Impact of Production Support on Farm Performance: A Case of Ghana's Agricultural Support Programme.

Ing. Sylvester Amoako Agyemang, BA

Disertační práce

Abstract:

Although production support policies have been shown to have significant positive effects on input use and food production, they are identified as a threat to agroecosystems through increased use of external inputs (mainly nitrogen fertiliser and pesticides). Moreover, studies on production support programmes have focused on their causal effect on food production without recourse to their effect on production in relation to the level of production support. This research seeks to analyse the effect of increasing levels of production support on farmers’ adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs), farm performance (i.e., input use and productivity) and the heterogeneity of the effect on farm performance in relation to farm size. Quantitative data from 540 sampled beneficiaries (285) and non-beneficiaries (255) of Ghana’s Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme, were analysed using logistic regression, Poisson regression, and generalized propensity score matching techniques. The latter helps to address potential self-selection bias due to farmers’ decisions to participate in the production support programme. Our findings show that farmers’ awareness of production and environmental risks, their perceived competence to control these risks, corruption perception and overall attitudes towards the programme had the strongest effect on their participation in the PFJ programme. Further, the participation in the PFJ support, integrated with extension and technical advisory services, increased farmers’ SAP adoption intensity. Besides, higher levels of the PFJ support, decoupled from SAP adoption, increased farmers’ SAP adoption intensity. Also, input use (i.e., hybrid seeds and fertiliser) and productivity increased as the level of the PFJ support per farmer increases. However, the estimated effect on farm performance was higher for small-scale farmers compared to large-scale farmers. Nonetheless, a minimum level of support was required for small-scale farmers to achieve positive effects. Higher input use and productivity can be achieved if the support is targeted and disbursed in relation to farm size rather than the “one rate for all” disbursement approach often used in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Keywords

Production support, Agricultural productivity, Planting for food and jobs, Sustainable agricultural practices, Generalized propensity score matching, Northern Ghana

Jazyk práce: angličtina

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 15. 12. 2021

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedoucí: doc. Dr. RNDr. Tomáš Ratinger
• Oponent: Lukáš Čechura, Ph.D., prof. Ing., Milan Ščasný, externi, Kenneth Thomson, externi

Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze

Fakulta tropického zemědělství

Doktorský studijní program / obor:
Zemědělská specializace / Sustainable Rural Development in TS