The impact of road network on the marketing of agricultural produce in the Jaman North District, Ghana
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Date
2021-07-06
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Abstract
This study was designed to assess the impact of road network on the marketing of
agriculture in the Jaman North District of Ghana. The cross-section survey research design
was adopted in this research work. Purposive sampling was used to select 4 rural
communities while questionnaires were used to collect data from 200 farmer households by
means of simple probability sampling technique. Data collection was based on primary
sources with a 100 percent response rate. Descriptive statistics technique such as
percentages, frequencies, means and chi square was used to highlight the socio-economic
characteristics of the farmers in the study area. The SPSS package aided in the analysis of
the data. The result revealed that almost all the respondents agreed that road networks play a
vital role in marketing of agricultural produces. It also showed that road networks create
market for agricultural produces so improving road condition allows for better access to a
wider market and reduce losses and delays in moving the farm produce. Again, nature of
road network affects the cost of transporting agricultural produce to the market centres and
hence influences the prices of produce. Also, another impact of road network on the
marketing of agricultural produce is that effective and efficient road network increases the
availability of agricultural produce in the market. Most of the road networks linking the
various communities to the main market were unpaved and immotorable during the rainy
season. Farming in the district was characterized by farmers who owned small portions of
farm size and used rudimentary methods of agriculture. The study revealed that, the type of
road connecting the communities to the market had a significant relationship with the
estimated travel time to Sampa, cost of transportation, where farmers sold their farm
produce. It did not however find a statistically significant influence of road transport
infrastructure on farm size of the farmers in Jaman North District. The study recommended
that as Ghana is fighting to abolish extreme poverty and hunger which is one of the
objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the government should help in the
construction of the road network connecting this communities so they can produce more and
make food available in the market.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Construction Technology and Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science Project Management.
Keywords
Road network, Agriculture products