Are adopters of improved rice varieties more productive than non-adopters? Empirical evidence from northern Ghana

Benjamin Tetteh Anang

doi:10.4314/gjds.v16i1.5

Abstract

Technology adoption is important to enhance agricultural productivity and production efficiency of smallholder farmers in developing countries where productivity and efficiency gaps remain high. Technology adoption, however, remains low among smallholders due to a myriad of factors. This study explores the effect of adoption of improved rice varieties on productivity of smallholder farmer households in northern Ghana. The study relies on farm household survey data collected in 2014 using multi-stage stratified random sampling technique. Adoption was modelled using a binary probit model while propensity score matching was used to estimate the average treatment effect of adoption on productivity. The results indicated that adoption of improved rice varieties is influenced by age, sex and years of formal education of the household head, household size, adoption of mechanization, herd size, and the location of the farm. Estimates of the average treatment effect of adoption on productivity indicated that adopters of improved rice varieties were more productive than non-adopters. The study concludes that adoption of improved varieties enhances productivity of smallholder rice farmers. The author therefore recommends public investment in developing and disseminating improved planting materials to smallholder farmers to enhance agricultural productivity, food security and rural incomes. Keywords: Adoption, Smallholder Farmers, Productivity, Propensity Score Matching, Ghana

Highlights

Technological improvement remains one of the most important requirements to revamp agricultural production and productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa whereGhana Journal of Development Studies, Vol 16 (1)poverty and food insecurity remain high
Several studies show that low adoption of modern production technologies by smallholder farmers is one of the main factors accounting for the low agricultural productivity and increase in rural poverty in many developing countries (Afolami et al, 2015, Ragasa et al, 2013)
The study relied on crosssectional data and applied a binary probit model to investigate the effects of the explanatory variables on adoption

Summary

Introduction

Technological improvement remains one of the most important requirements to revamp agricultural production and productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa whereGhana Journal of Development Studies, Vol 16 (1)poverty and food insecurity remain high. Technological improvement remains one of the most important requirements to revamp agricultural production and productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa where. Due to high incidence of poverty and liquidity constraints, smallholder farmers tend to rely on less productive traditional farming methods characterised by dependence on weather conditions, low adoption of improved technology and low use of capital inputs (Chirwa, 2005; UNCTAD, 2015). Improving the productivity of farmers remains one of the challenging issues in smallholder agriculture in many developing countries. Several studies show that low adoption of modern (improved) production technologies by smallholder farmers is one of the main factors accounting for the low agricultural productivity and increase in rural poverty in many developing countries (Afolami et al, 2015, Ragasa et al, 2013). As noted by Solomon et al (2011), technological improvement is the foremost requirement for increasing agricultural productivity and poverty reduction in the long-term

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