Research Article Determinants of Yam Postharvest Management in the Zabzugu District of Northern Ghana Isaac Gershon Kodwo Ansah and Bright K. D. Tetteh Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Faculty of Agribusiness and Communication Sciences, University for Development Studies, P.O. Box TL 1882, Tamale, Ghana Correspondence should be addressed to Isaac Gershon Kodwo Ansah; agershon@uds.edu.gh Received 5 December 2015; Accepted 8 March 2016 Academic Editor: G´ abor Kocsy Copyright © 2016 I. G. K. Ansah and B. K. D. Tetteh. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Postharvest loss reduction has received attention in many policy documents across nations to ensure global food security, particularly in developing countries. Many researchers have examined various options for reducing postharvest losses. We contribute our quota to this scientifc discourse by using a diferent approach. We argue that the human element of managing postharvest loss is central and therefore poses the question of what are the characteristics of the farmer who manages postharvest losses better. We examine this question by using a cross section of yam farmers in the Zabzugu district in Northern Ghana and generate a proportional variable called postharvest management, which measures how efective a farmer works to reduce storage losses. We then use a fractional logistic regression model to examine the determinants of postharvest management. A signifcant result is that subsistence farmers manage postharvest losses better than commercial farmers. Characteristically, the farmer who efectively manages postharvest losses is a young, subsistence farmer, living in or close to a district capital with fewer household members, has attained formal education, and produces more yam. Eforts to reduce postharvest losses require the provision of access roads to remote towns or providing efective storage techniques and training on postharvest management practices. 1. Introduction Recent trends in global food markets indicate that unless serious attention is given to postharvest losses, the possibility of feeding over 9 billion people in 2020 and beyond is shrouded in uncertainty. Tis attention is even more crucial in developing countries where postharvest losses are high. In the year 2011, [1] estimated that within 20%–40% of fresh foods are lost during and afer harvesting of major staple crops. Tis report comes many years afer the World Food Conference convened in Rome in 1974, which drew attention to the concept of reducing postharvest food loss as a strategic and signifcant means to increase food availability. According to Bourne [2] and Hodges et al. [3], one of the most important pathways to increase food availability is to reduce food loss and waste. Goldsmith et al. [4] further stipulate that preventing food loss and increasing production are the two realistic alternatives by which the world can meet its ever rising food demand, but increased food production actually comes from preventing losses. In the opinion of [5], postharvest losses impose both economic and environmental impacts. In Ghana, root and tuber crops such as yam and cassava are important food security crops. Next to cereals, roots and tubers serve as important staples to a signifcant portion of the Ghanaian populace. However, one challenge that limits the success of these crops in improving food security is posthar- vest losses, and genuine concerns have been raised about these issues. A survey on postharvest losses conducted by [2] reproduced a table from FAO on postharvest losses across the major regions of the world and found that postharvest losses in Sub-Saharan Africa are estimated to be 18%. Tis fgure is substantial, considering the fact that, for every 100 tons of root and tuber crops produced, 18 tons is lost through postharvest handling. Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agricul- ture (MoFA) in 2008 conducted a baseline survey on harvest and postharvest (HPH) losses among major crops across some regions, and the general fnding was that postharvest Hindawi Publishing Corporation Advances in Agriculture Volume 2016, Article ID 9274017, 9 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/9274017