Patterns of Adoption of Improved Maize Technologies in Ghana

Abstract

The average maize yield in Ghana is estimated to be 1.7 metric tons/hectare (MOFA 2009–2011), whereas achievable yields based on on-farm trials are between 4 and 6 tons/hectare. Low adoption of inputs and improved technologies is often cited as the major reason for such a gap. To determine adoption levels and better understand the constraints and incentives for technology adoption, a nationally representative survey of 630 maize farmers in 30 districts in nine regions in Ghana was implemented between November 2012 and February 2013. The study aims to provide up-to-date and rarely collected nationwide data and analysis on the patterns of adoption of improved technologies for maize in Ghana. The latest nationwide adoption study on maize had been done in 1997 (Morris, Tripp, and Dankyi 1998). The current study generated a number of important findings: First, fertilizer use is much higher than earlier reports (about half of farmers use fertilizer), although the intensity of use is half the recommended rate (47 kilograms/hectare of nitrogen on average for those who apply, compared with the recommended 90 kilograms/hectare)—and this despite a national subsidy program that encouraged more users and greater rates of application for maize. Half of the nonusers (predominantly in the Forest zone) explained that they did not apply fertilizer because it is not needed as their soil is fertile. Thirty-six percent of maize farmers (predominantly in the Northern Savannah zone) reported a lack of funds or the high cost of fertilizer as the main reasons for nonuse. Plots with fertilizer generate slightly higher or the same yields as those without fertilizer—only in the Northern Savannah zone were the yields between