Title: Utilisation of maize postharvest strategies and practices among farmers in the Yendi Municipality of the Northern Region of Ghana

Authors: Fauzia Abdulai; Abdul-Fatahi Abdulai

Addresses: Department of Sustainable Development Studies, Faculty of Sustainable Development Studies, University for Development Studies, P.O. Box TL 1927, Tamale, Ghana ' Department of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, Faculty of Business, Tamale Technical University (TaTU), P.O. Box 3 E/R, Tamale, Ghana

Abstract: Postharvest losses still pose serious challenges to the maize value chain in Ghana despite the effort by the government to encourage the use of modern technologies to curb it. Meanwhile, the literature on innovative technologies abounds. However, very little of it covers the north of Ghana and particularly the Yendi Municipal area where different indigenous maize storage strategies are still extensively used. In a multistage sample procedure, 120 farmers were obtained from the Yendi Municipal area of the Northern Region of Ghana. A multivariate analysis of variance technique was used in a quantitative study and the result shows a statistically non-significant difference between male and female farmers' utilisation of indigenous storage strategies for maize. We also find higher technology use among female farmers, predominantly by the most active generation. We suggest an intervention policy to subsidise modern environmentally friendly technologies that will easily blend with the indigenous storage knowledge.

Keywords: indigenous storage; strategy; knowledge; modern technology; postharvest; Yendi Municipality; Ghana.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPTI.2023.136333

International Journal of Postharvest Technology and Innovation, 2023 Vol.9 No.1, pp.56 - 71

Received: 14 Jul 2022
Accepted: 31 May 2023
Published online: 30 Jan 2024 *

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