Article abstract

Journal of Agricultural and Crop Research

Research Article | Published June 2017 | Volume 5, Issue 1, pp. 1-10

 

Perceived agricultural land use decisions in a peri-urban district, Ghana

 


 

 

Divine Odame Appiah*

Felix Asante

Bernice Akua Nketia

 

Email Author

 

 

 

Department of Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana.

 


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 Citation: Appiah DO, Asante F, Nketia BA (2017). Perceived agricultural land use decisions in a peri-urban district, Ghana. J. Agric. Crop Res. 5(1): 1-10.

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 Abstract 


The paper analyses farmer households’ decisions on agricultural land uses in peri-urban Asante-Akim South District of the Ashante region, Ghana. Rapid peri-urbanization has resulted in increasing demand for, and pressure on arable lands. The decision to convert from agricultural land uses to other land uses is driven by a myriad of factors, ranging from social to economic. Using a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods, 120 household respondents were proportionately sampled from three communities in the district, for questionnaires administration and interviews, to collect data. Data was subjected to Pearson’s chi-square, contingency and frequencies tabulation analyses embedded in the SPSS V.17. Results show that there is increasing peri-urbanization, resulting from increasing demand for residential and commercial land uses at the expense of arable land uses. These outcomes have perceived negative implications on food productivity and security in the district. The District Assembly’s policy focus should be geared towards the protection of prime agricultural lands, as physical development cannot be avoided.

Keywords  Peri-urbanization   agriculture land use decisions   Asante-Akim   Ghana  

 

 

 

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