Title: Credit constraints and smallholder maize production in Ghana

Authors: Dadson Awunyo-Vitor; Ramatu M. Al-Hassan

Addresses: Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana ' Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Faculty of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Consumers Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana

Abstract: The study examined constraints influencing farmers' access to credit and the effect that credit has on maize productivity, using the endogenous switching regression approach with survey data collected from 595 maize farmers in the Ashanti and BrongAhafo Regions of Ghana. The study revealed that credit constraint has a dampening effect on input use and farm productivity. The results showed that engagement in off-farm income-generating activities, farm size and farmers' perception on operational modalities are factors that influence credit constraint conditions for farmers. In addition, the marginal productivity of credit differs between credit-constrained and credit-unconstrained farmers: thus, access to credit would enable credit-constrained farmers to take advantage of the available productive opportunities and increase maize productivity. Therefore, farmers in need of additional credit should be served to increase farm productivity.

Keywords: credit constraints; maize productivity; switching regression modelling; Ghana; smallholders; maize production; agriculture; Ghana; farm size; farming; farm productivity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJARGE.2014.064007

International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 2014 Vol.10 No.3, pp.239 - 256

Published online: 22 Oct 2014 *

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