Abstract
Ghana’s “Planting for Food and Job” programme aims to improve farmers’ access to farm inputs. The idea is that through improved access to quality seed varieties, fertilisers and good agronomic practices, output would increase leading to an increased market surplus. This study sought to investigate whether engagement in ‘Planting for Food and Job’ (PFJ ) programme influences farm households’ maize commercialization level in Savelugu Municipality, in the Northern Region of Ghana. To correct for selectivity bias, unobserved endogeneity and avoid the problems associated with weak instrumentation, the conditional mixed process (CMP) method was used. The results revealed that participation in the PFJ programme and maize yield positively influenced maize commercialization. However, commercialisation was negatively influenced by gender of the farm household's head, household size and membership of community based organisations (CBOs). Participation in the PFJ programme itself was enhanced by education, marital status, increased farm size, farm ownership, membership of farmer-based organization (FBOs) and non-farm engagement. Government and all relevant stakeholders should step up efforts at promoting the PFJ programme and maize commercialisation through access to formal education, farmland and other productivity enhancing inputs and services.
Highlights
The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), (2017) has observed that even among the countries that have modern and diversified economies, a strong foundation of the agricultural sector has been the panacea to such growth and development
Biggeri et al (2018) applied instrumental variable (IV) and propensity score matching (PSM) techniques and the results revealed that Agricultural Value Chains (AVC) Project had positive effects on gross and net values of cereal production per hectare in Oromia
This study examined the factors that influenced participation in Planting for Food and Job’ (PFJ) programme and how participation influences maize commercialization in Savelugu Municipality in Northern region of Ghana
Summary
The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), (2017) has observed that even among the countries that have modern and diversified economies, a strong foundation of the agricultural sector has been the panacea to such growth and development. The organization argued that smallholder farmers in Africa are the entrepreneurs in the continent. The fear is that the large numbers of smallholder farmers in the continent may not benefit much from growth of the food market. This is because the agriculture sector has been constrained by challenges such as inadequate access to improved agricultural technologies, poor rural infrastructure, high cost of farm inputs and poor market access (Kurukulasuriya and Rosenthal, 2003; Daum and Birner, 2017). The enumerated challenges have the potential to reduce agricultural productivity and output growth, which has serious implications for farmers’ welfare and food security status
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