Credit Access and Adoption of Cocoa Research Innovations in Ghana

Abstract

Even though the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) has introduced a number of innovations to increase cocoa yield per hectare, rate of adoption has been very low. One of the reasons given for the low adoption is lack of access to credit. The main objective of the study was thus to find out the effect of access to credit and other farmer characteristics on the adoption of the CRIG recommended cocoa technologies.  A sample of 600 cocoa farmers selected through a multistage sampling technique was used for the study. Cocoa extension officers were engaged to use questionnaires to gather data from cocoa farmers. The logistic regression model was used to estimate the impact of credit access and other factors on adoption of CRIG recommended technologies. Results of the study indicated that technology adoption is significantly influenced by credit access, primary education, hired labour, own labour, membership of association and frequency of extension advice. It is recommended that financial institutions should make credit accessible to cocoa farmers.

Key words: Credit Access, Adoption, Cocoa Research, Innovations, Technology