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Abstract

This study examined the response of the Ghanaian pineapple production sector to the 2004/05 crisis where a swift shift of international market demand from the traditional smooth cayenne and sugar loaf variety to the MD2 variety nearly destroyed the entire fruit industry. We quantify the proportion of our sample farmers cultivating the MD2 variety and analysed the factors influencing adoption of the MD2 variety using a logistic regression model. We further employed a metafrontier analytical technique to assess the current productivity level of organic and conventional pineapple producers in three regions where commercial production for export is most concentrated. The high average performance scores (i.e. 97% mean TE and 95% mean MTR) suggests that there is not much scope for productivity gain given the current state of technology available to the industry. This implies: to substantially increase output levels in the industry to meet rapidly expanding domestic and international market demands, Government policies should aim at agricultural research development framework which not only encourages but expedite transfer of innovative production techniques to aid push output levels beyond what is currently achievable in the industry.

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