Maize farmers in Ghana opt for sesame, soya beans due to high cost of production
GHANA – The high cost of maize production in Ghana is pushing farmers to shift to sesame and soya bean farming in a cost-benefit analysis scenario.
Mr. Doho Sumaila, a commercial farmer in Sissala East, the country’s food basket revealed this while speaking to the Ghana News Agency, adding that the effect is already eminent now and having a significant toll on maize production.
The situation could affect maize production in the Sissala area, which produces over 100,000 metric tonnes of maize yearly.
According to Sumaila, Sesame was introduced to farmers in the area in 2020 whilst soybean came to the attention of the farmer around 2018, which most farmers were now patronizing more than maize production.
Mr. Doho said if the trend continued, it had the potential to reverse the gains made in food security, particularly for maize which is used as a staple food in Ghana, the poultry, and the brewery industries.
He said that the government must consider working on the road network to the maize-producing areas, and make inputs such as improved seeds and fertilizer readily available to the farmer as all of these factors affect production, including the absence of warehousing.
Mr. Doho said the land tenure system allowed for shifting cultivation and the fact that many people have a high interest in farming these days had made those farms stagnant, as the same land cannot be expanded anymore.
He explained that the cost of production per acre of maize has given rise to the shift in other crops and showed in a cost-benefit analysis scenario.
According to him, the cost of production for an acre of sesame was GH¢1, 420.00 (US$119) with an average yield of three bags of 100kg, which now sells at GH¢1500.00 per bag (US$126), amounting to GH¢4,500.00 (US$ 377) when sold and that leaves a profit to the farmer at GH¢3,080.00 (US$258) per acre.
Mr. Doho indicated that for an acre, the cost of production stood at GH¢1,655.00 (US$ 139) with an average yield of seven bags of 100 kg and that at the current prevailing selling price of GH¢450.00 (US$ 38) per 100kg, which is more profitable.
With the same approach to maize, the cost of production per acre stood at GH¢4,520.00 (US$378) and one could harvest an average of sixteen 16 bags per acre, which could result in net revenue of GH¢370.00 (US$31) and this brings the net revenue mobilized per acre at GH¢5,550.00 (US$465).
He advised the government to engage farmers actively since the major market for sesame and soybeans currently were those from the Sahel.
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