This paper advances and discusses an innovative Livelihood Asset
Status Tracking (LAST) computational method based on the sustainable
livelihoods analytical framework. It then uses the method to offer a theoretically
informed empirical assessment of the effects of Ghana’s Growth and Poverty
Reduction Strategy II (GPRS II – 2006-2009) on smallholder farmers’ ability to
develop sustainable livelihoods in the face of changing environmental and socioeconomic
conditions of production. Often, variability in climatic conditions
interacts with adverse socio-economic conditions such as disadvantageous
terms of trade and poor agricultural infrastructure to undermine agricultural
productivity and by extension, Ghanaian smallholder farmers’ livelihoods
(Sagoe, 2006). In this study, developing sustainable livelihoods is defined by a
quantitative assessment of the development of 5 key livelihood capital assets –
financial capital, social capital, natural capital, physical capital and human
capital. Among others, the LAST analysis reveals that although a few smallholder
farmers were able to develop productive capital assets and to build viable and
sustainable livelihoods through the activities of the GPRS II, a greater majority
of smallholder farmers in the municipality have not been able to adequately
develop capital assets for more productivity, hence maintaining extremely poor
and vulnerable livelihoods.