Drivers of smallholder farmers’ organic farming adoption and the organic share of the total cropland in Northern Ghana

Abstract

Organic agriculture (OA) claims to have the potential to address future ecological challenges in food production. However, there is a need to scale up OA in order to meet increasing consumer demand for organic foods. Against this background, this study examined the factors driving farmers to adopt organic vegetable production (OVP) and how much acreage they commit to it. We used structured questionnaires to gather data from 400 farmers in the northern regions of Ghana. To analyze the data, we used Heckman selection model in comparison to Cragg’s double hurdle regression and standard Tobit regression models. The results show that sex, age, education, extension visits, farmer association membership, the timing of production, and access to marketing information are the key factors influencing farmers to adopt OVP. The farmer's age, land ownership, economic status, and farmer association membership are the key factors influencing how much acreage farmers commit to OVP. In order to expand OVP adoption and the organic share of total cropland, strategies are needed to support farmer associations and encourage farmer participation.

Keywords

• organic vegetable production
• organic land
• heckman selection model
• ghana