Agricultural technologies adoption and smallholder farmers’ welfare: Evidence from Northern Ghana

Abstract

Improving the welfare of smallholder farmers through the introduction of improved technologies has gained increased attention in recent times. The focus now transcends the mere development and introduction of these farming technologies to improve productivity alone. Policymakers, particularly those in developing countries now pursue the implementation of interventions that promote the use of improved technologies to advance the welfare of smallholder farmers. However, the impact of such intervention to inform future policy decisions remains largely lacking and under theorized. The current study, therefore, analysed the impact of technology adoption on smallholder farmers’ welfare. We obtained data from 461 technology adopters and non-adopters by using purposive and simple random sampling. Using the propensity score matching technique, we estimated the impact of technology adoption on smallholder farm households. The results show that regional location, educational level, age, and Farmer Base Organisation (FBO) membership are the main determinants of technology adoption among smallholder farmers. Technology adoption had a positive but statistically insignificant impact on welfare. Consumption and clothing expenditure increased with adoption but not healthcare. To improve the impact of technology adoption on smallholder farmer welfare, emphasis should be placed on business supporting/advisory services; agricultural extension outreach, finance/input support among others.

Keywords:

• Technology
• smallholder farmers
• welfare
• consumption
• clothing and healthcare expenditure

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

Improved agricultural technologies are mechanisms, practices, and ideas that enable farm households to increase their yields for food security and incomes. Researchers are constantly working to develop these technologies to help increase productivity, improve the welfare of farmers, and make agriculture more profitable. However, the adoption of these technologies has remained low and uneven due to various reasons. While some technologies are easily adopted by farmers, others are not. Some technologies come as a set but some farmers may choose to adopt some aspects, leaving the other aspects of the technology set. As such, there are heterogeneous effects on the number of technologies adopted by farmers with implications on welfare. Identifying the factors that influence farmers adoption decision and how that impact on their welfare is relevant in designing appropriate policies that enhance the uptake of these technologies. Strengthening farmer-centred institutions and enabling access to complementary services (finance and input support) would make technology adoption more effective.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Africa RISING Project for making information and data available for this research work. We thank CSIR-STEPRI staff who supported during the field data collection. Special thanks to Dr. Fred Kizito and Dr. Hoeschle-Zeledon Irmgard of IITA for their coordinating support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Discussed under technology adoption, determinants, and welfare by recent studies (see Awotide et al., 2016; Wossen et al., 2017; Ayenew et al., 2020).

2. Expenditure on accommodation was dropped since most respondents were residing in thatched houses owned by them and could not provide information on the cost of rent or the amount they were willing to rent it out.

3. Even with those with formal education, the majority (40.2%) had maximum of 6 years of schooling (primary education) while many stopped schooling at one stage or another.

4. Detail discussions of these variables are not done here due to space limitation.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Abdulai Adams

Abdulai Adams is a Lecturer at the Department of Economics, Simon Diedong University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Ghana. He obtained his PhD in Economics from the University of Zululand and has worked as a Research Scientist, Project Manager, Grants Coordinator, and Technical Advisor with a number of international organizations. He has been involved in managing large-scale projects and grants and his research interest covers, microfinance, innovation economics, food security, applied economics, and technology adoption.

Emmanuel Tetteh Jumpah works as a Research Technologists with the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Institute, Ghana. He holds an MPhil in Agricultural Economics from the University of Ghana, Legon and has vast experience in research design, data collection and analysis. He has been involved in the implementation of several livelihood projects and his research interests are impact assessment, contract farming, technology adoption, industrial economics, food security and microfinance.