Analysis of Crop Yield Volatility Among Smallholder Farmers in Ghana

Abstract

We explore crop yield volatility among rural and urban smallholder farmers using data from the sixth round of the Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS 6). Three separate ordinary least squares (OLS) models are estimated to determine the effect of access to credit, rural farming, and the use of technological inputs on crop yield. Our findings suggest that while rural farmers benefit from access to credit, urban farmers better utilize farming technologies to increase their yield than rural farmers. Our stochastic dominance analysis (SDA), which analyzes yield volatility, reveals that while rural farmers in the forest and coastal zones experience less volatility in their crop yield, crop yield is highly volatile among rural farmers in the savannah belt. To increase yield among smallholder farmers in Ghana, policy should focus on making credit available to farmers, especially those in the rural areas. Education on the use of technology in farming will help to increase yield and reduce volatility.