Soil quality and other factors influencing maize yield in northern Ghana

Food security is a crucial issue in sub-Saharan Africa as a consequence of unreliable rainfall, marginal soil fertility and a low level of inputs leading to declining crop yields. As a case study, we investigated the most important variables affecting maize yield in northern Ghana. We combined a soil quality index on a continuous scale with a social data set to model maize yield using linear multiple regression. Five significant variables have been identified (P < 0.05): soil quality index, fertilizer use, household size, distance from main market, and the interaction between fallow length and soil quality index. The effect of the interaction between soil quality and fallow on maize yield is negative, suggesting the influence of litter quality and N immobilization in the soils. Research and policy should focus on the development of site-specific, legume-based cropping, and the integration of crop and livestock farming in Northern Ghana and similar areas in sub-Saharan Africa.