Welfare impacts of adoption of improved soybean varieties in northern Ghana

Abstract

Soybean is an integral part of Ghana's smallholder cropping systems and show significant promise for combating declining soil fertility, improving household food security and welfare. Many yield-enhancing and improved soybean varieties (ISVs) have been bred and distributed in Ghana. However, little is known about the predictors of ISVs’ adoption and the magnitude of their effects on productivity and household welfare. This paper explores the welfare effects of adopting ISVs using data collected from 330 soybean farmers in Northern and Savannah regions of Ghana. The results indicated that about 47% of the sampled farming households have adopted the ISVs. Adoption of ISVs was influenced by factors such as farm size, engagement in non-farm economic activities, membership of farmer group and household asset. Using both Instrumental Variable two-stage least square (IV-2sls) and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimators to correct for both observed and unobserved differences in household characteristics, the adoption of ISVs led to significant gains in productivity/yields and food consumption expenditure per capita (welfare indicators). Overall, the findings suggest that ISVs need to be scaled up in order to have a strong influence on the welfare of smallholder farmers in Ghana.