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Journal ArticleDOI

Agriculture for sustainable development: A SWOT-AHP assessment of ghana’s planting for food and jobs initiative

02 Jan 2021-Sustainability (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)-Vol. 13, Iss: 2, pp 628
TL;DR: In this article, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analytical tool was used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative in Ghana.
Abstract: The exponential increase in the population of Ghana and the need to meet the population’s food security needs while creating job opportunities have necessitated the implementation of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative by the Government of Ghana (GoG). Using the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analytical tool, we SWOT of the PFJ initiative. We further complemented the study with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) tool to rank the various criteria (factors) identified under the SWOT analysis. The study identified favorable environmental conditions as the highest strength, which recorded 59.3%, followed by agricultural lands availability (21.8%). Inadequate of financial services was identified as the highest weakness (55.8%), followed by over-reliance on climatic conditions (25.9%). High export potential relative to agricultural products in the country was identified as the highest opportunity, which recorded a weight of 50.3%. The One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative came up as the second highest opportunity. Negative ramification of climate change was identified as the main threat to Ghana’s agricultural sector (57.9%), followed by the importation of basic food products (25%).
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined Ghana's renewable energy (RE) sector environment using PESTLE analysis (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental) to rank the various identified factors using inputs from 20 experts in Ghana's RE sector.

165 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors make a comparative analysis of the effects of climate change on agro-based livelihoods across the African continent, focusing on Eastern, Western, Southern Africa and the Sahel region.
Abstract: Several local studies have been carried out on the impact of climate change on livelihoods and development especially in developing countries. However, there is a general scarcity of literature that makes a comparative appraisal of the impacts of climate change on agro-ecological based livelihoods across the African continent. This paper seeks to address that gap by making a comparative analysis of the effects of climate change on agro-based livelihoods across the African continent, focusing on Eastern, Western, Southern Africa and the Sahel region. A cross continental perspective on this issue is important in informing current global climate change negotiations and response strategies both at global level and national levels. While some studies have been conducted at individual country levels about the projected and recorded impacts of climate change, there remains a dearth of literature that reviews and consolidates these findings to give an overall holistic picture about continental and sub-continental impacts in Africa especially as relating to local agro and ecological based livelihoods. This study finds out that the impact of climate change is invariably negative across the whole of Africa as it leads to failing agricultural yields and a reduction of bio-diversity. The paper recommends an intensification for the support of livelihood diversification strategies in rural development planning. It further recommends policy strategies that particularly targets the poor and vulnerable communities whose livelihoods hinge on agriculture and natural ecosystems as these will suffer the most from the impact of climate change.

57 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jul 2021
TL;DR: In this article, the SWOT analytical tool was used to access the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats of Ghana's green economy transformation efforts, and the results revealed that the country's geographical location, environmental policies, potential for green energy mix, a young and dynamic population, the effort to reduce poverty levels and illiteracy rates are the main strengths.
Abstract: Green economy development strategies and the transition from conventional economic development models to green economy has become necessary due to the negative impact of conventional economic development models on the local and global environment. Despite Ghana's effort to transition to green economy that is made evident by the implementation of a number of green economy related policies and strategies, the country is yet to record any significant achievement in that regard. This study therefore used the SWOT analytical tool to access the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats of Ghana's green economy transformation efforts. The results revealed that the country's geographical location, environmental policies, potential for green energy mix, a young and dynamic population, the country's effort to reduce poverty levels and illiteracy rates are the main strengths. However, factors such as weak institutions, inadequate funding for green technologies innovations, inadequate long term policies for green strategies and inadequate political will are some key weaknesses. The study further found commercial interests in driving the development and transfer of green technology, cross-border collaborations and global attention to climate change, local and international support for green economy, awareness and understanding of environmental protection as some of the major opportunities. Inadequate commitment to support technology development and transfer, cost of green technologies, increasing threat of climate change and corruption were identified as threats to Ghana's effort to green its economy. In conclusion, it is imperative that policy makers develop strategies that can help take advantage of the strengths and opportunities while serving as solutions to the weakness and threats. Among other things, it is important for policy makers to prioritize science and technology education to support green economy development.

46 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors analyzed the influence of CO2 emissions, precipitation, domestic credit, and fertilizer consumption on maize and soybean productivity in Ghana by utilizing the newly constructed dynamic simulated autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model for the period 1990 to 2020.
Abstract: The Ghanaian economy relies heavily on maize and soybean production. The entire maize and soybean production system is low-tech, making it extremely susceptible to environmental factors. As a result, climate change and variability have an influence on agricultural production, such as maize and soybean yields. Therefore, the study's ultimate purpose was to analyze the influence of CO2 emissions, precipitation, domestic credit, and fertilizer consumption on maize and soybean productivity in Ghana by utilizing the newly constructed dynamic simulated autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model for the period 1990 to 2020. The findings indicated that climate change enhances maize and soybean yields in Ghana in both the short run and long run. Also, the results from the frequency domain causality showed that climate change causes maize and soybean yield in the long-run. These outcomes were robust to the use of the ordinary least squares estimator and the impulse response technique. The findings show that crop and water management strategies, as well as information availability, should be considered in food production to improve resistance to climate change and adverse climatic circumstances.

12 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper , the potential of a hybrid power plant for the production of electricity, hydrogen and fertilizer for agricultural activities, farmland irrigation, environmental impact as well as its employment potential in northern Ghana was evaluated.

10 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as discussed by the authors is a multicriteria decision-making approach in which factors are arranged in a hierarchic structure, and the principles and philosophy of the theory are summarized giving general background information of the type of measurement utilized, its properties and applications.

7,202 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A new hybrid method for improving the usability of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is examined, and the results indicated that certification could be a potential strategic alternative in a Finnish case study farm.

830 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the use of the strategic management tool, Strengths•Weaknesses•Opportunities•Threats or SWOT analysis, and assess how the methodology has been used as well as changes to the methodology.
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the use of the strategic management tool, Strengths‐Weaknesses‐Opportunities‐Threats or SWOT analysis, and to assess how the methodology has been used as well as changes to the methodology. The findings both for and against SWOT analysis should lead to a balanced view of the technique as well as yield ideas for needed theory building.Design/methodology/approach – Using the ABInform Global® database, academic peer‐reviewed articles were compiled indicating SWOT as one of the article's key index and search words.Findings – The use of SWOT analysis continues to permeate the academic peer‐reviewed literature. Research supports SWOT analysis as a tool for planning purposes. Over the past decade, SWOT research has focused on analyzing organizations for recommended strategic actions. As a methodology for strategic positioning, SWOT analysis has been extended beyond companies to countries and industries and is used in virtually every published business case positi...

718 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The application links SWOT analysis to resource-based planning, illustrates it as an iterative rather than a linear process and embeds it within the overall planning process.

652 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the vulnerability of crop production to drought in Ghana has discernible geographical and socioeconomic patterns, with the Northern, Upper West and Upper East regions being most vulnerable, due to low socioeconomic development and having economies based on rain-fed agriculture.

322 citations