Abstract
Enhancing smallholder farmers’ access to reliable, ready, and direct marketing channels is a prerequisite for sustainable food supply and poverty reduction in the developing countries including Ghana. However, it is a great challenge for smallholder farmers to access direct marketing channels in Ghana. This paper analyzes the factors that influence smallholder rice farmers’ participation, and the intensity of participation, in direct marketing channels using primary data from 199 farmers in three rice-growing districts in the Northern Region of Ghana. A double hurdle model was used in the empirical analysis. The study findings show that a lower percentage of farmers sold their rice output to processors (direct marketing). Farm size, the price of rice output per 85 kg bag, access to market information, and access to credit increased farmers’ participation in direct marketing channels, whereas payment period and ownership of a bicycle reduced their participation. The study concludes that improving farmers’ access to market information and credit availability would enhance participation in direct marketing channels.
Highlights
The study was conducted in the Northern region, which is one of the most important regions known for rice production in Ghana
The result shows that 61% of the farmers sold their paddy rice to middlemen at the farm gate, whereas the remaining 39% sold directly to processing firms
Most of the participants in direct and indirect marketing channels were males. This result shows that males dominate rice production in Northern Ghana
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. A large number of people directly or indirectly rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. The development of the agricultural sector can reduce poverty and food insecurity in rural areas [1]. Most of these people are smallholder farmers who operate on parcels of land that are, on an average, smaller than 2 ha [2]
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