1. Rising Mechanization: Zambia and Ghanaby
Antony Chapoto, Nazaire Houssou and Chewe Nkonde
Presentation at 3rd Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
Radisson Blu, Hotel
Nairobi Kenya
November 10th, 2016

2. Refurbished Massey Ferguson
Outline
Rising mechanization: Zambia’s
Trends in agricultural mechanization
Why the rise in mechanization initiatives?
Factors facilitating the rise in ag. mechanization
Rising mechanization: Ghana
Mechanization in Ghana: Historical perspective
Agricultural mechanization policy
Specialized Service Provision
Private sector-led mechanization
Refurbished Massey Ferguson 2

3. Zambia’s Experience
Rising Mechanization

4. Trends in agricultural mechanization
Mechanization use by province
Mechanization use has remained low but increasing
Tractor use per thousand hectares cultivated is about 1.3 tractors
Availability of tractor hiring services is relatively high (>60% HHs leave nearby these services)
High cost of tractor services is the main constraining factor
RALS, 2012 and 2015

5. Why the rise in mechanization initiatives
Change in factor price ratios
Rise in mechanization initiatives has mainly been driven by supply side actors
Number of Tractor Service Providers has increased from 58 to 448 in three years
Labor constraints
Increasing number of farmers are taking farming as a business (emergent farmers)

6. Facilitating Access to Mechanization
Mainly focused on emergent farmers
E.g. AFGRI/John Deere/ZANACO program giving farmers credit to acquire tractors and attachments. (Interest rates high ??? 14% and 30%) The emergent farmers in turn provide mechanization services to smallholder farmers
Private sector initiatives to promote access to mechanization
No known government programme promoting mechanization BUT….
recently announced a credit program for civil servants to access tractors
So, likely going to see more government involvement in promoting mechanization
Government & Mechanization

7. Ghana’s Experience
Mechanization

8. Farm Size by Cultivated area
Medium-Large Scale Farmers and Mechanization Survey
Conducted by IFPRI in collaboration with Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI)
Category
Farm Size by Cultivated area
Sample size
Small
< 5 ha
768
Medium
5-20 ha
850
Large
>20 ha
225
Total
1,843

9. Mechanization in Ghana: Historical Perspective
Large state involvement in mechanization after independence (1957)
Mechanization as means for increasing power supply & freeing labor
Failures in Ghana and elsewhere in SSA
Lack of demand - low farming systems intensification (Pingali et al., 2007)
SAP/1990s led to withdrawal from direct service provision 9

10. Current Agricultural Mechanization Policy
Attempts to partner with private sector
GoG. seeks low interest loans & grants to import tractors
Sells tractors to individual farmers & AMSECs at subsidized prices with lenient repayment schedules
Loan origin dictates tractor importing country
Since 2007 GoG. renewed support for mechanization 10

11. Use tractor plowing (%)
Tractor & Animal Traction Both Relevant
Distribution of mechanized plowing across surveyed districts
District
Number of farmers
Use tractor plowing (%)
Use animal plowing
(%)
Do not plow
Ejura
253
89.7
0.0
10.3
Techiman
217
6.9
93.1
Kintampo North
221
30.3
69.7
Yendi
269
91.8
0.4
7.8
Gushiegu
300
87.7
2.0
Kasena Nankana East
160
68.1
26.3
5.6
Bawku Municipal
195
21.0
68.2
10.8
Sissala East
228
77.2
15.8
7.0
Total
1843
62.1
11.8
26.0
Source: IFPRI/SARI Survey (2013).

12. State-sponsored specialized service
Specialized service provision: AMSEC Weaknesses
Low operational scale: 60 ha per tractor, 1:40 farmers (Benin et al., , Houssou et al., 2013)
Frequent breakdowns
Poor maintenance and lack of skilled operators
Weak operators’ incentives
Lack of incentives to explore market across regions
Lack of spare parts
Source: MoFA 12

13. Emerging Private Sector-Led Mechanization
Tractor ownership and farm size
Farm size (ha)
Number of owners
Percent owning
Cumulative percent
Less than 2 ha 3
0.8
2-5 ha 26 6 7
5-30 ha
287 71 79
>30 ha 86 21
100
Total
402
Looking at the distribution of farm size among these owners: owners are not typically small farmers as we know them
The majority - 70% cultivate 5-30 ha of lands, only 20% more than 30 ha
Source: IFPRI/SARI Survey (2013).

14. …………Emerging Private Sector-Led Mechanization
Hiring-out mechanization services among tractor owners
Overall
Terciles of cultivated land
Lowest
Middle
Highest
Percentage of farmers who hire-out services
First plowing (%)
83.2
82.0
81.7
85.8
Maize shelling (%)
19.5
17.2
18.3
22.8
Carting farm products and inputs (%)
35.5
38.5
38.1
29.9
Ratio of tractor owner to farmers served (median)
1:60
1:51
1:67
Number of hectares plowed per tractor (2012)
182.4
171.4
162.0
211.4
Years providing plowing services (n=302)
5.0
4.1
4.8
6.1
Source: IFPRI/SARI Survey (2013).

15. …………Emerging Private Sector-Led Mechanization
Source: IFPRI/SARI Survey (2013). J. Deere = John Deere, M. Ferguson=Massey Ferguson

16. Emerging Private Sector-Led Mechanization
Motivation and tractor financing
Number of tractor owners: 402.
Source: IFPRI/SARI Survey (2013).

17. Tillage on rice field (Asutsuare, Ghana)
THANK YOU
Tillage on rice field (Asutsuare, Ghana)