Sweet Potato Value Chain Analysis Reveals Opportunities for Increased Income and Food Security in Northern Ghana

Table 7

Farmers perception and ranking of critical production constraints.

Constraints identified	Mean	Std. dev.	Mean rank	Ranking
Access to improved seed	3.1	1.6	6.2	1
Cost of chemical fertilizer	3.3	1.4	6.3	2
Poor storage or short shelf-life	3.4	1.7	6.9	3
Pests and diseases	3.5	1.6	7.0	4
Poor soil fertility	3.5	1.7	7.2	5
Preseason and intermittent drought	3.6	1.7	7.7	6
Poor access to credit	3.6	1.7	7.7	6
Low profit	3.8	1.8	8.2	7
Poor price at harvest	3.8	1.8	8.2	7
Vines are expensive	4.0	1.3	8.4	8
Lack of improved varieties	4.1	1.2	8.6	9
Drudgery production operations	4.6	1.5	10.4	10
Perceived as food for poor households	4.7	1.3	10.5	11
Poor market for produce	4.8	1.3	10.8	12
Difficult to process into preservable forms	4.8	1.2	11.0	13
Access to farm labour	4.8	1.2	11.0	13

Note. Rank 1 is the most constraining factor and in similar order. Chi Square: 498.9, : 0.000, and Kendall’s : (0.139).