Adoption of Zai technology for soil fertility management: evidence from Upper East region, Ghana

Gideon Danso-Abbeam (), Gilbert Dagunga and Dennis Sedem Ehiakpor
Additional contact information
Gideon Danso-Abbeam: University for Development Studies
Gilbert Dagunga: University for Development Studies
Dennis Sedem Ehiakpor: University for Development Studies

Journal of Economic Structures, 2019, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Zai is a conventional soil rehabilitation management practice where organic matter is buried in a small pit to help restore fertility and conserve water in the soil. However, adoption of this environmentally-friendly technology is low. This study makes two key contributions. First, it identifies the determinants of adoption and intensity of adoption of Zai technology for soil fertility management. Second, it performs diagnostic tests to show that Cragg’s double-hurdle as compared to the Heckman and the standard Tobit regression models is the best econometric approach to identify factors influencing farmers’ decision to adopt and the extent of adoption of the Zai in the Upper East region, Ghana. Results from the Cragg’s double-hurdle model revealed that different set of variables affect the probability and the intensity of adoption of Zai technology. The paper concludes that farm households should be encouraged to engage in non-farm economic activities to complement their farm income and enhance the purchase of productive farm inputs. Moreover, farm-level policies oriented towards increasing access to agricultural extension services, credit facilities, and the facilitation of farmer groups are essential to improving the adoption of farm innovations such as the Zai technology.

Keywords: Adoption; Double-hurdle model; Heckman two-stage model; Intensity of adoption; Zai technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s40008-019-0163-1 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jecstr:v:8:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1186_s40008-019-0163-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/40008

DOI: 10.1186/s40008-019-0163-1

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Structures is currently edited by Shigemi Kagawa and Kazuhiko Nishimura

More articles in Journal of Economic Structures from Springer, Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().