Drivers of Weedicide Adoption among Peseant Maize Farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue II, February 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Drivers of Weedicide Adoption among Peseant Maize Farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana

Benedict Afful Jr., Ph.D
Department of Economic Studies, School of Economics, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

Abstract: Globally, weeds wreak significant damages on plants and this situation calls for instantaneous measures to overcome the harm done by the weeds. Weeds can be removed by hand/hoe weeding but these are time consuming, laborious and do not even promise thorough removal of weeds. Weeds control through such traditional method has even become much problematic in Ghana as large portions of the rural youth, especially from the Northern Region, are migrating to the urban centers. Weedicide, on the other hand, offers a considerable promise of thoroughly removing weeds using few labours and time. However, there is evidence of low weedicide adoption among maize farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana. It is against this background that this study investigates the drivers of weedicide adoption among maize farm households in the Northern Region of Ghana. To achieve this objective, a correlated random-effects probit model was applied to a 3-year panel data from Innovation for Poverty Action-Farmer Survey of Ghana. A sample of 1728 peasant farm households was used for the study. The analysis of data revealed that dependency ratio, price of weedicide and communal labour were negatively related to weedicide adoption. It was also found that farm income, NPK fertilizer, other inorganic fertilizer, and the price of labour were positively related to weedicide adoption. It is recommended that: government should reduce dependency ratio through job creation and birth rate, subsidize weedicide, and promote the use of complementary farm inputs.

Keywords: Weedicide, adoption, maize, correlated random effect probit, dependency ratio, Ghana.

I. INTRODUCTION

Maize production per hectare is very low (1.3 tonnes per hectare) in developing countries (IITA, 2007). In Ghana, maize yield are often less than 1 tonne per hectare, while the maize cultivars have a potential of more than 4 tonnes per hectare (Aflakpui et al., 2005). According to Tollenaar et al. (1997), yield reduction in maize results mostly from high competition between the crop and weed for water, light, nutrients and carbon dioxide. Poor crop management, notably inadequate weed control resulting in maize yield losses ranging from 50 to 90 percent (Chikoye et al., 2005).
Farmers undertake weed control, but it is one of the most labour intensive activities for small-scale farmers, especially those in areas of high temperature (Hillocks, 1998). Cultural, biological and chemical measures are the main mechanisms for controlling weeds. Although cultural methods are still useful tools, they are laborious, time consuming and expensive, especially when labour problem is becoming severe day by day. This is the biggest challenge to most farmers but more especially farmers in the Northern region

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