Assessment of farmers readiness to adopt maize hybrid varieties for high productivity in Ghana
Open Access
- 6 January 2022
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B — Soil & Plant Science
- Vol. 72 (1), 506-515
- https://doi.org/10.1080/09064710.2021.2018032
Abstract
The adoption of maize hybrids is essential to contribute to maize productivity and ensure self-sufficiency and food security. However, the adoption of improved varieties hybrids technology including in Ghana is very low. Farmers’ socio-economic characteristics in relation to the adoption of maize hybrids, farmers constraints and readiness to adopt maize hybrids were assessed using a cross-sectional survey of 173 farmers in four regions in the forest-savannah agro-ecological zones in Ghana. The percentage of farmers that used hybrid seed in 2019 and 2020 were 32.4% and 22.5%, respectively. Of the four hybrids varieties grown, none was locally produced and over 83% of the farmers indicated readiness to adopt maize hybrid seed. The empirical model reveals that farmers readiness to adopt maize hybrids is positively influenced by gender, age, high yield and constraints variables such as high cost of production and pests and diseases.Keywords
Funding Information
- This work was supported by Borlaug Higher Education for Agricultural Research and Development BHEARD, Michigan State University
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