Cashew contract farming in Ghana: implications on farm performance and household welfare

Abstract

Purpose

Efforts to reduce farmers' market risks and improve buyers' access to farm commodities have encouraged contract farming (CF) in Ghana's cashew sector in recent years. Consequently, the existence of CF shows that farmers who use it may be benefiting from it, as it is their economic responsibility to decide how to sell agricultural products. However, the magnitudes of these benefits or otherwise have been inadequately explored. This paper aims to empirically estimate the impact of CF on farm performance and welfare of smallholder cashew farmers.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used probit-two-stage least square (probit-2sls) as a primary estimator to account for self-selection bias and endogeneity that could arise from both observed and unobserved heterogeneities among farming households to estimate the causal effects of CF on farm performance and household welfare.

Findings

The results indicated that participation in CF contribute significantly to the gains in farm performance (price margins, yields and net farm revenue) and welfare (consumption expenditure per capita), and that the non-participants of CF would have benefited substantially if they had participated. An analysis of the farm size disaggregated into small, medium and large with regards to the outcome variables produces mixed results.

Research limitations/implications

It can be concluded that participating in CF enhances farm performance and household welfare.

Originality/value

While many other studies do not account for changes in farm performance and welfare due to differences in farm size or other observed factors, this study fills a crucial void.

Citation

Danso-Abbeam, G., Ogundeji, A.A. and Fosu, S. (2024), "Cashew contract farming in Ghana: implications on farm performance and household welfare", Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 292-309. https://doi.org/10.1108/JADEE-12-2021-0339