Title:
Population and Resource Use for Sustainable Production: Theoretical and Empirical Analyses of the Rural Economy of Northeast Ghana
Presenters:
Akwasi MENSAH-BONSU and Kees Burger
Authors:
Akwasi MENSAH-BONSU1* and Kees Burger2
1
Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness, University of Ghana, Ghana
2 Economic & Social Institute, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
*Corresponding author
Date 2006
Location:
Abstract:
Theoretical and empirical descriptive analytical approaches have been used to discuss the resource use characteristics of rational farm households in different populated regions for sustainable production. The theoretical model illustrates that farm households would decide on less labour and therefore lower actual production level if they desire to maintain farm production and consumption at sustainable levels. It however shows that, increases in product price would raise both the net marginal value products of labour, land and purchased inputs, which would influence farmers to increase production far beyond sustainable production level now and at the expense of future production. The estimated per capita income is very low, which may affect the capacity of farm households to invest in their land resources for increase production in the future. The paper shows that migration from the highly populated and land scarce regions helps to reduce pressure on available land resources and households are more likely to encourage more members to migrate for this reason. The study concludes that productivity of the soil depends on the level of available farmland in a region and it would decrease with increasing scarcity of land. The implication is that sustainable level of soil productivity also means sustainable availability of farmland.
Presentation:
|
