Mechanization Input For Agricultural Productivity – Study

A study on agricultural mechanisation has revealed low budgetary allocations to mechanisation and policies have largely focused on tractor services at the expense of small farm implements.

It emerged that post-production infrastructure such as processing has received little attention in the available policies and programmes implemented.

Presenting the findings at a validation workshop in Accra, a research scientist, Dr Adams Abdulai, noted that mechanisation was an important complement to agriculture intensification.

He said it was necessary to reduce drudgery and post-harvest grain losses and the adoption of mechanisation might improve the welfare of women.

“The objective of the study was to investigate the extent to which mechanisation is promoted and implemented in agricultural development ordinances and policies in Ghana at various levels (community, district, and national),” he said.

Other policy gaps

Dr Abdulai said there was a poor implementation of target credit support schemes on mechanisation.

He noted that policies were generally gender neutral. However, in terms of implementation, males dominate the mechanisation space in terms of access and ownership.

“We recognised several strengths in the approach to promoting agricultural mechanisation in Ghana – selected commodities based on comparative and competitive advantage.

“Agricultural mechanisation, even without a formal strategy adopted, is being carried out as an integral part of the national development process.

“Because the national policy is to stimulate agriculture-led growth, many complementing policies that enhance agricultural production and productivity were put in place simultaneously.

“A relatively good infrastructure such as training institutions and human resource in agricultural engineering exists in the country,” he said.

The workshop

The workshop was under the auspices of the Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING) project, in collaboration with the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-STEPRI).

Africa RISING is aimed at generating and disseminating technologies for the adoption of smallholder farmers for improved livelihoods.

It is being implemented with several collaborators (farmers, researchers, policy institutions among others) in West Africa (Ghana and Mali), East Africa (Ethiopia and Tanzania) and Southern Africa (Malawi and Zambia).

In the Ghana, the project targets smallholder farmers in the north engaged in crop (maize and cowpea) and livestock (small ruminants) production.

The aim of the workshop was to gather more inputs into the study report and share widely the findings and recommendations of the report for greater policy and institutional support at various levels (district, regional and national level).