Tractor Service Utilization, Profitability, and Adoption Determinants Among Smallholder Maize Farmers in Ejura-Sekyedumase Municipality, Ghana

Fred Nimoh, Innocent Yao Yevu, Attah-Nyame Essampong, Asante Emmanuel Addo and Addai Kevin

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Abstract: Smallholder maize farmers in Ghana continue to rely predominantly on manual production methods, perpetuating low productivity, high labour costs, and diminished farm profitability. This study investigated the profitability effects and adoption determinants of tractor service utilization in Ejura-Sekyedumase Municipality, Ashanti Region, Ghana. Cross-sectional data were collected from 359 farmers using multi-stage proportionate random sampling. A multivariate probit model identified simultaneous adoption determinants across ploughing and shelling services. Propensity score matching (PSM) estimated an Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATT) of GHS471 per acre (p less than 0.01), confirming that tractor services significantly raise net profit. Users achieved a net profit margin of 29.87 percent and a return-to-cost ratio of 43 percent, compared with 25.10 percent and 34 percent for non-users, respectively. Farming experience, fertilizer intensity, and profit per acre positively predicted adoption; farm size exerted a consistent negative influence attributable to supply-side machine unavailability. Kendall's W (0.381) confirmed financial constraints as the primary barrier, with female farmers and large-farm holders facing disproportionately higher constraint severity. Targeted credit facilitation, intensified extension services, gender-responsive mechanization policies, and redesigned FBO programmes are recommended to broaden mechanization uptake.

Date: 2024-11, Revised 2026-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-dev
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