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In Ghana, legal and illegal artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) activities have attracted the attention of the general populace and academia with varied opinions. This study examined how adopting the coping strategies for ASM operations affected the welfare of farm households.

Primary data were solicited from respondents using a semi-structured questionnaire. This paper used the endogenous treatment effect model to quantitatively estimate whether or not farmers who adopt coping strategies for activities of ASM have improved or deteriorated welfare.

The results revealed that households adopted coping strategies such as diversification, social networking, land reclamation, borrowing, dependence on the market for food and resettlement in other communities. The endogenous treatment effect model results show that households that adopted land reclamation and social networking had improved welfare regarding consumption expenditure and food security compared to non-adopters. Conversely, diversification was associated with lower consumption expenditures and high food insecurity among adopters.

This paper recommends that farm households in mining communities form cooperatives and farmer-based organizations to ensure improved access to joint resources for enhanced capacity to cope with ASM-induced shocks. There is a need for government and civil society organizations to encourage and support land reclamation measures.

This paper covers a broader perspective and deploys more than one welfare proxy, which has not been considered before in previous studies.

Maize and rice constitute the two major staple crops in Ghana. The demand for maize and rice outstrips production levels in Ghana, creating deficits for farmers to capitalize on to increase yield. Farmers procure certified seeds from different supply outlets to improve crop yield. This study assessed the effectiveness of supply outlets of certified maize and rice seeds. This study also examined factors that influence smallholder farmers' decisions in sourcing seed from the identified supply outlets.

Multi-stage sampling was used to collect data from smallholder farmers. A total of 360 farmers were interviewed for the analysis. The multivariate probit model was used to estimate the main drivers of the supply outlets of certified seeds.

The findings revealed that farmers' decisions to use certified seeds from a particular supply outlet are contingent on household size, years of farming, extension contacts, distance to the nearest market, distance to the district capital, access to credit and farm size.

Sourcing certified seeds from National Seed Traders Association of Ghana, Research Institutions and Ministry of Food and Agriculture is more effective than input dealers, open market and family and friends.

This study is one of its kind that looked at how effective are the supply outlets of certified seed purchasing outlets.

Aside from oil, the Nigerian economy is largely agrarian, which is rain-fed. Hence the criticality of understanding climate change and its impact on agricultural output is more pressing than ever. This is in line with Sustainable Development Goal 13 which is to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Regardless, Nigeria has in the past five decades experienced a significant increase in temperature, in the range of 10 to over 30 degree Celsius. Therefore, managing the effect of climate change on agricultural output now has the colouration of a developmental challenge.

In light of this, this study gives due consideration to the impact of climate change on agricultural output between the years 1986 and 2015. For the purpose of analysis, descriptive statistics, unit root test and the ordinary least square (OLS) estimation technique were employed.

Findings from the study reveal that the average annual rainfall, temperature and forest area positively influence agricultural output, whereas drought, floods and agricultural nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions have negative impact on agricultural output. The study suggests the need for a regulatory framework and also an explicit national agricultural policy essential to offset the negative effects of climate change especially on agricultural output.

As Nigeria look to diversify her economy which relied on oil, agriculture is among the alternative sector hoping to drive her economic growth, therefore, it is pertinent to examine the current output in the sector given the effects of climate change.

Agriculture in Ghana is dominated by smallholder farmers in rural areas. Majority of these farmers are resource-poor and faced with serious challenges in accessing formal financial services towards farming needs attributed to the stringent requirements. To bridge this gap, village savings and loan associations (VSLA) have been promoted in rural areas as an alternative to meeting the credit needs of smallholder farmers. Credit plays a vital role in input acquisition among farmers for improved agricultural value productivity. This study assesses the contribution of VSLA to agricultural value productivity in the Northern Region of Ghana.

The methodology is a primary cross-sectional data collected with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire. This study, therefore, applied a propensity score matching (PSM) to assess the effects of VSLA on agricultural value productivity.

Results from the PSM revealed that extension contact, contract farming, television set ownership, participating in “Planting for Food and Jobs” and nature of roads, including receiving VSLA information from members' increases participation decision of farmers in VSLA. Conversely, age of a farmer, household size, distance to output market and farmers in the Sagnarigu Municipality have negatively influenced VSLA participation. The propensity score matching estimates showed that members of VSLA obtained 38.2% higher agricultural value productivity than non-members.

Village savings and loans associations can be promoted among smallholder farmers as an effective alternative to formal financial service for inclusive development.

Cocoa is regarded as a brown-golden crop, but its value chain activities are dominated by the elderly. Hence, focussing attention on the young generation of farmers is the surest way to reverse this trend and secure the future of the cocoa industry. This paper, therefore explores factors influencing youth participation in cocoa value chain activities in Ghana.

Primary data were collected using a multistage sampling technique. The authors used a semi-structured questionnaire in collecting data via interviews. Through the theory of utility maximization, a multivariate probit (MVP) model was estimated to identify factors influencing youth participation in cocoa value chain activities in Ghana.

The author found that some of the value chain activities are complementary, while others are substitutes. Participation in cocoa value chain activities is influenced by access to land, participation in training programmes in cocoa production, membership of Next Generation Cocoa Youth Programme (MASO), access to agricultural credit and other demographic characteristics.

Relevant information and youth-targeted projects enhance their participation in value chain activities.

This paper is one of the few studies that empirically analyses drivers of youth participation in cocoa value chain activities in Africa.