Improving Spatial Accessibility to Agricultural Markets In
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IMPROVING SPATIAL ACCESSIBILITY TO AGRICULTURAL MARKETS IN THE AFRAM PLAINS, GHANA. by Nathaniel Dede-Bamfo, B.A, M.A A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Council of Texas State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy with a Major in Geographic Information Science May, 2017 Committee Members: T. Edwin Chow, Chair F. Benjamin Zhan R. Denise Blanchard-Boehm Taewon Suh COPYRIGHT by Nathaniel Dede-Bamfo 2017 FAIR USE AND AUTHOR’S PERMISSION STATEMENT Fair Use This work is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, section 107). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgment. Use of this material for financial gain without the author’s express written permission is not allowed. Duplication Permission As the copyright holder of this work I, Nathaniel Dede-Bamfo, authorize duplication of this work, in whole or in part, for educational or scholarly purposes only. DEDICATION To the people of Afram Plains for your resilience and commitment to food production amidst all the strenuous conditions and for the warm reception and remarkable support you gave me during my visit to the area. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All Glory to God Almighty for His mercies, grace, and blessings towards me in making this dissertation a possibility. I am forever grateful. I am also deeply indebted to several people who contributed immensely in diverse ways to help me complete this dissertation and my studies at Texas State University successfully. I first say thanks to my advisor, Dr. T. Edwin Chow, for his outstanding guidance, patience, encouragement and inspiration throughout my entire life at Texas State University. Dr. Chow, I just cannot thank you enough. My next appreciation goes to my dissertation committee: Dr. Benjamin F. Zhan, who provided essential feedback and suggestions that significantly improved my dissertation; Dr. Denise Blanchard-Boehm, for her sustained encouragement, thoughtful insights and constructive comments throughout my research, and Dr. Taewon Suh, who particularly helped me frame the economic and marketing aspects of the dissertation. My profound gratitude also goes to the West Africa Research Association and Center (WARA and WARC) for awarding me the WARC Travel Grant that enabled me to conduct field studies and gather data from my study area in Ghana. To Dr. Jennifer Yanco, the Director of WARA, thanks for your great assistance in processing my grant. Again, I am grateful to the faculty and staff at the Geography Department at Texas State University especially Dr. Philip Suckling, Dr. Alberto Giordano, Dr. Ronald Hagelman, Ms. Allison Glass‐Smith, Ms. Angelika Wahl, Ms. Pat Hell‐Jones and Mr. v Charles Robinson for their priceless administrative support offered me during my entire doctoral program. In addition, I say thank you to Dr. Andrea Golato (Dean of the Graduate College), Dr. Eric Paulson (Associate Dean), Dr. Sandy Rao (Assistant Dean), Ms. Sylvia Mobley and all the staff at the Graduate College for their morale support. I would also like to thank my wife Ohenewaa for her love, patience, advice, suggestions and unflinching support throughout my doctoral studies. Ohenewaa, thank you for everything; I could not have done it without you. To my parents, Mr. and Mrs. L.K. Dede-Bamfo for providing me with the precious gift of education; my brothers Frank, Isaac, Ebenezer, and Stephen and my uncle, Uncle Kwabena for their prayers and encouragement. I will forever be grateful to you all. A special thank you goes to Mr. Guixing Wei, a PhD student at Texas State University for helping me code parts of my work in python and Mr. Isaac Mensah, an Agricultural Extension Officer in Afram Plains for his insights and expert knowledge that helped frame parts of the modelling procedures. Again, I say thank you to the following people: Ms. Victoria Tsibu, Mr. Frank Siaw (my field assistant), Mr. Ansong, Interviewees and all respondents in the Afram Plains, Mr. George Owusu, Mr. Evans Afful and Mr. Saban Parimah (all in Accra- Ghana) for their invaluable support during the data collection stage of this research. Further thanks go to the following persons: Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sessions (Binghamton, New York), Prof. E. L. Tettey-Fio (Binghamton University, New York), Mr. Richard Skinner and friends of Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship (Texas State vi University), Pastor Ken Volkert and members of New Life Christian Center (San Marcos, Texas), Mr. Doug Stovall and members of Christians at Texas State (San Marcos) for their morale support and encouragement during my doctoral program. Finally, to my school mates: Kumudan Grubh, Dr. Adam Mathews, Dr. Khila Dahal, Dr. Naizhou Zhou, Dr. Yan Lin, Ryan Schuermann, Monica Medel, Tom Shelton, and Chunhong Zhao, I am grateful for your insightful contributions and humorous conversations. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ xii LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... xv ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... xvii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Rural Development and Spatial Accessibility in Developing Countries ......................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Rural Development ................................................................ 1 1.1.2 Spatial Accessibility in the Developing World ...................... 3 1.1.3 Importance of Spatial Accessibility in Agriculture ............... 4 1.1.3.1 Transportation Infrastructure .................................. 5 1.1.3.2 Periodic Marketing.................................................. 7 1.2 Statement of Problem: Spatial Accessibility in Afram Plains, Ghana .. 8 1.2.1 Background ............................................................................ 8 1.2.2 Causal Factors ...................................................................... 11 1.2.3 Past Interventions and Present Needs .................................. 12 1.3 Research Objective / Questions .......................................................... 14 1.4 Organization of the Research .............................................................. 15 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................. 17 2.1 Spatial Accessibility in a Rural Setting .............................................. 17 2.1.1 Defining Spatial Accessibility ............................................. 17 2.1.2 Geographic Disparity in Access to Market .......................... 19 2.1.3 Impact of Geographic Disparity on Periodic Markets ......... 20 2.1.4 Mode of Transportation for Agricultural Products .............. 22 2.2 Measuring Spatial Accessibility ......................................................... 27 2.2.1 Basic Location-based Measures ........................................... 27 2.2.2 Potential Location-based Measures ..................................... 32 2.2.3 Modelling Spatial Accessibility based on Multi-Mode Transport System .............................................................. 41 2.3 Determining Level of Need ................................................................ 42 2.3.1 Estimating Economic Potential ............................................ 43 2.3.2 Modelling Suitability ........................................................... 45 viii 2.2.2.1 Traditional Map Overlay Approaches .................. 46 2.2.2.2 Dealing with Uncertain Boundaries ...................... 48 2.4 Improving Spatial Accessibility .......................................................... 52 2.4.1 Fundamental Considerations ................................................ 52 2.4.2 Developing New Road Networks ........................................ 53 2.3.2.1 Types of Network Models .................................... 54 2.3.2.2 Selecting an Algorithm for Implementing Network Models.................................................... 58 2.4.3 Locating New Market Centers ............................................. 61 2.4.3.1 The Concept of Location Allocation..................... 61 2.4.3.2 Location Allocation Problems .............................. 62 3. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................... 71 3.1 Study Area .......................................................................................... 71 3.1.1 Precincts ............................................................................... 71 3.1.2 Physical Landscape .............................................................. 74 3.1.3 Demographics ...................................................................... 75 3.1.4 Economy .............................................................................. 75 3.1.4.1 Economic Activities .............................................. 75 3.1.4.2 Market ................................................................... 77 3.1.5 Transportation and Spatial Accessibility ............................. 77 3.2 Research Design.................................................................................