ENHANCING FARM PERFORMANCE AND WELFARE OF GROUNDNUT PRODUCING HOUSEHOLDS: THE ROLE OF BIOCHAR ADOPTION IN UPPER WEST REGION OF GHANA

Abstract

Agricultural sector has a formidable twofold challenge of producing twice the world food by 2050 to sustain the world population and at the same time fight the impacts of climate change and reduce emission of its greenhouse gases by adopting sustainable agricultural methods. This study examines the determinants and impacts of biochar adoption on farm performance, commercialization, and welfare of smallholder groundnut farmers in the Upper West Region of Ghana. The used a survey data from 564 groundnut farmers through a multistage sampling method. The recursive bivariate probit, endogenous switching regression (ESR), and stochastic production frontier (SPF) models were employed to analyze the impact of biochar adoption on farm performance, commercialization, and welfare. The results show that access to credit, agricultural extension services, training programs, farm size, and farmer-based organizations significantly enhance biochar adoption. Adoption of biochar increased commercialization by 2.5-5%, implying a positive relationship. Also, biochar adoption was found to enhance farm household welfare with adopters gaining extra GH₵0.94 in per capita income per month and GH₵0.97 in per capita expenditure per month. The study also found biochar adoption to improve groundnut output and technical efficiency with adopters achieving 42-46% higher predicted yields. Based on the findings, the study recommends that policymakers should institute community-based biochar production systems that will ensure quality control, reduce production costs, and expand access to biochar. Local governments, research institutions, and development agencies should strengthen farmers policies and programs to expand sensitization and logistics that can help farmers enhance their adoption of biochar. For instance, improved access to agricultural extension services from government, NGOs or private institutions could provide farmers with insights to adopt biochar, since extension access significantly and positively affect biochar adoption. Provision of tailored credit schemes to meet the financial needs of smallholder farmers facilities through group loans and other credit alternatives with flexible payment modes for farmers could enhance farmers’ adoption of biochar.