Heterogeneous impacts of greenhouse farming technology as climate-smart agriculture on household welfare in Ghana

Abstract

The contributions of climate-smart agriculture to the transformation of agri-food systems as well as reducing the vulnerability of smallholder agriculture production to climate change in sub-Saharan Africa have been acknowledged in the sustainable development literature. However, studies on the impacts of adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) have not thoroughly explored the impact of greenhouse technology (GHT) adoption as a CSA practice on household welfare. This study attempts to fill-in this knowledge gap by analysing the drivers of GHT adoption as well as the heterogeneous impacts of GHT adoption as CSA practice on household welfare using the marginal treatments effect (MTE) model and a unique data on greenhouse and conventional farmers from southern Ghana. The findings from the study indicate that GHT adoption as a CSA practice assisted smallholder vegetable farmers to improve their crop yields, net farm returns and per capita consumption expenditures by 21%, 15% and 13%, respectively. Further evidence from policy relevant treatment effects (PRTE) of the MTE model suggests that having access to market and climate information tend to boost GHT adoption, which consequently improve household welfare. Hence, development agencies and practitioners should make conscious efforts to accelerate the promotion of GHT as a sustainable agricultural technology that could minimize the negative effects of climate change.