Beyond certification: Investigating the nexus between compliance with sustainable agriculture standard and livelihood assets of certified smallholder cocoa farmers in Ghana

Studies have shown that farmers appear to deviate from set certification standards after they have passed audits and received their certificate. This usually makes them vulnerable and affects their livelihood assets. Therefore, this study set out to investigate the nexus between certified smallholde...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cogent food & agriculture 2023-12, Vol.9 (1)
Main Authors: Ankuyi, Fred, Tham-Agyekum, Enoch Kwame, Ankrah, Daniel, Oduro-Owusu, Akua Yeboah, Bakang, John-Eudes Andivi, Boansi, David, Asirifi, Solomon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural practices
Agriculture
Certification
certified cocoa farmers
Chi-square test
Cocoa
Compliance
Farmers
Farming
Farms
Land ownership
Livelihood
non-compliance
rainforest alliance
Statistical analysis
Sustainability
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable practices
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Studies have shown that farmers appear to deviate from set certification standards after they have passed audits and received their certificate. This usually makes them vulnerable and affects their livelihood assets. Therefore, this study set out to investigate the nexus between certified smallholder cocoa farmers' continual compliance with sustainable agriculture standard (SAS) and their livelihood assets. The research was conducted in the Sefwi Wiawso Municipality of Ghana. Data were collected from a survey of 400 cocoa farmers. Ordered logistic regression modelling, Chi-square test, frequencies, means, standard deviations, and percentages were used to analyze data. The findings show that 43.5% of the certified cocoa farmers complied moderately with SAS. Gender, farm size, land ownership, access to credit, engaging in income-generating activities outside of farming, assistance provided by License Buying Companies and extension contact were the determinants of farmers' level of compliance with SAS. The study revealed a statistically significant association between farmer compliance and livelihood assets. Efforts to increase access to credit for cocoa farmers must be accompanied by efforts to promote and educate farmers on sustainable farming practices.
ISSN:2331-1932
2331-1932
DOI:10.1080/23311932.2023.2256556