THE SAVANNAH ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN MODERNISING AGRICULTURE IN NORTHERN GHANA

Abstract

The move by government through the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to modernise agriculture in the savannah areas of Ghana is in the right direction. However, the specific factors to consider in ensuring that farmers in the operational areas of SADA modernise their farming activities are not well known. This paper examines the factors that SADA must consider in its efforts to modernise agriculture because the success of the initiative depends on farmers’ readiness to adopt the agricultural modernisation technologies to be rollout by the authority. Data were obtained from 150 farmers across the Bawku West District of Ghana and fitted into a logit model. The results showed that there is about 70% probability that farmers interviewed will adopt the SADA agricultural modernization initiative. Farm size, cost of technology, expected benefits, off-farm activities, education and access to information among others are the factors that will significantly influence farmers’ decision to adopt modernisation of their farming activities. It is concluded that success of the SADA initiative depends on socio-economic circumstances of farmers and institutional effectiveness. It is recommended that SADA should take advantage of factors that positively influence farmers’ adoption of its initiative by emphasising on them and take steps to mitigate the negative ones.