ISSN 2375-1134
African Journal of Agriculture ISSN 2375-1134 Vol. 7 (10), pp. 001-007, October, 2020. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Determinants of small scale farmers’ decision to join farmer based organizations in Ghana
Bright Owusu Asante1*, Victor Afari–Sefa2 and Daniel Bruce Sarpong3
1CSIR-Crops Research Institute, P. O. Box 3785, Kumasi, Ghana.
2AVDRC- The World Vegetable Center, Regional Center for Africa, P. O. Box 10, Duluti, Arusha, Tanzania.
3Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.
Accepted 08 April, 2020
Abstract
In recent times, governments of most developing countries have been promoting the formation and development of farmer based organizations as one of the keys to more rapid diffusion and cost-effective extension delivery to farmers. This is premised on the assumption that small-scale farmers can have easy access to market information, credit and input for their production, processing, and marketing activities by joining farmer based organizations. However, this study found out that despite such observed benefits, some farmers were not members of farmer based organizations. This study uses the probit model to assess the factors influencing the decisions to join farmer based organizations in Ghana. The results revealed that farm size, farming as a major occupation, access to credit to loan and access to machinery services influenced farmers’ decisions to join farmer based organizations in the Eastern Region of Ghana.
Key words: Farmer-based organizations, probit model, decision-making process.