints for farmers. Therefore, the current study endeavours to examine the perspective and barriers perceived by the farmers in conversion to organic farming in Haryana by employing exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for developing a comprehensive instrumental scale. The proposed instrument is validated with 45 experts’ selected using snowball random sampling. Finally, the study has collected a random sample of 276 farmers using stratified random sampling. The result of EFA affirms five major barrier factors perceived by farmers in conversion to organic farming explaining 65.166% of the total variance. Moreover, the results of CFA confirm the five factors and proposed instrument. This study will surely assist the government and policymakers in formulating policies on organic farming in making it more viable in India.
... [58] Profitability (%) and other financial outcomes, farm income, milk yield, and other reproductive/ productive indicators [59] Productivity-related indicators Milk yield (milk per cow/year) [61] Productivity (tons/ha) and total factor productivity (TFP) [66] Wheat yield (kg/ha) [68] Productivity (t/ha) [73] Technical efficiency Stochastic frontier of production analysis (SFA) [57] Data envelopment analysis (DEA) method [30] Multidirectional efficiency analysis (MEA) and DEA approach, milk, and meat output (total revenue), other revenue sources [33] DEA method [60] Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier model [67] Cobb-Douglas production function, and productivity (kg/ha) [72] Performance using quasi-objective and subjective measures ...
Traditional meat products are made with large amounts of saturated fat and binders such as starch, which increase calories and move away from current consumer trends that seek low-fat products with natural ingredients. Shiitake mushroom has beneficial health properties and it can be used as a fat substitute in processed meat products. We aimed to identify the effects of incorporating shiitake powder into chorizo sausages as a fat substitute. Shiitake powder was characterized and five formulations of chorizo sausage were developed: control and four experimental samples with 30, 40, 50 and 100% fat substitution (the latter included 50% of shiitake powder and 50% of olive oil). The experimental sausage showed a greater moisture, lower lipid content, and less cooking loss. The samples with shiitake powder were darker and less red than the control. Texture parameters were not affected by substituting 40% of fat with shiitake powder. The treatment with 40% fat substitution had a greater insoluble fiber content and a lower aerobic mesophile count (CFU/g) than the control. No significant differences were found in the fatty acids profile. The samples with shiitake powder had a moderate level of sensory acceptance which might be associated with the consumers’ lack of familiarity with shiitake. Consumers may accept comminuted sausages in which a maximum of 40% of fat is substituted with shiitake powder. Such products have an adequate nutritional composition, as well as acceptable physicochemical, technological, and microbiological properties.
... This is likely the case for farm operators in distinct age cohorts in SSA where marked differences in social and physical assets, farming experience, accumulated knowledge, physical stamina, planning horizon, risk preference, educational attainment and access to other critical factors of production such as land (Zulu et al. 2021;Kidido et al. 2016;Bezu and Holden 2014;Kassie et al. 2009Kassie et al. , 2013Kassie et al. , 2015, may considerably influence their investment and technology adoption decisions, and farm management skills. For instance, evidence across Ghana indicates that vegetables are predominantly cultivated by relatively younger farmers (Owusu et al. 2012;Boateng et al. 2022), due to their high demand for physical strength in performing critical farm operations such as watering and chemical application. These demographic distinctions may result in technological and managerial differences amongst farm operators in the various age groups. ...
Farm-level decision-making by resource-constrained smallholder farmers, such as investment in improved farm management practices and technologies may considerably be influenced by the age of farm operators. However, evidence of the effect of farm operators’ age on farm efficiency and technological endowment, and consequently on agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa has been inexact. To contribute to an improved understanding of the age-efficiency-productivity nexus, this study investigates the impacts of farm operators’ age on agricultural productivity by evaluating the managerial performance and technological endowment of the operators, disaggregated across three age cohorts, viz. the youth, middle-aged and the aged. We fit the meta-stochastic frontier statistical framework to a country-wide sample of 24,596 farm households, spanning three decades of data collection in Ghana. The results show that relative to the potentials of each age cohort, more output can be generated using currently allocated inputs, but under improved farm management practices. Whereas we did not find evidence for possible age-related technological differences in agricultural production in Ghana, we did find strong support for possible age-induced managerial differences in farm production, with youth operators being more efficient than their middle-aged and aged peers. Consequently, the age of farm operators significantly affects agricultural productivity in Ghana through their efficiency of resource allocation. We find these results relevant for policy attention, in terms of the targeting of support to farm operators in the various age cohorts and in the country’s quest to achieve greater agricultural productivity.
... Tablo 1'de görüldüğü üzere, organik tarım etkinliğinin ölçümü farklı düzeylerde, alanlarda ve metodolojilerde uygulanmıştır. Çalışmaların büyük bir bölümünde organik tarım ürünlerinin etkinliğini ölçmeye odaklanılırken, bazılarında ise üreticilerin ve çiftliklerin etkinliğini ölçmeye odaklanılmıştır (Boateng, 2022;Nastis vd., 2019). Organik ve konvansiyonel çiftlikler için tarımsal etkinliklerin karşılaştırmalı değerlendirmelerinin yapıldığı çalışmalar da mevcuttur (Artukoğlu, 2010;Breustedt vd., 2011;Riar vd., 2020). ...
Bu çalışmada, OECD ülkelerindeki 2011-2020 yılları arasındaki her yıl için organik tarım etkinliğini ve bu dönemdeki etkinlikteki değişmeleri incelemek ve bunları sürdürülebilirlik kapsamında değerlendirerek küresel kalkınmaya sunabileceği potansiyel katkının vurgulanması amaçlanmaktadır. Organik tarımsal üretim performansını değerlendirebilmek adına literatürde en çok kullanılan etkinlik ölçüm yöntemlerinden biri olan Veri Zarflama Analizi (VZA) kullanılmıştır. Etkinlik analizleri sonucu ortalama etkinlik skorlarının oldukça düşük değerlere sahip olduğu ve değerlendirme altındaki ülkelerin büyük bir bölümünün etkinsiz olduğu saptanmıştır. Katmanlı Veri Zarflama Analizi (KVZA) yaklaşımı ile OECD ülkeleri etkinlik düzeylerine göre katmanlara bölünerek gruplandırılmıştır. 2011-2020 döneminde ülkeler yıllara göre farklılık göstererek 7 ila 9 etkinlik düzeyinde kümelenmiştir. VZA’dan elde edilen etkinlik skorları ile dönemler arası etkinliği değerlendirebilmek amacıyla Malmquist Toplam Faktör Verimliliği (TFV) Endeksi hesaplanmıştır. 2011-2012 periyodundan itibaren ortalama Malmquist TFV Endeksinde sürekli bir gerileme gözlemlenmiştir. Analizlerden elde edilen nihai değerler ile Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Hedefleri Endeksi değerleri karşılaştırılarak değerlendirmelerde bulunulmuştur.
A field experiment was carried out in the agricultural season 2021-2022 in one of the farming fields in the region of Muqdadiya, Al-Harouniya district, located 40 km northeast of Baquba district of Diyala governorate. (Soil Survey Staff, 2006). It is located at a longitude of 53° 34' N and latitude of 56° 04° 45° S. The experiment aimed to study the effect of adding chemical and organic fertilizers and spraying seaweed extracts on NPKS concentrations and cauliflower yield. The investigation included three factors; the first factor was the addition of organic fertilizer (buffalo waste) at three levels (0, 5 and 10%) of the terrace size, which M1, M2 and M3 respectively symbolize. It was added at a depth of 0-30 cm a month before planting the seedlings in the field. The second factor was the addition of NPK compound chemical fertilizer (20:20:20) at two levels (0 and the full fertilizer recommendation is 300 kg H-1 when planted as a feed) and symbolized by C1 and C2, respectively. The third factor is spraying seaweed extract with three levels (0, 2 and 4) ml L-1 represented by A1, A2 and A3. The experiment results showed that adding chemical fertilizer significantly affected the availability of organic material in the soil. The 2C treatment (and the full fertilizer recommendation of 300 kg H-1) outperformed and reached 2.96 gm kg-1; nitrogen availability in the soil amounted to 2.96 %. As well as the availability of phosphorous in the soil, which amounted to 76.28 mg P kg 1-soil, and potassium availability in the soil amounted to 76.28 %. The addition of buffalo manure to calcareous soils significantly affected the readiness of the organic material. Also, treatments M2 and M3 outperformed in soil with a value of 3.34 and 23. 4 g/kg-1, and nitrogen availability in soil amounted to 29.88 and 31.25 mg N kg-1-. The M3 treatment also excelled in the availability of phosphorous in soils, which amounted to 86.98 mg P kg-1-soil mg M kg-1-soil. The availability of potassium in the soil amounted to 361.33 %. The triple interaction between the studied factors significantly affected the availability of organic material in soils. The M2×C2×A3 treatment also excelled in recording the highest value, which was 3.85 gm kg-1, nitrogen availability in soil amounted to 37.75 %, phosphorous availability in soil amounted to 94.16 mg P kg-1 and potassium availability in soil amounted to 436.42 mg kg1-soil. Keywords: chemical fertilization, organic fertilization, seaweed extracts.
A field experiment was carried out in the agricultural season 2021-2022 in one of the agricultural fields in the Muqdadiya, Al-Harouniya district, located 40 km northeast of the Baquba district of Diyala governorate. The agrarian soil was classified as silty clay (Soil Survey Staff, 2006). It is located at a longitude of 53° 34’ N and latitude of 56° 04° 45° S. The experiment aimed to study the effect of adding chemical and organic fertilizers and spraying seaweed extracts on NPKS concentrations and cauliflower yield. The investigation included three factors: adding organic fertilizer (buffalo waste) at three levels (0, 5 and 10)% of the terrace’s size, symbolized by M1, M2 and 3M, respectively. It was added at a depth of 0-30 cm a month before planting the seedlings in the field. The second factor was the addition of NPK compound chemical fertilizer (20:20:20) at two levels (0 and the full fertilizer recommendation is 300 kg H-1 when planted as a feed) and symbolized by 1 C and 2 C, respectively. The third factor is spraying seaweed extract with three levels (0, 2 and 4) ml L-1 illustrated by A1, A2 and according to an RCBD randomized complete block design with three replications. The experiment results showed that adding organic fertilizer (10% of the size of the terrace) led to a significant increase in the head’s weight, reaching 1.611 kg. The results of the experiment showed that the addition of organic fertilizer (10% of the size of the terrace) led to a significant increase in the weight of the head, as it reached 1.611 kg plant-1, the sulfur concentration in the fruits was 2.00 mg sulfur kg-1, the nitrogen concentration in the leaves was 4.68%. The phosphorous concentration in the leaves was 25%, and the potassium concentration in the leaves was 2.05%; chemical fertilization also increased head weight from 1.385 kg. Plant-1 to 1,108 kg Plant-1.There was an increase in each of the sulfur concentrations in fruits from 2.00% to 1.53%, in the nitrogen concentration in the leaves from 4.60% to 3.48% and an increase in the phosphorous concentration in the leaves from 0.37% to 0.26% and an increase in the potassium concentration in the leaves from 2.78% to 2.27 %, spraying seaweed extracts at a concentration of 4 mmol. L-1 led to a significant increase in head weight, which reached 1.282 kg. Plant-1, nitrogen concentration in leaves 803% and potassium concentration in leaves 2.58%.As for the triple interaction .Keywords: chemical fertilization, organic fertilization, seaweed extracts, cauliflower.
