IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i4p1644-d323877.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Community-Level Analysis of Value Webs of Biomass-Based Resources: A Case Study among Local Actors in Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • John-Baptist S. N. Naah

    (Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Genscherallee 3, D-53113 Bonn, Germany
    Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Albertus Magnus Platz, D-50923 Cologne, Germany)

Abstract

The biomass sector in Ghana is very important for supplying essential food and non-food biomass-based resources to many people for a wide range of uses. There is, however, limited deliberation on these culturally important biomass-based resources at a community level in the country. The aims of this study are three-fold, namely to (i) document various kinds of biomass-based resources and their cultural importance to local actors, (ii) examine socio-demographic factors influencing local actors’ knowledge base on biomass-based resources, and (iii) identify value webs, challenges, and future actions for sustainable use of biomass-based resources. Individual interviews were thus performed using structured questionnaires to cover 180 local actors (consisting of 120 smallholder farmers and 60 local commercial intermediaries) across six rural communities in the Northern and Upper East regions of Ghana. Cereals, e.g., maize ( Zea mays ), Guinea corn ( Sorghum bicolor ), rice ( Oryza sativa ), millet ( Pennisetum glaucum ), and legumes, e.g., groundnuts ( Arachis hypogaea ) are cultivated as major crops in the study areas and also considered by local actors as the most culturally important food crop species, as well as minor crops like tubers and vegetables. Ethnicity and residential status of local actors were found to significantly influence local knowledge on biomass-based resources. The value webs of selected food biomass-based resources are not elaborately developed and still remained simple and traditional in nature, since no cascading uses of by-products were identified. Several challenges and the future actions for managing locally produced biomass-based resources are addressed. The sustainable utilization of these biomass-based resources and value addition to their products are required to help increase family incomes and improve their livelihoods.

Suggested Citation

  • John-Baptist S. N. Naah, 2020. "Community-Level Analysis of Value Webs of Biomass-Based Resources: A Case Study among Local Actors in Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-15, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:4:p:1644-:d:323877
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/4/1644/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/4/1644/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Seydou Zakari & Liu Ying & Baohui Song, 2014. "Factors Influencing Household Food Security in West Africa: The Case of Southern Niger," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-12, March.
    2. Alexander, Peter & Brown, Calum & Arneth, Almut & Finnigan, John & Moran, Dominic & Rounsevell, Mark D.A., 2017. "Losses, inefficiencies and waste in the global food system," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 190-200.
    3. Wiggins, Steve & Kirsten, Johann & Llambí, Luis, 2010. "The Future of Small Farms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1341-1348, October.
    4. UNDP Africa, 2012. "Africa Human Development Report 2012 Towards a Food Secure Future," UNDP Africa Reports 267636, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    5. Tim K. Loos & Marlene Hoppe & Beloved M. Dzomeku & Lilli Scheiterle, 2018. "The Potential of Plantain Residues for the Ghanaian Bioeconomy—Assessing the Current Fiber Value Web," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-18, December.
    6. Daniel S. Akoto & Manfred Denich & Samuel T. Partey & Oliver Frith & Michael Kwaku & Alex A. Mensah & Christian Borgemeister, 2018. "Socioeconomic Indicators of Bamboo Use for Agroforestry Development in the Dry Semi-Deciduous Forest Zone of Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-13, July.
    7. Christoph Müller & Richard D. Robertson, 2014. "Projecting future crop productivity for global economic modeling," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(1), pages 37-50, January.
    8. Lilli Scheiterle & Regina Birner, 2018. "Assessment of Ghana’s Comparative Advantage in Maize Production and the Role of Fertilizers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-13, November.
    9. Jessie Lin & Saurabh Gupta & Tim K. Loos & Regina Birner, 2019. "Opportunities and Challenges in the Ethiopian Bamboo Sector: A Market Analysis of the Bamboo-Based Value Web," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-14, March.
    10. Hugo Valin & Ronald D. Sands & Dominique van der Mensbrugghe & Gerald C. Nelson & Helal Ahammad & Elodie Blanc & Benjamin Bodirsky & Shinichiro Fujimori & Tomoko Hasegawa & Petr Havlik & Edwina Heyhoe, 2014. "The future of food demand: understanding differences in global economic models," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(1), pages 51-67, January.
    11. Temitayo Adeyemo & Paul Amaza & Victor Okoruwa & Vincent Akinyosoye & Kabir Salman & Adebayo Abass, 2019. "Determinants of Intensity of Biomass Utilization: Evidence from Cassava Smallholders in Nigeria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-16, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jayatilleke S. Bandara & Yiyong Cai, 2014. "The impact of climate change on food crop productivity, food prices and food security in South Asia," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 451-465.
    2. Jerome Dumortier & Miguel Carriquiry & Amani Elobeid, 2021. "Impact of climate change on global agricultural markets under different shared socioeconomic pathways," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(6), pages 963-984, November.
    3. Christoph Schmitz & Hans van Meijl & Page Kyle & Gerald C. Nelson & Shinichiro Fujimori & Angelo Gurgel & Petr Havlik & Edwina Heyhoe & Daniel Mason d'Croz & Alexander Popp & Ron Sands & Andrzej Tabea, 2014. "Land-use change trajectories up to 2050: insights from a global agro-economic model comparison," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(1), pages 69-84, January.
    4. Palazzo, Amanda & Vervoort, Joost M. & Mason- D'Croz, Daniel & Rutting, Lucas & Havlik, Petr & Islam, Shahnila & Bayala, Jules & Kadi, Hame Kadi & Thornton, Philip & Zougmore, Robert, "undated". "Interpreting the Shared Socio-economic Pathways under Climate Change for the ECOWAS region through a stakeholder and multi-model process," 2016 Fifth International Conference, September 23-26, 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 246970, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    5. Shiferaw Abebe & Amare Sewnet Minale & Demel Teketay, 2022. "Socio-economic importance of the bamboo resources in the Lower Beles River Basin, north-western Ethiopia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(10), pages 12162-12181, October.
    6. Santiago Guerrero & Ben Henderson & Hugo Valin & Charlotte Janssens & Petr Havlik & Amanda Palazzo, 2022. "The impacts of agricultural trade and support policy reform on climate change adaptation and environmental performance: A model-based analysis," OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers 180, OECD Publishing.
    7. Carl C. Anderson & Manfred Denich & Kai Neumann & Kwadwo Amankwah & Charles Tortoe, 2019. "Identifying Biomass-Based Value Webs for Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systems Modeling Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, May.
    8. Martin Lampe & Dirk Willenbockel & Helal Ahammad & Elodie Blanc & Yongxia Cai & Katherine Calvin & Shinichiro Fujimori & Tomoko Hasegawa & Petr Havlik & Edwina Heyhoe & Page Kyle & Hermann Lotze-Campe, 2014. "Why do global long-term scenarios for agriculture differ? An overview of the AgMIP Global Economic Model Intercomparison," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(1), pages 3-20, January.
    9. Gerald C. Nelson & Dominique Mensbrugghe & Helal Ahammad & Elodie Blanc & Katherine Calvin & Tomoko Hasegawa & Petr Havlik & Edwina Heyhoe & Page Kyle & Hermann Lotze-Campen & Martin Lampe & Daniel Ma, 2014. "Agriculture and climate change in global scenarios: why don't the models agree," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(1), pages 85-101, January.
    10. Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO], 2016. "Climate Change and Food Systems: Global Assessments and Implications for Food Security and Trade," Working Papers id:8512, eSocialSciences.
    11. John T. Saunders & Marcel Adenäuer & Jonathan Brooks, 2019. "Analysis of long-term challenges for agricultural markets," OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers 131, OECD Publishing.
    12. Sjauw-Koen-Fa, August R. & Blok, Vincent & Omta, S.W.F. (Onno), 2016. "Critical Success Factors for Smallholder Inclusion in High Value-Adding Supply Chains by Food & Agribusiness Multinational Enterprise," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 19(1), pages 1-30, February.
    13. Seydou Zakari & Germaine Ibro & Bokar Moussa & Tahirou Abdoulaye, 2022. "Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change and Impacts on Household Income and Food Security: Evidence from Sahelian Region of Niger," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, March.
    14. Fredrick Bagamba & Proscovia R. Ntakyo & Geoffrey Otim & David J. Spielman & Bjorn Van Campenhout, 2023. "Policy and performance in Uganda's seed sector: Opportunities and challenges," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(3), May.
    15. Zeke Marshall & Paul E. Brockway, 2020. "A Net Energy Analysis of the Global Agriculture, Aquaculture, Fishing and Forestry System," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 1-27, June.
    16. Mohammad Zarei & Abdolsamad K. Amirkolaei & Jesse T. Trushenski & Wendy M. Sealey & Michael H. Schwarz & Reza Ovissipour, 2022. "Sorghum as a Potential Valuable Aquafeed Ingredient: Nutritional Quality and Digestibility," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-17, May.
    17. Gersch Inka, 2018. "Producer organizations and contract farming: a comparative study of smallholders’ market strategies in South India," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 62(1), pages 14-29, March.
    18. Sarah Karinge, 2013. "The Elite Factor in Sub-Saharan Africa’s Development," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 29(4), pages 435-455, December.
    19. Odusola, Ayodele, 2017. "Agriculture, Rural Poverty and Income Inequality in sub-Saharan Africa," UNDP Africa Economists Working Papers 266998, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    20. Chalise, Sudarshan & Naranpanawa, Athula & Bandara, Jayatilleke S. & Sarker, Tapan, 2017. "A general equilibrium assessment of climate change–induced loss of agricultural productivity in Nepal," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 43-50.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:4:p:1644-:d:323877. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.