Potential and Actual Performance of Rice Production Systems in Ghana

Rice is a major food crop in Ghana with an average yearly import bill of $100 million. Most of the local production comes from irrigation schemes and valley bottom areas. However, the expectation of high rice production from these two systems has been difficult to realize. This research reported in this book investigated the performance of the two types of rice production system. The work was aimed at assessing the performance of the two types of rice schemes with the view to formulating a framework for determining the appropriate mode of development for rice production in Ghana. Due to the lack of data on water delivery, an alternative methodology for assessing the water delivery performance was employed. This made use of the concept of fuzzy sets to process the responses of the farmers regarding their perception of the water delivery system. The study also provided an opportunity to investigate the impacts of management transfer. This work should be very useful to managers of irrigation schemes and also policy and decision makers in the agricultural sector who are interested in advancing irrigation. It also adds to the ongoing debate about irrigation management transfer.