Determinants of rice efficiency in the upper east region of Ghana

Abstract

Ghana’s Upper East Region is one of the nation’s major rice producing areas, but its production has declined in the past six years. This declining trend poses a threat to food security in the country. This paper identifies the factors that influences the efficiency of two rice producer groups in the region. The first group practiced irrigation with NGO support, and the other group, which is ubiquitous in the region, engaged in rainfed agriculture. Through multiple-stage sampling, we obtained 150 smallholder farmers. To determine the factors affecting rice efficiency in the region, the Cobb-Douglas Production Function was applied. The Ordinary Least Square regression results
showed that land size, amount of fertilizer applied, and size of farmers’ household had significant impact on their efficiency. This paper then makes some recommendations to improve rice farming in the region.