Adoption of agrochemical management practices among smallholder cocoa farmers in Ghana

Abstract

This study explores smallholder cocoa farmers’ adoption decisions of agrochemical inputs in the Ghanaian cocoa industry using farm-level data collected from a sample of 838 farm households in four cocoa producing regions. Multivariate probit and Tobit models were used to examine the determinants of agrochemical inputs adoption and the extent of adoption, respectively. The result of the study showed that agrochemical management practices are complementary and thus the adoption of an agrochemical input is conditional on the adoption of others. Different household characteristics, household assets, institutional variables, and the perception of soil fertility status and the incidence of pests and diseases influence the adoption of individual agrochemical inputs. Furthermore, the result of the study showed that intensity (or extent) of agrochemical adoption (measured as farmers’ expenditure on agrochemicals) is also influenced by some socioeconomic and institutional variables such as extension services and farmers’ visits to demonstration farms. The implication of this result provides empirical guidelines necessary for farm-level programmes designed to improve adoption and intensity of adoption of agrochemical management practices in the Ghanaian cocoa sector.

Keywords:

• fertilizer application
• fungicides application
• insecticides application
• multivariate probit model
• Tobit model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Gideon Danso-Abbeam http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7971-4676

Lloyd J. S. Baiyegunhi http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7717-3610

Notes

1. Primary, Junior high, Senior high, and Tertiary education refer to farmers with up to 6, 10, 13 and 17 years of formal education, respectively.

2. Western region was used as a base category since most cocoa production takes place in the region and it also has the highest sample size among the four regions.