Impact of Ghana’s Agricultural Mechanization Services Enterprise Centers Program
Africa’s agricultural sector, particularly south of the Sahara, has enormous potential to provide jobs and food for a growing population—contributing to food security, economic growth, and poverty reduction. But none of this will happen on its own; realizing this promise requires robust, sustained investment into the sector. At the same time, the sector faces growing stresses as demographic shifts put rising pressure on Africa’s farming systems to produce more food with less labor. The continent’s population continues to grow, with larger numbers of people having migrated to cities in recent years, in search of new opportunities, typically in non-farm work. Ghana is a case in point for these Africa-wide trends. Between 2000 and 2023, for example, data from the World Development Indicators show that Ghana’s annual population growth rate (2.4%) was twice the global average (1.2%). Ghana’s urbanization rate (1.1%) was also greater than the average for the world (0.9%), with almost half (47.8%) of the increase taking place in two of the country’s ten regions, Greater Accra and Ashanti. To tackle this challenge, farmers across Africa have turned to increased mechanization—an approach with many advantages. Higer quality and greater quantities of agricultural machinery can help farmers run operations more efficiently, lightening the drudgery of farm work and allowing more time for some to pursue off-farm income generation.
Tamsin Zandstra, Samuel Benin, and Seth Asante, explores Ghana’s mechanization program; Agricultural Mechanization Services Enterprise Centers (AMSECs) designed to bridge the mechanization gap by providing access to affordable and timely tractor plowing and shelling services. The team assessed the impacts and progress, and how shaping reform is helping farmers reduce drudgery and improve efficiency and yields.
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