Impact of Agricultural Marketing Information Tools (AMITS) on Income of Maize Farmers in the Akwapim South District of Ghana

Abstract

Agricultural Marketing Information Tools (AMITs) is a technology which is designed to gather, process and distribute information based on the conditions and dynamics of agricultural markets to various stakeholders through one or more information channels to aid in their decision making. An improvement in the participation of market by smallholder famers in developing countries carries the potential of reducing poverty. The study sought to assess the impact of AMITs on maize farmer’s income in the Akwapim South Municipal. Farmers were presented with eight alternatives of AMITs: no tool (0), mobile phone (1), radio (2), TV (3), phone and radio (4), phone and TV (5), radio and TV (6), and phone, radio and TV (7). The factors affecting the choice of any of the alternatives were assessed. Primary data was obtained from farmers in three selected communities including Aburi, Nsakye and Pokrom. The simple random sampling technique was used to select 420 maize farmers for face-to-face interviewing. Survey data was analyzed using the Multinomial Logit regression, propensity score matching techniques and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance. The multinomial logit regression results show that gender (being male or female), years of schooling, AMIT awareness, transport cost and extension contact were the most important determinants of the choice of the various alternatives. The PSM results showed that adoption of AMITs had a positive impact on farmers income. The study recommends that awareness creation should be encouraged further to get more farmers to use the tools, especially the mobile phones. The district agricultural department should use farmer organization during provision of extension service and integrate the message on effective use of AMITs for marketing information sharing.