Land Management Practices and Their Effects on Food Crop Yields in Ghana

Agricultural land use and the management of agricultural lands in Ghana as evidenced from farmer practices have been analysed using descriptive and regression analysis. The analysis shows that different land management practices affect crop yields differently in the different ecological zones. Also, the types of land management practices farmers use differ across the different ecological zones. The policy implication is that agricultural interventions should be developed on the basis of agro-ecological zones, and blanket crop improvement packages should be avoided. The recommended policy action is that food crop farmers should be helped to improve the management of their agricultural lands by ecological zones at two levels. First, the practices that are common and promote agricultural production in each zone should be targeted for improvement. Such a policy will re-orient farmers towards the adoption of more sustainable farm practices. Second, land management practices that are not currently being used by farmers in each zone but have potential to improve crop production should be identified and promoted in the respective agro-ecological zones. A pro-active policy of this kind will provide farmers better land use alternatives in each ecological zone.