Analysis of work organization on plantain farms in Ghana
2024
Bakker, Teatske | Amengor, Natson Eyram | Pugeaux, Pauline | Biaou, Nazaire | Akutinga, Solomon
There is a slightly higher proportion of females (51.05%) compared to males (48.95%) and a dependency ratio of 42% was recorded. The majority of farm managers (97.3%) fall within the working-age range of 15 to 64 years. Among the farm managers who engage in off-farm activities, 56.5% are involved in trading. The data shows that 9 out of 38 farms (23.68%) utilize a permanent workforce and 37 out of 38 (97%) farms employ temporary workforce. The analysis uncovers that, 14 out of 38 (36.8%) farms have livestock and an average of approximately 43 animals per farm. Poultry is the most common type, present on 11 farms (28.95%). The data on field characteristics shows that, on average, farms manage 3 fields, with the number ranging from 1 to 9 fields. The most common crops in the surveyed farms are plantain, maize, and tomatoes. On plantain farms/plots, weedicide/herbicide application (30.54%), planting (11.07%), and harvesting (10.40%) are the most frequent seasonal tasks. On plantain plots, de-trashing is the dominant non- daily routine task and it accounts for about 25% of all these categories of tasks. Knapsack sprayer is the most widely used motorized equipment (36 farms) and followed by tractor (19 farms) and Auger (18 farms). Different categories of workforce are engaged in different tasks and equipment usage on plantain farms. The results give evidence that mechanized tools are present on plantain farms, but they are not extensively utilized across all farms. Mechanization levels vary depending on the kind of equipment, but it is generally low. Farmers express a desire for further mechanization, especially in labor-intensive activities like weeding and irrigation, which could alleviate workload burdens.
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