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Effects of cocoa swollen shoot virus disease (CSSVD) on the welfare of cocoa farmers in Ghana: evidence from Chorichori community of the Sefwi Akontombra district

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Abstract

Cocoa farmers face many drawbacks to their socioeconomic progress. A vivid example is the cocoa swollen shoot virus disease (CSSVD) which has caused mass destruction to many cocoa-growing areas like the Western North Region, where a larger portion of over 60% of Ghana’s cocoa was produced. This study set out to find the effect of the CSSVD on the living standards of cocoa farmers in Ghana. A structured questionnaire was administered to elicit information from all 386 cocoa farming households of the study community in the study area, the epicenter of the disease. The study employed a Multidimensional Poverty Index as a measure of the farmers’ welfare and estimated the simultaneous equation tobit model (Newey’s two-step estimation) to find the socioeconomic implication of the disease on the cocoa farmers. The outcome of the study indicates that the CSSV disease as the main variable significantly affects the living standards of the cocoa farming households multidimensionally. This implies that the disease's incidence reduces crop yield leading to low resources, thereby adversely affecting households’ welfare. Occupational diversity, educational level of the household head, knowledge of the disease, cocoa land size, households that had migrated to the study area, those that employ an external labour force, the log of household’s expenditure, number of household members, age of households’ head, access to farm water and participation off-farm activities were statistically significant on the depth of multidimensional poverty of the households. As policy measures, formal education and education on the disease's awareness should be intensified through frequent engagement with agriculture extension officers who will teach the farmers how to handle the disease. As a measure to alleviate multidimensional poverty, the use of external labour force should be encouraged for large-scale production. Finally, cocoa farmer households are to diversify to mitigate the impact of crop disease.

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Fig. 1

Source: Domfeh et al. (2011)

Fig. 2

Source: author’s illustration from Domfeh et al. (2011)

Fig. 3

Source: author’s Illustration

Fig. 4

Source: Google map

Fig. 5

Source: Akontobra District Assembly

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Availability of data and material

Data for the study are available upon request.

Notes

  1. The northern part of the Western Region is currently the Western North Region of Ghana.

  2. Details of the Alkire and Foster model can be found in Alkire and Foster (2011)

  3. See Ameyaw et al. (2014) for details on CSSVD management practices.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana

    Solomon Yaw Agyeman-Boaten & Abel Fumey

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  1. Solomon Yaw Agyeman-Boaten
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Correspondence to Solomon Yaw Agyeman-Boaten.

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Agyeman-Boaten, S.Y., Fumey, A. Effects of cocoa swollen shoot virus disease (CSSVD) on the welfare of cocoa farmers in Ghana: evidence from Chorichori community of the Sefwi Akontombra district. SN Bus Econ 1, 149 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43546-021-00152-8

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