Factors Influencing the Adoption of Organic Fertilizers in Vegetable Production in Accra

Abstract

Continuous tillage of soils results in nutrient mining. It leaves the soils in very fragile conditions and therefore nutrient augmentation through the application of fertilizers has become imperative to maintain crop yields of to feed the ever growing population of Ghana. The use of organic fertilizers has its pros and cons. This study sought to determine the factors that influence the adoption of organic fertilizers, in vegetable production in Accra. Vegetable growing areas were purposively selected and the farmers were randomly selected. Both primary and secondary data collected were analyzed using cost functions, descriptive statistics, multinomial logistic regression, partial farm budgeting techniques and Kendall‟s coefficient of concordance. The software used for data entry and analysis were SPSS, STATA and Microsoft Office Excel. It was found that currently, 96% of the respondents are users of organic fertilizers, 45.3% can be classified as adopters. The significant factors influencing the adoption of organic fertilizers include gender, type of farmer, consumer preference for organically grown vegetables, income from using organic fertilizers, income from using inorganic fertilizers and the type of market that a farmer produces for. Income from using inorganic fertilizers, consumer preference and type of market influence the adoption of organic fertilizers negatively. Income from using organic fertilizers, type of farmer and gender influence the adoption of organic fertilizers positively. Farmers using organic fertilizers incur a high transaction costs. The most pressing constraint associated with the use of organic fertilizers was bulkiness and there was agreement among farmers in the ranking of constraints. It is recommended that the use of organic fertilizers should be properly supervised by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure that excessive levels are not applied, as this could result in environmental pollution. Vegetable production in the city should be promoted by city authorities and other stakeholders as because it is a profitable venture and a viable source of livelihood. Suitable areas of the city of Accra such as marine drive, La Korle-bu, GBC and Dzorwulu should be reserved mainly for vegetable cultivation and other forms of agriculture by city authorities because increasing development could lead to a reduction in land area available for urban agriculture. The Government should introduce a fertilizer subsidy policy that is geared towards the production of vegetables and also one that consists mainly of organic fertilizers. Scientists should devise ways of reducing the bulky nature of organic fertilizers. Entrepreneurs and investors should be given incentives such as tax rebates and credit to invest in setting up more composting sites and organic fertilizer manufacturing plants to satisfy the demand for the fertilizers.