Climate-smart agriculture and technical efficiency of smallholder maize farmers in Wa East District of Ghana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36782/apjsafe.v13i1.487Keywords:
Climate-smart agriculture, technical efficiency, adoption intensity, smallholder farmers, GhanaAbstract
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) seeks to improve adaptation and mitigation to climate change and eventually, improve the productivity and sustainability of farming. However, CSA adoption particularly among smallholder farmers in developing countries remains low in spite of its potential benefits of improving productivity. Also, empirical evidence of the linkage between CSA adoption and technical efficiency (TE) of smallholder farmers remains scanty. This study therefore examined the drivers of adoption of CSA practices (CSAPs) and how adoption intensity affects TE of smallholder maize production in Wa East District of Ghana. Relying on survey data, generalized Poisson regression and stochastic frontier analysis, the study observed that uptake of multiple CSAPs increased TE of maize producers. The study therefore recommends the provision of CSA training and awareness creation to encourage uptake of multiple CSAPs to increase TE of smallholder maize producers.
Downloads
References
Abdallah, A. H., & Abdul-Rahman, A. (2017). Technical efficiency of maize farmers in Ghana: a stochastic frontier approach. International Journal of Innovation and Scientific Research, 29(2), 110-118.
Addai, K. N., Ng’ombe, J. N., Temoso, O. and Poverty, F. (2022). Vulnerability, and food consumption inequality among smallholder households in Ghana: a gender- based perspective. Social Indicators Research, 163(2), 1-29. doi: 10.1007/s11205-022-02913-w.
Anang, B. T., Bäckman, S., & Sipiläinen, T. (2016). Agricultural microcredit and technical efficiency: The case of smallholder rice farmers in Northern Ghana. Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Tropics and Subtropics, 117(2), 189–202.
Boateng, V. F., Donkoh, S. A., & Adzawla, W. (2022). Organic and conventional vegetable production in northern Ghana: farmers’ decision making and technical efficiency. Organic Agriculture, 12(1), 47-61.
Chiona, S., Kalinda, T., & Tembo, G. (2014). Stochastic frontier analysis of the technical efficiency of smallholder maize farmers in Central Province, Zambia. Journal of Agricultural Science, 6(10), 108.
Damba, O. T., Kizito, F., Bonilla-Findji, O., Yeboah, S., Oppong-Mensah, B., Clottey, V., Duah, S., Gaitu, C., Mantey, F., Dalaa, M. A. and Obeng, F. (2021). Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA)-Climate Smart Information Services (CIS) Prioritization in Ghana: Smart Assessments and Outcomes. Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) Technical Report.
Donkoh, S. A., & Awuni, J. A. (2011). Adoption of farm management practices in lowland rice production in Northern Ghana.
Danso-Abbeam, G., Bosiako, J. A., Ehiakpor, D. S., & Mabe, F. N. (2017). Adoption of improved maize variety among farm households in the northern region of Ghana. Cogent Economics & Finance, 5(1), 1416896.
Ho, T. T., & Shimada, K. (2019). The effects of climate-smart agriculture and climate change adaptation on the technical efficiency of rice farming—an empirical study in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Agriculture, 9(5), 99.
Ifie, B. E., Kwapong, N. A., Anato-Dumelo, M., Konadu, B. A., Tongoona, P. B., & Danquah, E. Y. (2022). Assessment of farmers readiness to adopt maize hybrid varieties for high productivity in Ghana. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B—Soil & Plant Science, 72(1), 506-515.
Issahaku, G., & Abdulai, A. (2020). Adoption of climate‐smart practices and its impact on farm performance and risk exposure among smallholder farmers in Ghana. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 64(2), 396-420.
Issahaku Z. A., Maharjan KL (2014) Crop substitution behavior among food crop farmers in Ghana: an efficient adaptation to climate change or costly stagnation in traditional agricultural production system? Agricultural and Food Economics 2(16): 1–14
Nyanteng, V. K., & Seini, A. W. (2000). Agricultural policy and the impact on growth and productivity 1970-95. Economic Reforms in Ghana, The Miracle and The Mirage.
Oxford Business Group. (2019). Agriculture in Africa 2019 [Special Report]. Accessed November 7 2019. https://oxfordbusinessgroup.
com/sites/default/files/blog/specialreports/949525/africa_2019_special_report.pdf.
Abdulai, S., Nkegbe, P. K., & Donkoh, S. A. (2018). Assessing the technical efficiency of maize production in northern Ghana: The data envelopment analysis approach. Cogent Food & Agriculture, 4(1), 1512390.
Addai, K. N., & Owusu, V. (2014). Technical efficiency of maize farmers across various agro ecological zones of Ghana. Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, 3(1), 149-172.
Adu, D. T., Kuwornu, J. K., Anim-Somuah, H., & Sasaki, N. (2018). Application of livelihood vulnerability index in assessing smallholder maize farming households' vulnerability to climate change in Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 39(1), 22-32.
Adzawla, W., & Alhassan, H. (2021). Effects of climate adaptation on technical efficiency of maize production in Northern Ghana. Agricultural and Food Economics, 9(1), 1-18.
Akrofi-Atitianti, F., Ifejika Speranza, C., Bockel, L., & Asare, R. (2018). Assessing climate smart agriculture and its determinants of practice in Ghana: A case of the cocoa production system. Land, 7(1), 30.
Anang, B. T., Alhassan, H. & Danso-Abbeam, G. (2020) Estimating technology adoption and technical efficiency in smallholder maize production: A double bootstrap DEA approach, Cogent Food & Agriculture, 6:1, 1833421.
Anang, B. T., Dokyi, E. O., Asante, B. O., & Donkoh, S. A. (2022). Technical efficiency of resource-poor maize farmers in northern Ghana. Open Agriculture, 7(1), 69-78.
Arif, M., Ali, S., Ilyas, M., Riaz, M., Akhtar, K., Ali, K., ... & Wang, H. (2021). Enhancing phosphorus availability, soil organic carbon, maize productivity and farm profitability through biochar and organic–inorganic fertilizers in an irrigated maize agroecosystem under semi‐arid climate. Soil Use and Management, 37(1), 104-119.
Asante, B. O., Villano, R. A., & Battese, G. E. (2014). The effect of the adoption of yam minisett technology on the technical efficiency of yam farmers in the forest-savanna transition zone of Ghana. African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 9(311-2016-5576), 75-90.
Azumah, S. B., Donkoh, S. A., & Ansah, I. G. K. (2017). Contract farming and the adoption of climate change coping and adaptation strategies in the northern region of Ghana. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 19(6), 2275-2295.
Battese, G. E. & Coelli, T. J. (1995). A model for technical inefficiency effects in a stochastic frontier production function for panel data, Empirical Economics, 20, 325-332.
Chinseu, E., Dougill, A., & Stringer, L. (2019). Why do smallholder farmers dis‐adopt conservation agriculture? Insights from Malawi. Land Degradation & Development, 30(5), 533-543.
Cobbinah, P. B., & Anane, G. K. (2016). Climate change adaptation in rural Ghana: Indigenous perceptions and strategies. Climate and Development, 8(2), 169–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2015.1034228.
Consul, P. C., & Famoye, F. (1992). Generalized Poisson regression model. Communications in Statistics - Theory and Methods, 21(1), 89–109. doi:10.1080/03610929208830766.
Coulibaly, T. P., Du, J., Diakité, D., Abban, O. J., & Kouakou, E. (2021). A proposed conceptual framework on the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices: The role of network contact frequency and institutional trust. Sustainability, 13(4), 2206.
Derbile, E. K., Chirawurah, D., & Naab, F. X. (2022). Vulnerability of smallholder agriculture to environmental change in North-Western Ghana and implications for development planning. Climate and Development, 14(1), 39-51.
Dinko, H. (2017) ‘Climate change and changing food security risk in Ghana’, African Journal of Agriculture and Food Security, 5(3), 186–192.
Dokyi, E., Anang, B. T. and Owusu, V. (2021). Impacts of Improved Seed Maize Technology Adoption on Productivity and Technical Efficiency in Northern Ghana. Open Economics, 4(1), 118-132.
Donkoh, S. A., & Awuni, J. A. (2011). Adoption of farm management practices in lowland rice production in Northern Ghana.
Donkoh, S. A., Ayambila, S., & Abdulai, S. (2013). Technical efficiency of rice production at the Tono irrigation scheme in northern Ghana.
Farrell, M. J. (1957) ‘The measurement of productive efficiency’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 120(3), pp. 253–290.
Ho, T. T., & Shimada, K. (2019). The effects of climate smart agriculture and climate change adaptation on the technical efficiency of rice farming—an empirical study in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Agriculture, 9(5), 99.
Imran, M. A., Ali, A., Ashfaq, M., Hassan, S., Culas, R., & Ma, C. (2019). Impact of climate smart agriculture (CSA) through sustainable irrigation management on Resource use efficiency: A sustainable production alternative for cotton. Land Use Policy, 88, 104113.
Imran, M. A., Ali, A., Culas, R. J., Ashfaq, M., Baig, I. A., Nasir, S., & Hashmi, A. H. (2022). Sustainability and efficiency analysis wrt adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in Pakistan: a group-wise comparison of adopters and conventional farmers. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 1-15.
Issahaku, G., & Abdulai, A. (2020). Adoption of climate‐smart practices and its impact on farm performance and risk exposure among smallholder farmers in Ghana. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 64(2), 396-420.
Kassie, M., Marenya, P., Tessema, Y., Jaleta, M., Zeng, D., Erenstein, O., Rahut, D., (2018). Measuring farm and market level economic impacts of improved maize production technologies in Ethiopia: evidence from panel data. J. Agric. Econ. 69 (1), 76–95.
Khataza, R. R., Doole, G. J., Kragt, M. E., & Hailu, A. (2018). Information acquisition, learning and the adoption of conservation agriculture in Malawi: A discrete-time duration analysis. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 132, 299-307.
Kibirige, D., Raufu, M., & Masuku, M. (2014). Efficiency Analysis of the Sub-Saharan African Small-scale Agriculture: A Review of Literature on Technical Efficiency of Maize Production. Journal of Agriculture and Veterinary Science, 7(12), 124-131.
Kwawu, J. D., Sarpong, D. B., & Agyire-Tettey, F. (2022). Technology adoption intensity and technical efficiency of maize farmers in the Techiman municipality of Ghana. African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 14(2), 532-545.
Lipper, L., Thornton, P., Campbell, B. M., Baedeker, T., Braimoh, A., Bwalya, M., ... & Torquebiau, E. F. (2014). Climate-smart agriculture for food security. Nature Climate Change, 4(12), 1068-1072.
Mabuku, M. P., Senzanje, A., Mudhara, M., Jewitt, G. P. W., & Mulwafu, W. O. (2019). Strategies for coping and adapting to flooding and their determinants: A comparative study of cases from Namibia and Zambia. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C, 111(1), 20–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2018.12.009.
Martey, E., Etwire, P. M., & Abdoulaye, T. (2020). Welfare impacts of climate-smart agriculture in Ghana: Does row planting and drought-tolerant maize varieties matter? Land use policy, 95, 104622.
Mgomezulu, W. R., Machira, K., Edriss, A. K., Pangapanga-Phiri, I., & Chitete, M. M. (2022). Responding to inefficiencies on smallholder maize farms: Can sustained adoption of sustainable agricultural practices make a difference? African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 17(4), 313–329.
Mizik, T. (2021). Climate-smart agriculture on small-scale farms: A systematic literature review. Agronomy, 11(6), 1096.
Mo, T., Lee, H., Oh, S., Lee, H., & Kim, B. H. (2023). Economic Efficiency of Climate Smart Agriculture Technology: Case of Agrophotovoltaics. Land, 12(1), 90.
Ng’ombe, J. N. (2017). Technical efficiency of smallholder maize production in Zambia: a stochastic meta-frontier approach. Agrekon, 56(4), 347-365.
Okuyama, Y., Maruyam, A., Takagaki, M., & Kikuchi, M. (2017). Technical efficiency and production potential of selected cereal crops in Senegal. Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Tropics and Subtropics, 118(2), 187-197.
Oxford Business Group. (2019). Agriculture in Africa 2019 [Special Report]. Accessed November 7 2019. https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/sites/default/files/blog/specialreports/949525/africa_2019_special_report.pdf.
Pannell, D. J., Llewellyn, R. S., & Corbeels, M. (2014). The farm-level economics of conservation agriculture for resource-poor farmers. Agriculture, ecosystems & environment, 187, 52-64.
Partey, S. T., Zougmoré, R. B., Ouédraogo, M., & Campbell, B. M. (2018). Developing climate-smart agriculture to face climate variability in West Africa: Challenges and lessons learnt. Journal of cleaner Production, 187, 285-295.
Sam, K. O., Botchway, V. A., Karbo, N., Essegbey, G. O., Nutsukpo, D. K., Segnon, A. C., & Zougmoré, R. B. (2021). Achievements and lessons learnt in promoting Climate-Smart Agriculture implementation in Ghana through Science-Policy dialogue platforms.
Silva, J. V., Baudron, F., Reidsma, P., & Giller, K. E. (2019). Is labour a major determinant of yield gaps in sub-Saharan Africa? A study of cereal-based production systems in Southern Ethiopia. Agricultural Systems, 174, 39-51.
Taylor, M. (2018). Climate-smart agriculture: what is it good for? The Journal of Peasant Studies, 45(1), 89-107.
Thathsarani, U. S. & Gunaratne, L. H. P. (2018) ‘Constructing and index to measure the adaptive capacity to climate change in Sri climate change in Sri Lanka’, Procedia Engineering. Elsevier B.V., 212, pp. 278–285. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2018.01.036.
Thierfelder, C., Matemba-Mutasa, R., Rusinamhodzi, L. (2015). Yield response of maize (Zea maysL.) to conservation agriculture cropping system in southern Africa. Soil Tillage Research, 146, 230–242.
Tong, Q., Swallow, B., Zhang, L., & Zhang, J. (2019). The roles of risk aversion and climate-smart agriculture in climate risk management: Evidence from rice production in the Jianghan Plain, China. Climate Risk Management, 26, 100199.
Tsiboe, F., Asravor, J., Owusu, V., & Mensah-Bonsu, A. (2022). Production technology, efficiency, and productivity of cereal farms: Prospects for enhancing farm performance in Ghana. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 1-31.
Yeboah, P. A., Dordaa, F., & Derbile, E. K. (2020). Livelihood Systems of Smallholder Cashew Farmers in the Guinea Savannah Woodland and Semi-Deciduous Forest Zones of Ghana. African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, 8(10), 1-15.
Zougmoré, R. B., Partey, S. T., Totin, E., Ouédraogo, M., Thornton, P., Karbo, N., ... & Campbell, B. M. (2019). Science-policy interfaces for sustainable climate-smart agriculture uptake: lessons learnt from national science-policy dialogue platforms in West Africa. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 17(5), 367-382. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1080/ 14735 903. 2019. 16709 34.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Adnaan Ibrahim, Benjamin Anang, Lea Anzagra, Emmanuel Derbile
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
