Profitability Of Cassava Production In The Ashanti Region Of Ghana

Cassava is a crop that is massively produced and consumed in Ghana even though it is produced by subsistence farmers. The aim of this study is to analyse the cost and returns of cassava farmers. Farmers profitability was accessed using the gross margin, net present value and the benefit cost ratio. SWOT analysis was conducted to access challenges faced by cassava farmers. Data was collected by personal interview from fifty (50) cassava growing farmers in the Sekyere East District of the Ashanti Region, Ghana. The Costs and returns analysis show gross margin of USD 22.75 per acre. It was concluded that cassava is cultivated for both consumption and revenue. Even though there is low investment of capital in cassava production, it helps farmers to make use of available resources (personal savings, land and labour) which would have been idle. Further should compare profitability of crops that compete for use of famers land. INTRODUCTION The use of improved cassava seeds reduce poverty and increase consumption expenditure (Wossen et al., 2019). IITA/CEDP beneficiary farmers got twice the harvest of non-beneficiary farmers with the use of improved seeds (HarvestPlus, 2010). The use of improved inputs for agriculture production in the developing countries however is low. This leads to low productivity which results in low income of farmers. Adebayo et al. (2010) claim that farmers input in cassava production is low. Coupled with this is high perishability of cassava (Kwasi & Kobina, 2014). The economic cost of cassava loss is $300ha-1 (Danilola et al., 2019). Farmers in