Introduction - Medical Devices and Biomaterials for the Developing World - page 17

incentives may motivate individual farmers and entire agricultural systems to focus
on their core competency areas, the strategy of diversification could be important in
ensuring resilience in the face of climate change, protecting crops such as corn and
soy, and making possible the discovery of new crops with the potential for biomate-
rial implant application (Lin 2011 ) . In the context of health technology, diversi fi cation
could be a necessary prerequisite for “advancement” under the umbrella of new
technology.
Introduction to Focus Countries and Agricultural Connection
In this topic, we will limit analysis and discussion to the situation in West Africa and
Central America, specifically Ghana and Nicaragua. Each of these nations is a
smaller member of its respective region. Ghana and Nicaragua are both part of the
Rural Income Generating Activities (RIGA) initiative of the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO). According to the World Bank, Ghana is a low-
income country, and Nicaragua is a lower-middle income country. In both nations,
agriculture has declined as a share of GDP since the 1980s. However, absolute pro-
duction has increased (at least doubled) as their economies have grown. Comparable
countries (in terms of income classification and comparable measures, as deter-
mined by RIGA) to Ghana are Bangladesh and Malawi. For Nicaragua, comparable
countries are Vietnam and Guatemala (Brooks et al. 2011).
Ghana, with a population of approximately 24 million (about half of whom live in
rural areas), is on a strong trajectory of economic growth and is well-positioned to
enter a new phase of technological growth and stimulation of industry (Barrientos
2003). Agriculture employs 60% of the total work force and provides income to 70%
of the rural population. In addition, 80% of all Ghanaian farmers practice subsistence
farming (García 2006; Salisu 2009). Subsistence agriculture is the largest source of
income in most communities outside of the major centers of commerce. The crops that
subsistence farmers tend to produce for profit, as self-reported by several farmers out-
side of the Cape Coast region, are maize and corn (Ahoto Partnership for Ghana 2010).
Ghana's major agricultural products are cocoa, corn, and sorghum (Department of
Agriculture). Further discussion of Ghana in the context of West Africa and the unique
nature of its agricultural sector will take place in the next chapter.
By contrast, Nicaragua is much smaller, with a population of almost six million.
Technology is more of a regional industry in Central America. This is likely a factor
of both the smaller size of these nations and their proximity to the United States.
Almost 40% of the Nicaraguan labor force is employed by the agriculture sector;
this number has risen since the introduction of commercial farming (Birdsall et al.
2008). Commercial farming commands a larger share of the economy in Nicaragua
than in Ghana, and many of Nicaragua's crops are produced for export. The bulk of
Nicaragua's agricultural output includes coffee, cotton, bananas, sugarcane, corn,
and soya. An in-depth discussion of Nicaragua's focus on PHC and crop
diversification efforts will be the subject of Chap. 3 .