Factors Influencing Farmer’s Participation in Agricultural Projects: The case of the Agricultural Value Chain Mentorship Project in the Northern Region of Ghana

Abstract

Farmers’ participation in agricultural projects has a direct bearing on technology awareness, adoption, livelihoods, environment, nutrition, poverty, performance of the agricultural sector and the macro economy. This study therefore sought to identify factors, which delimitate farmer’s participation in agricultural projects using the case of the Agricultural Value Chain Mentorship Project. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to collect cross sectional data from 180 farmers in the Saboba and Chereponi districts of the Northern Region of Ghana. The study adopts the binary probit model and results of the analysis indicate that number of years in school, access to production credit and agricultural extension service are factors that significantly determine farmer’s participation in agricultural projects. It appears that farmer’s interest in agricultural projects can be permanently sustained by providing them with tangible benefits such as production credit and agricultural extension services.

Keywords: AVCMP, Chereponi, Farmer-Based Organization, Participation, Probit, Saboba