The impact of intermediate means of transports (IMTs) on agricultural production and marketing in coastal Ghana: evidence from a pilot IMT action research project

Abstract

Transport is a critical input for agricultural production and marketing. The past three decades have been challenging for the development of efficient transport systems in developing countries. Huge funds and efforts have been devoted to the conventional transport sector but this has clearly had limited impact on accessibility or mobility. Most farmers continue to depend on walking and headloading to move their produce between farms and markets. This hinders the development of agriculture and efficient marketing systems. Intermediate Means of Transports (IMTs) are now seen by many development agencies as a viable option that could induce greater mobility and improve accessibility and help improve agriculture, marketing and other livelihood means in developing areas. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of IMTs on agricultural production and marketing in mral areas, focussing on Gomoa District in the Central Region of Ghana. The study examines the impact of a small action research project which involved introduction of selected IMTs in off-road villages. It examines the influence of IMTs over a twenty month period on farm size, location, distribution, productivity patterns, labour and gender issues, utilising a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. The study observed some IMT influence on labour productivity, labour availability and mobility, farm location and distribution, cropping pattern, marketed output and access to markets, though a relatively longer period of time is required in order to fully assess their impact than was available to this study. The impact of IMT on farming was influenced by social relationships, physical characteristics of the villages, including physical access conditions, and the economic and financial conditions of farmers. The influence of IMTs on crop marketing was larger in areas where routes to markets are poor, distance to markets are short, conventional transport service are poor and load volumes are large.