EFFECTS OF FARMER PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS ON INPUT EXPENDITURE AND AGRICULTURAL LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY

Abstract

Agriculture remains a critical livelihood activity and source of food security in Ghana. Although participation in agricultural activities and usage of agricultural inputs are highly affected by politics, yet there is little research regarding how agricultural activities are affected by political participation. Drawing on data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey Round Seven (GLSS 7), this thesis investigates the effect of political participation on agricultural input expenditure and labour productivity in Ghana. Guided by the political economy framework, the study addresses selection bias and endogeneity with a robust econometric approach. It uses a multivariate probit model to examine the effect of political participation on the sources of agricultural inputs used by farmers, a double hurdle model for the behaviour of input expenditure, and an Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) model for the causal effect of political participation on labour productivity. The results show that political participation has a significant effect on access to agricultural inputs by farmers, especially through the government and informal sources of political influence. input expenditure analysis shows that politically active farmers have a higher probability of spending on agricultural inputs and incurring higher levels of expenditure. Results from the Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) model show that political participation has a statistically significant positive effect on agricultural labour productivity.