Abstract
In Ghana, soybean production has been promoted by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to increase cash income and improve the nutritional status of rural households. However, as yet there has been little increase in soybean cultivation. To an even greater extent than with other, already common crops, soybean production depends on a variety of socioeconomic factors, along with technical requirements such as access to improved seed cultivars; adequate land preparation, planting, weeding, and pests and diseases control; and appropriate harvesting, postharvest handling, processing, marketing, and product utilization (MoFA, 2006). My aim was to help support the livelihoods of the Ghanaian people—particularly rural women—by promoting soybean production and consumption and disseminating technological information among agricultural extension staff. To identify the technical and socioeconomic constraints on soybean production, in 2010 I conducted a household survey of 42 randomly selected respondents in 10 communities in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district of the northern region of Ghana. The interviews included questions on land tenure and use, input acquisition, agronomic practices, technology adoption, postharvest loss, and processing, marketing, and product use. I also interviewed seven traders and one agro-processing company that dealt with soybean. The results showed that farmers were not obtaining the expected incomes from soybean because the processing and marketing channels were poorly organized; this had led to low prices for the crop. Farmers grew the crop mostly for cash income, but the low prices were negatively affecting production and the farmers were unwilling to increase their production levels. The results also showed that, among farmers, the level of adoption of technology that would improve soybean production was low, resulting in low yields. Pests and diseases were becoming prominent threats to production and could also have been factors in the low yields.
