THE EFFECTS OF WIENCO MASARA N’ARZIKI INPUT-CREDIT PROJECT ON OUTPUT AND INCOME OF FARMERS IN THE SAVELUGU-NANTON MUNICIPALITY OF THE NORTHERN REGION

Abstract

The high number and concentration of farmer support projects in recent years in northern Ghana does not seem to solve the chronic problem of food insecurity and low productivity. This result from the fact that many farmer support projects explicitly targeting smallholders were not designed to impact at the scale required to make a difference at the socio-economic level of the farmers. The case study of Masara N’Arziki Input-Credit Support Project basically sought to find out whether this project is able to give smallholder farmers a competitive edge to improve their farm output and income and the challenges they face in this project. Through Cochran’s and Yemane’s sample size determination, the study selected 195 respondents; with 118 participant and 77 non participants through stratified and simple random sampling techniques from Savelugu-Nanton Municipality. The research revealed that the household size, farm experience, project experience and farm size of smallholder farmers’ were the significant factors that influence their decision to participate in the project. The farm output by propensity score matching estimation revealed a statistically significant difference in maize output (ATT= 1895.35 kg) between the participants and non-participants at 1% significant level but there was no significant statistical relation between their farm income. The high cost of Input-Credit during recovery and difficulty in accessing tractor services at the beginning of the season were the pressing problems of participant farmers. The effect of project on outcomes are somehow unsatisfying, in the sense that participation only raises output, but not income. Greater benefits to farmers from programme participation would require project management to review the contractual arrangement so that the high cost of Input-Credit is significantly reduced by taking care of the cost hired labour incurred by farmers in land preparation and harvesting of farm produce on time.