Indigenous Food Crop Production and Extent Decisions among Farm Households in Northern Ghana

This study identifies the socio-economic factors influencing the adoption and the extent of production of indigenous food crops among farm households in northern Ghana. Based on a multi-stage sampling procedure, data on 405 households were obtained using a structured questionnaire. The study employed descriptive statistics and a double hurdle econometric model to identify factors affecting households’ adoption and extent of indigenous food crop production decisions. Descriptive results show a high rate of adoption (66.9%) with significant differences between producer households and non-producer households in respect to farm size, market distance, household size, number of children and number of women. Econometric results show that significant factors influencing farm households’ decisions on adoption are crop income use by women, farm size, awareness of the nutritional importance of indigenous crops, participation in food security projects, access to credit and distance to a market. The factors that affect indigenous crop production diversity positively include income use by women, farm size, number of land parcels, household size and bicycle ownership. Household head education, number of children and women tend to limit the extent of diversity of indigenous crops produced. The study recommends, for promoting the production of indigenous crops, strategies including provision of credit, empowerment of women, targeting distant communities relative to market centres and raising awareness about the nutritional relevance of indigenous food crops.