Agricultural Intensification and Extensification in the Dry and Derived Savannah Zones of Ghana

Samuel N. A. Codjoe, University of Ghana

Studies on the population-food crop production nexus have been mostly based on Malthusian or Boserupian theoretical approaches. This study contributes to the literature by examining both approaches together as well as other theoretical explanations of the relationships between population and food crop production. It uses data from a 2001 household survey of 1,773 farmers in 504 households in 24 rural localities in two ecologically, climatologically, and culturally diverse regions of Ghana, viz, the dry and derived savannahs. Results show that, although there is some agricultural extensification the relationship with food crop production is weak. On the other hand, agricultural intensification is taking place albeit more in the derived savannah. Finally, although there is out-migration from both zones, especially in the dry savannah, the analysis cannot confirm whether this migration is being used as a household survival option yet, likely due precisely to successful agricultural intensification.