Record Details

Effect of input credit on smallholder farmers’ output and income: Evidence from Northern Ghana

OAR@ICRISAT

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Field Value
 
Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/10755/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/AFR-05-2017-0032
10.1108/AFR-05-2017-0032
 
Title Effect of input credit on smallholder farmers’ output and income: Evidence from Northern Ghana
 
Creator Iddrisu, A
Ansah, I G K
Nkegbe, P K
 
Subject Ghana
Smallholder Farmers
Agricultural Economics
West Africa
 
Description Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of input credit on smallholder farmers’ output and income using Masara N’Arziki support project in Northern Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional primary data set was used to estimate the effect of project participation on farm output, yield and income using propensity score matching (PSM) methods.

Findings
The findings are that project participation is skewed towards experienced farmers with big-sized households and farms. The effect of project on outcomes is somewhat unsatisfactory in the sense that participation only raises output and yield, but not income.

Research limitations/implications
The paper only examined the project effect on farm outcomes among smallholder farmers participating in the programme in just one operational area in the Northern region. Future research should consider all the operational areas for an informed generalisation of findings.

Practical implications
Greater benefits to farmers from programme participation would require project management to review the contractual arrangement so that the high cost of input credit is significantly reduced.

Originality/value
The paper applied the PSM to estimate the effect of project participation on farm output, yield and income among smallholder farmers which is non-existent in the literature on the study area, at least as far as we know. This paper can inform future policy on the direction and nature of support for smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana.
 
Publisher Emerald Publishing
 
Date 2018
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/10755/1/agriculture%20finance%20review.pdf
Iddrisu, A and Ansah, I G K and Nkegbe, P K (2018) Effect of input credit on smallholder farmers’ output and income: Evidence from Northern Ghana. Agricultural Finance Review (TSI), 78 (1). pp. 98-115. ISSN 0002-1466