Impact of Off - Farm Income on Hybrid Maize Adoption and Productivity of Maize Farmers across Various Agro Ecological Zones of Ghana

Abstract

This study analyzed the impact of off-farm income on hybrid maize adoption and productivity of farmers across various agro ecological zones of Ghana. This study uses cross-sectional data collected from 453 maize farmers across various agro ecological zones of Ghana in 2010. We utilize propensity score matching to compare the average yield and adoption of hybrid maize of farmers with and without off-farm income. The approach assumes exogenous off-farm income and similar farm technology across farmers in the various agro ecological zones.

The mean yield of farmers was 686.34kg/ha for those without off-farm work compared to the 693.91kg/ha for an average farmer with off-farm income. The result from the study shows that there is no significant impact of off-farm income on hybrid maize adoption and productivity of maize farmers across the various agro ecological zones of Ghana. This suggests that off-farm opportunities, while inducing increased use of improved seed, due to competition for labor time, may undermine the productivity gains from adoption of improved seed. The findings from this study support diversification of household income as a strategy for increasing capital availability to increase uptake of the modern purchased inputs.

Keywords: off-farm, income, productivity, propensity, score, adoption, hybrid