Abstract: This paper assesses the contribution of Ghana’s rural development strategies to poverty reduction through agricultural development. Agricultural sector remains the largest employer of rural poor in Ghana. Literature on how agricultural development has contributed to poverty reduction in the world with special emphasis on emerging economies has been presented. Drawing on the case study approach and evaluative research, the Builsa North District was selected for the assessment since it is a predominantly rural district in Northern Ghana with majority of the active labour force employed in the agricultural sector. The findings indicate that agriculture development is key in addressing poverty in rural areas particularly in developing economies like Ghana. The paper suggests that while rural development strategies should be broad-based to reduce rural poverty, agricultural development in modernised and sustainable manner should be the major focus since it employs majority of the rural poor and has the capacity to reduce poverty through employment generation, increase in income and consumption of farmers, and reduction in food prices.
Keywords: Rural Development Strategies, Agricultural Development, Poverty Reduction, Ghana.
Title: Agricultural Development as a Rural Development Strategy in Northern Ghana: Case of Builsa North District
Author: Gideon Opoku Tuffour, Irene-Nora Dinye, Douglas Kwesi Anyatewon, Romanus D. Dinye
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3164 (online), ISSN 2348-3156 (Print)
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