Ethnic Identity, Discrimination and the Shaping of Remittance Culture in Ghana

This article examines birth-based structures and endogenous practices in the migration patterns of two ethnic groups in southern Ghana. The sampled ethnic groups for this study are the Akuapems from the Akan ethnic group located in the Akuapem North district and the Ada/Dangme’s from the Ga-Adangme ethnic group located in the Shai-Osudoku District and the Ningo-Prampram District (formally known as Dangme West District). The article discusses how ethnic identity influences remittance patterns and the utilization of sampled migrants’ home districts. Data from a questionnaire survey, interviews, and focus group meetings informed the study. The study results indicate a strong relationship between patterns, practices, and utilization of remittances and the respective norms and social values embedded within the migrants’ ethnic identity. The research also shows that migrants from ethnic groups with strong internal cohesion and less assimilation remit more than those from more ethnically heterogeneous groups. The study found that migrants from matrilineal ethnicity remit more than those of the patrilineal group. Ethnic values also shape the type of investments that internal migrants and their families may pursue. The research contributes to the debate on agency and endogenous development within birth-based structured societies. It also advances the discourse on birth-based identities, marginalization, and informal poverty reductions mechanisms and strategies.

Ruminant-Related Risk Factors are Associated with Shiga Toxin–Producing Escherichia coli Infection in Children in Southern Ghana

Livestock can provide benefits to low-income households, yet may expose children to zoonotic enteropathogens that cause illness and negative long-term health outcomes. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine whether livestock-related risk factors, including animal ownership, exposure to animal feces, and consumption of animal-source foods, were associated with bacterial zoonotic enteropathogen infections in children 6–59 months old in Greater Accra, Ghana. Stool samples from 259 children and 156 household chickens were analyzed for atypical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (aEPEC), Campylobacter jejuni/coli (C. jejuni/coli), Salmonella, and Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). aEPEC, C. jejuni/coli, STEC, and Salmonella were detected in 45.6%, 11.6%, 4.3%, and 0.8% of children’s stool samples, respectively. In adjusted logistic regression models, household ownership of goats or sheep was associated with STEC detection in children (odds ratio [95% confidence interval {CI}]: 4.30 [1.32, 14.08]), as were positive detection of STEC in chicken feces (7.85 [2.54, 24.30]) and frequent consumption of fresh cow’s milk (3.03 [1.75, 5.24]). No livestock-related risk factors were associated with aEPEC or C. jejuni/coli infection in children. Our findings suggest that ruminant ownership in southern Ghana may expose children to STEC through household fecal contamination and foodborne routes. The lack of association between livestock risk factors and the more commonly detected pathogens, aEPEC and C. jejuni/coli, warrants further research, particularly to help explain how animal-keeping and sanitation practices affect transmission of fecal pathogens that were highly prevalent in chicken feces.

Spatial and Time Warping for Gauge Adjustment of Rainfall Estimates

Many satellite-based estimates use gauge information for bias correction. In general, bias-correction methods are focused on the intensity error and do not explicitly correct possible position or timing errors. However, position and timing errors in rainfall estimates can also lead to errors in the rainfall occurrence or the intensity. This is especially true for localized rainfall events such as the convective rainstorms occurring during the rainy season in sub-Saharan Africa. We investigated the use of warping to correct such errors. The goal was to gauge-adjust satellite-based estimates with respect to the position and the timing of the rain event, instead of its intensity. Warping is a field-deformation method that transforms an image into another one. We compared two methods, spatial warping focusing on the position errors and time warping for the timing errors. They were evaluated on two case studies: a synthetic rainfall event represented by an ellipse and a rain event in southern Ghana during the monsoon season. In both cases, the two warping methods reduced significantly the respective targeted (position or timing) errors. In the southern Ghana case, the average position error was decreased by about 45 km by the spatial warping and the average timing error was decreased from more than 1 h to 0.2 h by the time warping. Both warping methods also improved the continuous statistics on the intensity: the correlation went from 0.18 to at least 0.62 after warping in the southern Ghana case. The spatial warping seems more interesting because of its positive impact on both position and timing errors.

Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change

When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.

Minor Seanonal Rainfall Variability over Southern Ghana

Rainfall variability has resulted in extreme events like devastating floods and droughts which is the main cause of human vulnerability to precipitation in West Africa. Attempts have been made by previous studies to understand rainfall variability over Ghana but these have mostly focused on the major rainy season of April-July, leaving a gap in our understanding of the variability in the September-November season which is a very important aspect of the Ghanaian climate system. The current study seeks to close this knowledge gap by employing statistical tools to quantify variabilities in rainfall amounts, rain days, and extreme precipitation indices in the minor rainfall season over Ghana. We find extremely high variability in rainfall with a Coefficient of variation (CV) between 25.3% and 70.8%, and moderate to high variability in rain days (CV=14.0% - 48.8%). Rainfall amount was found to be higher over the middle sector (262.7 mm – 400.2 mm) but lowest over the east coast (125.2 mm – 181.8 mm). Analysis of the second rainfall season using the Mankandell Test presents a non-significant trend of rainfall amount and extreme indices (R10, R20, R99p, and R99p) for many places in southern Ghana. Rainfall Anomaly Indices show that the middle sector recorded above normal precipitation which is the opposite for areas in the transition zone. The result of this work provides a good understanding of rainfall in the minor rainfall season and may be used for planning purposes.

Preferences for crop insurance attributes among cocoa farmers in Ghana

PurposeThis article analyzes farmers' preferences for different nonindexed crop insurance alternatives, using discrete choice experiment data on cocoa farmers from southern Ghana. We examine farmers' attendance to attributes by comparing self-reported attribute nonattendance (ANA) to the behavior inferred from the choices.Design/methodology/approachWe utilize the latent class endogenous attribute attendance (EAA) model to address potential endogeneity by jointly modelling farmers' attribute processing strategies with their choice of attributes of the insurance products.FindingsThe results show that premium levels, mode and length of indemnity payouts tend to influence farmers' preferences for crop insurance products. The findings also reveal that credit-constrained farmers attend more to premium and payment mode attributes of the crop insurance products and that credit-constrained farmers tend to exhibit lower willingness-to-pay estimates for the crop insurance attributes.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings from the study suggest that credit constraints do not only limit input use, but also tend to have statistically significant impact on farmers' cocoa insurance participation decisions.Originality/valueThe study examines the impact of credit constraints on farmers' crop insurance preferences while accounting for ANA.