scholarly journals The Difference Between Ghana Cocoa Farmers’ Personal Profile on their Financial Sustainability

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1054-1066
Author(s):  
WILLIAMS KWASI PEPRAH ◽  
Enoch Asuah-Duodu ◽  
Ruben T. Carpizo

Introduction: In pursuing their enterprises, cocoa farmers now need financial sustainability. This research focuses on financial sustainability because it is linked to the accessibility of agricultural funding and the effect on society for current and future generations in order to guarantee a sustainable livelihood. This study considers the personal profiles of cocoa farmers, which are sex, education level, number of dependents, and farm sizes. The cocoa farmers profile has a divergent view on their financial sustainability. The study is quantitative research and correlational design research. The sample population of 1,000 Cocoa farmers was conveniently sampled from the six cocoa-growing regions of Ghana as respondents.  Method: The study used self-constructed questionnaires to measure financial sustainability, which had sub-variables of financial viability, financial self-sufficiency, and financial impact. The statistical analysis for the differences was computed by using SPSS 23 with T’Test and ANOVA.  Result: The results of the study revealed that there was no significant difference in a number of dependents and educational level of cocoa farmers on their financial sustainability. Also, farm size and sex proofed to have a significant difference in the financial sustainability of the cocoa farmer. Large farm size indicated a major difference in financial sustainability as compared to small farm size. Male cocoa farmers were better than the female cocoa farmers on their financial sustainability.The dominance of males in cocoa farming in Ghana makes them consider the financial sustainability of the cocoa farming venture more than females. This is because they are mainly supporting the livelihood of their families. Farm Size as a determinant of financial sustainability is evident by the yield larger farm size can give a cocoa farmer.  Discussion: The study recommends that in order to attain financial sustainability for the cocoa farmer, the farm size and sex must be considered.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cort M. Dorn-Medeiros ◽  
Cass Dykeman ◽  
Timothy Bergquist

This archived data study used results from the New York City Community Health Survey to explore the relationship between interpersonal violence among female sexual minorities (FSM) and their levels of alcohol and tobacco use. A total of 92 FSM were included in the sample population. There was a significant difference in the mean number of alcoholic drinks consumed between FSM who reported past experience of interpersonal violence and those who did not. No difference was found in levels of tobacco use between FSM who reported interpersonal violence and those who did not. Results of the present study support current research indicating FSM may be at increased risk for elevated alcohol use and respective negative life outcomes related to the experience of interpersonal violence.


1989 ◽  
Vol 65 (3_suppl2) ◽  
pp. 1259-1265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen A. Lawson ◽  
J. Ray Hays

A comparison of stress and self-esteem as made between a group of 23 couples in treatment who had abused their children and 23 control couples who were matched for age, race, sex, education, and occupation. Stress was measured by the Recent Life Changes Questionnaire. Self-esteem was measured by a synthesis of 38 items selected by mental health professionals from the Clarke Parent/Child Relations Questionnaire and the Self-description and Mate Description Form. Analysis of variance showed that couples who had abused their children had significantly greater stress than control couples. However, there was no significant difference between the groups on the measure of self-esteem. There was also no interaction effect of stress with self-esteem on abuse. While it seems well established that stress is a major contributor in child abuse, the interaction of stress with personality factors of parents who abuse their children remains uncertain.


1993 ◽  
Vol 38 (7) ◽  
pp. 475-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji-Yung Song ◽  
Harold Merskey ◽  
Stephen Sullivan ◽  
Sam Noh

Eighteen patients with a syndrome of abdominal bloating and discomfort were examined to explore the relationship between their symptoms and their emotional problems. They were compared with 33 patients with Crohn's disease and 38 normal, healthy volunteers. Using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, patients with bloating were found to resemble patients with Crohn's disease. Both groups showed increased anxiety and depression. After controlling for age, sex, education, occupation, personality variables and childhood experience, there was a trend towards more anxiety in the bloating group compared with normal subjects and a significant difference for depression. These characteristics appear to be related to the effects of the illness or to selection, but not to personality or childhood experience. Although psychiatric problems are common among patients with abdominal bloating and pain who stay in touch with a clinic, they are not the primary cause of the disorder.


1999 ◽  
Vol 117 (5) ◽  
pp. 205-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Isidoro Costa ◽  
José Luiz Gomes do Amaral ◽  
Masashi Munechika ◽  
Yara Juliano ◽  
José Gomes Bezerra Filho

CONTEXT: The performance of each ICU needs to be assessed within the overall context of medical care, as well as by the institution which the ICU forms part of. Evaluation mechanisms in the field of intensive care have been developed that are recognized worldwide within the scientific literature. OBJECTIVE: To study outcomes from groups of critical patients and to compare their actual and estimated mortality rates. DESIGN: Prospective study of patients' outcomes. SETTING: A tertiary care unit for a period of 13 months (anesthesiology intensive care unit at the Escola Paulista de Medicina). PARTICIPANTS: 520 patients selected according to sex, age and nature of hospitalization. DIAGNOSTIC TEST: The modified APACHE II prognostic index was applied in order to assess clinical severity and anticipation of mortality in three groups who had non-surgical treatment, emergency surgery and elective surgery. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: The APACHE II index. RESULTS: The application of this index allowed patients to be stratified and expected death risks for both subgroups and the entire sample population to be calculated. The observed mortality rate was greater than the expected rate (28.5% versus 23.6%, respectively), with a statistically significant difference. The standardized mortality rate was 1.20. Patients who obtained scores above 25 presented a significant outcome towards death. The most severe and worst evolving cases were, in decreasing order: non-surgical, emergency surgical and scheduled surgical patients; the actual general mortality rate was higher than the expected one. CONCLUSIONS: The use of the APACHE II index made it possible to stratify critical patient groups according to the severity of their condition.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abebe Alemu ◽  
Hossein Azadi

These days, one of the global challenges is the growing demand for food. To be more specific, seafood bases play a key role in filling the nutritional requirements of human beings. In Africa (Ethiopia) the public expenses to improve productive capacity in aquatic food are increasing. Additionally, the expenses in dams and in fishers’ capacity building have increased households’ engagement in the fishery sector in Ethiopia. Cooperatives’ productive capacity has been strengthened by the government and other non-government organizations with the supply of fishing boats, refrigerators, fish nets and other office supplies. However, the effect of such public expenses in bringing changes in the households’ livelihood and welfare has never been assessed in this study area. This paper aims to investigate what motivates the households to fish and assess the effect of fisheries on the households’ livelihood and welfare. A structured survey consisting of 313 rural households was administered using trained enumerators in two kebeles located close to the Tekeze dam, Northern Ethiopia. The result indicates that socioeconomic characteristics, such as age (young), sex, education, and active family size were driving the households to fishing. Access to market and access to support are driving farmers to fisheries. There is a significant difference in fishing households’ income which is higher than non-fishing households. The results also indicate that there are lesser income inequalities among fishery households operating in cooperatives compared to private fishery households.


Author(s):  
Azembouh Roshinus Tsufac ◽  
Nyong Princely Awazi ◽  
Bernard Palmer Kfuban Yerima ◽  
Roger Kogge Enang

Soil fertility decline has pushed farmers across the world to resort to chemical fertilizers in order to improve soil fertility and enhance crop yields. In agroforestry systems, the application of chemical fertilizers is a call for concern considering that agroforestry systems are supposedly agro-ecological, environmentally friendly and sustainable systems. It was within this context that this study sought to assess the application of chemical fertilizers in cocoa-based agroforestry systems and its policy ramifications. Data was collected through a household survey of 300 cocoa farmers in Cameroon, and analyzed on SPSS 17.0 employing descriptive and analytical techniques. It was found that the most commonly used chemical fertilizers by cocoa farmers in cocoa-based agroforestry systems were NPK 20:10:10 (60%), NPK 15:20:15 (50%), and Urea (40%). It was also noticed that a majority of the cocoa farmers sampled used no chemical fertilizer (35%), very small quantity (15%), small quantity (20%), and moderate quantity (20%). With respect to frequency of use, most cocoa farmers never used chemical fertilizer (35%), used it rarely (30%), or used it occasionally (15%). However, some cocoa farmers used chemical fertilizers frequently (5%) and very frequently (5%) in their cocoa agroforests. Coefficients of correlation and regression showed the existence of a statistically significant (p<0.05) direct and inverse non-causal and causal relationship between different explanatory variables (income level, availability of chemical fertilizers, access to information, membership in farming group and access to extension services) and cocoa farmers’ use of chemical fertilizers; while farm size and number of farms had a statistically significant inverse relationship. Correlation and regression coefficients showed the existence of a statistically significant (p<0.05) direct non-causal and causal relationship between different levels of cocoa yields (very high cocoa yield, high cocoa yield, average cocoa yield, low cocoa yield, very low cocoa yield, no change in cocoa yields) and the application of chemical fertilizers in cocoa-based agroforestry systems. On the basis of the study’s findings, it is recommended that measures be taken to limit the use of chemical fertilizers in cocoa-based agroforestry systems in order to enhance the sustainability of these systems.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdel Rahman Aref Ali Abu Shreea ◽  
Lee Khuan ◽  
Sharifah Norkhadijah Syed Ismail ◽  
Nasrudin Subhi ◽  
Sobuh (Moh’d Sobhi) Ahmad Abu-Shanab ◽  
...  

AbstractIntroductionCancer is now being recognised as a long term conditions due to advances in treatments that increase the survival rate of patients with cancer to as long as 10 years from the time of the disease. Anxiety is among the commonly discovered psychiatric illness in patients with cancer and is often neglected. Approximately 10% of patients with cancer are affected with anxiety worldwide. Hence, this study was aimed to determine the prevalence of anxiety disorder and its associated factors among workers with cancer in Jordanian population.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted at the King Husain Cancer Centre (KHCC) in Amman, Jordan. Proportional sampling technique was used to obtain the sample population of 355 workers with cancer. Data were collected through self-administered Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) questionnaire and analyses were carried out using SPSS version 25.ResultsResponse rate of 100% were obtained from the participants. Prevalence of anxiety disorder among workers with cancer was recorded at 20.8% with male (23.1%) having the higher prevalence rate than female (17.3%) workers with cancers. A significant difference in anxiety between marital status (p=0.025), types of cancer (p=0.001), treatment types (p=0.024) were observed. A multiple regression was run to predict anxiety disorder from marital status, type of cancer and treatment types. These variables statistically significantly predicted anxiety disorder [F(3, 351) = 8.117, p < .001, R2 = 0.225].ConclusionThere is high prevalent of anxiety disorder among workers with cancer in Jordan. Predictors of anxiety among workers with cancer were also identified in this report.


Author(s):  
M. N. Chukwu ◽  
S. J. Kadafur

The study examines the strength of environmental education in Lekki-Lagos and its impact on community and grass-root development by considering a targeted sample population comprising some respondents that are living or working in Lekki community in Lagos. A qualitative survey was conducted using participatory observation, interviews, and a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was validated through peer review and pilot testing. Data collected were summarized and computed using descriptive statistics while a paired t-test and Turkey’s HSD test were used for further analysis. Results showed that 92% of the respondents affirmed that environmental education impacted positively on the community attracting the government, non-governmental and private organizations to help in developing the area through construction of roads, pedestrian bridges, drainages and sea embankments thus reducing flooding, man hour loss due to traffic jam and rate of pollution. There was also a decrease in loss of lives and properties. Investors were attracted to Lekki, reducing poverty and social imbalance thus increasing community development. There is a significant difference between the state of Lekki now and before the intervention of public-private practice in developing the area (P< 0.05). It is recommended that the government and other stakeholders should collaborate on a higher scale to enhance developing the unreached communities.


2020 ◽  
pp. 96-104
Author(s):  
Olatomide Waheed Olowa ◽  
Omowumi Ayodele Olowa

Cocoa farmer faces increasing challenging environment through exposure to risks factors which have impacted negatively on their production or output. Since farmers are primary producers and often times lack capacity to control risks factor, it is important to manage this factors. This study examines the cocoa farmers’ risk preferences and crop insurance perception and isolates the drivers of decision to uptake crop insurance among cocoa farmers in Ekiti state. The sample for the study consist of 200 cocoa farmers who were household heads selected through multi-stage sampling across four Local government areas of Ekiti State who are predominantly cocoa producers. Data collected on socio-demographic characteristics, perception of crop insurance and risk preferences, were analyzed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic model. Results showed that majority of the cocoa farmers were without crop insurance, with higher enrolment in Membership of cooperative society, owned their land, larger household size and lower educational level but higher level of farm experience when compared to cocoa farmers who are holding crop insurance. Farmers risk preferences showed no significant difference between farmers with or without insurance. Education (β=0.59), Household size (β=0.0029) and Debt use (β=0.02), Membership of cooperative (β=-4.53), Farming Experience (β=-2.51), Owned Land (β=-2.19) and Non-Farm Income (β=-0.65) were among the significant determinants of insurance uptake. Risk mitigating measures such as provision of necessary incentives such as improved varieties of cocoa seedling, as well as provision of fertiliser and approved pesticides, financial assistance, and simple processing technologies that produce standard cocoa bean plus a re-jigged Nigeria Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) for an improved discharge of its function are recommended.


AL-TA LIM ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-247
Author(s):  
Muhammad Haviz ◽  
Ika Metiza Maris

This study aims to investigated the effect of lecture-discussion (LD), direct instruction (DI)and guide inqury (GI) to students’achievement on quantitative design research. An experimental comparison group post-test only designwas used to prove the hypothesis there is a significant difference of students’achievement on undergraduate biology education class (BEC) and master's economic class (EC)with the using of LD, DI and GI.This study used34 BECs’ student and 26 ECs’ student who take quantitative research courses in the academic year 2016-2017.The students’ achievement was measured by instrument of Research based Learning (RbL). The collected data has been analyzed by using descriptive statistics, and Chi-Square test to determine the comparison in both treatment of classes.The result of this study has shown thatχ2scores of LD(71.276) andχ2scores of DI(203.12) χ2 table α(0.05;0.01) (15.507;20.090). At the using of GI, the quality for students’ achievement scores on BEC is better than EC (standard vs. approaching standard). In conclusion, there was significant difference of students’achievement onBEC and EC with the using of LD, DI and GI.


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