Eric Owusu Danquah

By Patricia Pinamang Acheampong, Eric Owusu Danquah, Kennedy Agyeman, Kwame Obeng Dankwa and Monica Addison

The importance of Cassava in the food systems of Ghanaians cannot be underestimated. As a main staple crop, Cassava contributes about 22% and 30% to the Agricultural Gross Domestic Product (AGDP) and daily calories intake respectively. Per capita consumption of 152 kg makes it the highest among all food crops. Due to Cassava’s importance, there have been lots of attention paid to it by the Government and Donor agencies towards its improvement. This has yielded substantial results in terms of the development of cassava varieties and good agronomic practices. This chapter reviewed cassava technologies development in Ghana, adoption of these technologies by smallholder farmers, and livelihood implications. Results generated showed that Research and Development since 1993 has developed, released, and disseminated 25 new cassava varieties to smallholder farmers. Average cassava yields have increased from about 14 t/ha in 2009 to 21 t/ha in 2018. Partial budget analysis showed that smallholder farmers’ profitability has increased over the years from GH₵644.32 (about US$ 111) in 2009 to GH₵5243.27 (about US$ 904) in 2018. Again, the crop is gradually gaining attention as an industrial crop for flour, starch, and alcohol production, a drive that would further improve on returns to farmers. It is a food security crop because it is robust, produces more per unit area, and versatile for multiple usages in household foods and derivatives. It is recommended that continuous policy consideration on cassava in national agricultural agenda setting is essential.

Part of the book: Cassava

By Joseph Adomako, Stephen Larbi-Koranteng, Frederick Kankam, Yaw Danso, Jerry Fenteng Asamoah, Patricia Oteng-Darko, Kennedy Agyeman, Stephen Yeboah, Erasmus Narteh Tetteh and Eric Owusu Danquah

Ghana’s agricultural economy is largely dominated by the crop subsector with much focus on the production of tree, arable and vegetable crops. Nevertheless, Phytophthora spp. are major threat to the production of these crops contributing significantly to yield reduction. In this review, the main focus will be to look at the threats the pathogen poses to production, economic importance of Phytophthora diseases, highlights some Phytophthora diseases with limited research in the country but have the potential of affecting crop production, management options and the prospect of developing and deploying biological control strategies considered environmentally friendlier and devoid of human health risks to reduce the effect of this pathogen on crop production as well as reducing the dependency on chemical control option.

Part of the book: Agro-Economic Risks of Phytophthora and an Effective Biocontrol Approach