Despite the important role cassava plays in the economy as food security and income
generation crop, its development has been faced by a number of challenges. Prominent
among these challenges is the high cost of production emanating from cost of stem cuttings
(planting material), harvesting and transportation. This study was therefore undertaken to
find out how farmers can minimise cost of production through an optimal expenditure
approach on activities of production. Knowing the major activities of production and how
much should be spent on each activity to minimise total cost of production is a key step in
reducing cost of production.
Data was collected from the Eastern and Brong Ahafo regions which are the two major
cassava producing regions in Ghana representing the Forest and Transition zones
respectively. Multi-stage sampling was used in selecting two Municipals from each region.
Suhum/Kraboa/Coaltar and West Akim Municipals were selected for the Eastern Region
and Techiman and Wenchi Municipals for the Brong Ahafo Region. Classical optimisation
theory was used to investigate whether farmers in the Transition and Forest agro-ecological
zones operate at minimal cost. Boarded Hessian determinants through the use of Laplace
expansion was applied to estimate the optimal levels of expenditure and total cost of
production as well as cost at major activity levels. From the study, it was realised that
cassava farmers in the study area were cost minimisers. They were however not operating
at the optimal expenditure levels which curtail their ability to further reduce cost. For them
to operate at the optimal level, they need to cut down on activity expenditure for land
preparation, planting, farm maintenance and harvest and post-harvest and increase
expenditure on fixed inputs.