THE EFFECT OF MALARIA ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF MAIZE FARMERS IN THE EJURA-SEKYEDUMASE DISTRICT

1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION Malaria is a very important tropical and subtropical disease. Apart from HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, malaria is the highest cause of death due to single agent infectious diseases, accounting for 2.2% of such deaths. The WHO estimates that in 2006, an estimated 250 million cases of malaria occurred out a 3.3 billion people in the world who were at risk of the disease and out of that nearly 1 million deaths were recorded. This occurs in 109 malarious countries and territories. In that year, Ghana recorded an estimated 7.2 million cases which accounts for 3% of the whole WHO Africa Region. Most cases were caused by the plasmodium falciparum but only 15-20% was confirmed. They went on to report that there was no evidence of a reduction in malaria cases between 2001 and s007 and the reported deaths due to the disease actually increased in 2007. (WHO 2008) According to Ankomah and Asenso-Okyere (2003), sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 90% of the worlds 300-500 million cases and 1.5-2.7 million deaths annually. Between 20-40% of outpatient visits and between 10-15% of hospital admissions in Africa are attributable to Malaria. It is also the leading cases of workdays lost due to illness. Malaria and agriculture are intimately related, this is because agricultural environments provide suitable conditions for breeding of anopheles mosquitoes the female of which is the vector of the Plasmodium falciparum which causes malaria in man. Here in Ghana malaria accounts for about 9% of deaths. According Asenso-Okyere (1994) Malaria contributes 30% of out patients visits and 9% of Hospital admissions among others. The disease causes pain, fevers loss of productive labour time, and direct cost due to prevention and treatment. This research is intended to discover what extent malaria affects the productive labour time and consequent effect on the productivity and economic power of maize farmers in the EjuraSekyedumase district of the Ashanti region of Ghana.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT. Does malaria have any effect on maize farmers output or not? If it does what is the nature of such effect? In what areas are maize farmers affected by malaria? Is it in the level of productivity? How much of productivity loss among maize farmers can be attributed to the effects of malaria? Secondly, who does the work on the farm when the farmer is absent due to malaria? Does he hire additional labour to carry out the farm operations? If he does how much does it cost him to hire additional labourers to undertake operations which otherwise would have been done by the farmer himself? Finally, how much does it cost the farmer in terms of direct cost of treating malaria? and who bears the cost? Is it the farmer directly or the national health insurance?

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

What are the direct and indirect costs that the morbidity of malaria has on maize farmers? How much productive time is lost by farmers due to the incidence of malaria among maize farmers in a typical growing season? What are the measures taken by farming households to prevent malaria? How many maize farmers are aware of and registered with the national health insurance scheme?

1.3 MAIN OBJECTIVES The main objective of the research is to ascertain the effect of malaria on the productivity levels of maize farmers in the District under study.

1.4 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

To ascertain the direct and indirect costs that the morbidity of malaria has on farmers The study will seek to ascertain the amount of productive time lost (in man days) due to the incidence of malaria to farmers in a typical season. To explore the strategies taken by farming households to prevent malaria To ascertain the awareness and number of farmers registered with the national health insurance scheme.

1.5 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY In a country like Ghana where the primary goal is to reach the highest level of productivity in the agricultural sector, it is imperative to study all the factors that may affect the productivity of farmers. Thus this research will be source of information to guide policy makers to make policies that will help ease the burden of malaria on farmers. The baseline information from this research will also serve as a guide to other researchers as they search for additional information in this field which relatively under-explored.

1.6 STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESES Ho : Malaria has no effect on the productivity of maize farmers H1 : malaria has an effect on maize farmers 1.5 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY The main obstacle to the attainment of the objectives of this study will be:a. The time available to conduct the research. b. Financial constraints involving the printing of questionnaires, cost involved in travelling

to the research site and

c. The third constraint I envisage is with the acquisition of accurate information from the

farmers first concerning their judgment of malaria (mainly for those who do not visit the hospital) and secondly concerning the yield from their farms. d. Literature on such a study is not readily available.

1.6 ORGANASATION OF THE STUDY This report is organized into five chapters which are broken down as follows:a. Chapter 1 gives a general introduction to the study outlining the problem statement, the

main objective of the study and its specific objectives, the justification of the study and the limitation faced in the achieving of the objectives of this study, then its organization and methodology.b. Chapter 2 deals with a review f literature relevant to the study c. Chapter 3 presents the methodology including a detailed description of the study area and

a look at the sample techniques used the data collection tools used and method of analysis. d. Chapter 4 presents the results of the study and a detailed analysis of the results. e. Chapter 5 gives a discussion of the results and recommendations based on the results of the study. 1.7 METHODOLOGY The study will be conducted in the Ejura-Sekyedumase district of the Ashanti region STUDY POPULATION The study will have as its population all maize farmers in the Ejura-Sekyedumase district. SAMPLE SIZE AND TECHNIQUE Purposive sampling will be employed to selects the towns in which the research will be conducted. Simple random sampling will be used to select the farmers from whom the research data will be collected.

A sample size of 100 farmers will be selected. TYPES AND SOURCES OF DATA Primary Data will be collected from farmers through structured questionnaires. Secondary data will be collected from the district MOFA office Faculty and public libraries and the internet. METHODS OF DATA ANALYSIS The hypotheses of the study will be tested using the students t-test. The specific objectives of the study will be analysed using descriptive statistics like means medians modes and graphs.