Does agricultural development affect environmental quality? The case of carbon dioxide emission in Ghana

PurposeAgricultural development still constitutes an integral part of Ghana's drive towards job creation, industrial development and economic growth with various growth policies placing the agricultural sector at the core. While there are likely environmental effects of agricultural activities, evidence in Ghana remains scanty. The study focused on examining, empirically, the effects of the development of the agricultural sector on carbon dioxide (CO2) emission in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employed the Stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence and technology (STIRPAT) framework to test for the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for agriculture and carbon dioxide emission as well as the effect that the changing structure of Ghana's agricultural development has on carbon dioxide emission for the 1971–2018 period. Regression analysis, variance decomposition and causality analysis were performed.FindingsThe regression results revealed a U-shaped relationship between agricultural development and carbon emission, implying a rejection of the EKC hypothesis between the two variables. In addition, the Structural Adjustment Programme was found to positively moderate the effect agriculture has on carbon emission.Practical implicationsThe study recommends the need for policy-makers to facilitate the large-scale adoption and use of modern technology and environmentally friendly agricultural methods.Originality/valueThe study is among the few works to assess the EKC hypothesis between agriculture and carbon dioxide emission in Africa. The direct and indirect effect of structural adjustment programme on carbon emission is estimated.

A Well-Adjusted Debt: How the International Anti-Debt Movement Failed to Delink Debt Relief and Structural Adjustment

This article analyses the process by which the issues of debt and structural adjustment were redefined by a plurality of actors, from institutional experts to activists, during the 1980s and 1990s. Although it mainly focuses on the 1990s, when the Jubilee 2000 campaign emerged, blossomed, and died, it takes into account the institutional mobilization preceding it. It then points to the need to think about the dynamics of competition and the division of labour among international players. While the leading Jubilee 2000 coalition in the Global North opposed debt on economic and religious grounds, African anti-structural adjustment programme (SAP) activists who joined the Jubilee Afrika campaign promoted an alternative framework: according to them, debt was not just economically “unsustainable”; it was first and foremost “illegitimate”, as were any conditions attached to its reduction, beginning with the implementation of SAPs. The story of the anti-debt campaign is the story of their failure.

Effect of Structural Adjustment Programme on the Performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria

The examined the effect of structural adjustment programme on the performance of small and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria. The research design adopted for the study is ex-post facto and the population of this is all the small and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria. The population of the study is 72838 and was used as the sample size. Structural adjustment programme was measured by import substitution policy and export promotion policy and small and medium scale enterprise performance was measured by SMEs output. The study covered a period of 32 years from 1986-2017. The statistical tools adopted in this study were descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, unit root test and Regression. The analysis was conducted using e-view statistical software and the finding indicates that there was a negative and significant effect relationship between structural adjustment programme and performance of Small and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria. The study also found that LIM has a positive and significant effect on LSMEOPT in Nigeria. Also, LEX has a negative and significant effect on LSMEOPT in Nigeria. The study suggested that Government in Nigeria should reduced the adoption of SAP in Nigeria but should only embark on import substitution since before the adoption of SAP, Nigerian introduced indigenization policy in 1977. Government of Nigeria should designed policy that discourage the people of Nigeria to purchase SMEs manufactured products from the richer countries. They should only sell their primary products on the world market, but their foreign exchange reserves should not be used to purchase the manufactures products from abroad.