Determinants of small scale farmers decision to join farmer based organizations in Ghana

Abstract

In recent times, governments of most developing countries have been promoting the formation and development of farmer based organizations as one of the keys to more rapid diffusion and cost-effective extension delivery to farmers. This is premised on the assumption that small-scale farmers can have easy access to market information, credit and input for their production, processing, and marketing activities by joining farmer based organizations. However, this study found out that despite such observed benefits, some farmers were not members of farmer based organizations. This study uses the probit model to assess the factors influencing the decisions to join farmer based organizations in Ghana. The results revealed that farm size, farming as a major occupation, access to credit to loan and access to machinery services influenced farmers’ decisions to join farmer based organizations in the Eastern Region of Ghana.   Key words: Farmer-based organizations, probit model, decision-making process.