Abstract
The need for practising modern techniques in rice production has become increasingly important in Ghana as the per capita cultivable land continues to shrink. This study employed a multivariate probit model to estimate the determinants of adoption of improved agricultural technologies using household data collected from 543 rice farmers in the Upper East and Northern region of Ghana. There was complementarity among all the improved rice production technologies (i.e. nursery establishment, harrowing, line planting, spacing, urea briquette, irrigation, and bunding). Among the socio-economic variables, education, household size, experience, farm size, sex, and age of the farmer play significant roles, with differing signs across technologies. Among the institutional factors, membership of farmer-based organisation, access to research service, training and credit were significant with differing signs across the improved technologies. Location also had significant and differing influence on adoption. Also, demonstration, TV, radio, video, mobile phones, and household extension methods had significant and differing influence on the adoption of improved technologies, providing significant justification for the review of the agricultural extension methods and approaches of Ghana to include new ICT and mass media approaches. To improve the output of rice, farmers are advised to jointly adopt the identified improved rice production technologies. Keywords: Adoption, Agricultural Technologies, Multivariate Probit, Rice Farmers, Northern Ghana
Highlights
In Ghana, rice imports continue to surge ahead of production
Local production of milled rice recently grew by 10.5% annually, from 242,000 metric tons (MT) in 2004 to 481,000 MT in 2012, most of this growth in production had come from expansion in farm sizes (7.5%), with the remaining 3.0% coming from productivity improvements
Research and the adoption of improved production technologies are crucial in increasing the productivity and lowering the poverty levels amongst rice farmers
Summary
In Ghana, rice imports continue to surge ahead of production. Increasing rice yields has become a priority and necessity for stakeholders in the rice value chain. Local production of milled rice recently grew by 10.5% annually, from 242,000 metric tons (MT) in 2004 to 481,000 MT in 2012, most of this growth in production had come from expansion in farm sizes (7.5%), with the remaining 3.0% coming from productivity improvements Despite these efforts, Ghana imported 508, 587 MT of rice in 2013 alone, translating into about USD$ 639.4 million, to compensate for domestic production shortfall (MoFA, 2013). Ghana imported 508, 587 MT of rice in 2013 alone, translating into about USD$ 639.4 million, to compensate for domestic production shortfall (MoFA, 2013) This has increased further by about 22% to 620,811 MT for the 2015/2016 production season (MoFA, 2016)
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