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GSSP Research on Medium and Large-Scale Farming and Agricultural

Mechanization in GhanaInitial survey results & research areas

Survey conducted in collaboration with Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR)

Presented by

Nazaire Houssou Associate Research Fellow, IFPRI-Accra

Antony Chapoto Research Fellow, IFPRI-Accra

April 24, 2014.

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Structure of seminar

•Introduction•Questions which motivated the survey•Seminar objectives

•Key findings on medium-large scale farmers

•Key findings on mechanization•Feedback and discussion on research direction

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Introduction

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How will agriculture transform in Africa?

1) Smallholder-led agriculture?

Farmland size

1992-GLSS 3 2006-GLSS5

0-2 ha 56.9 50.32-5 ha 30.8 32.95-10 ha 7.8 10.410-20 ha 3.0 4.120-100 ha 1.5 2.3

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How will agriculture transform in Africa?

2) Can medium-large scale farmers start small?

3) Does induced technology adoption vary across land abundant and land constrained environments?

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Seminar objectives

•To identify the policy questions based on initial findings from the survey

•To discuss the conceptual framework and methodologies to support different analyses

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Medium-Large Scale Farmers and

Mechanization SurveyConducted in collaboration with

Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI)

Category

Farm Size by Cultivated area

Sample size

Small < 5 ha 768

Medium 5-20 ha 850

Large >20 ha 225

Total 1,843

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Medium & Large Scale FarmersKey findings

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Small Medium LargeNumber of sample farmers 768 850 225

% of farmers who are female 23.2 3.4 2.2

Average cultivated land (ha) 2.9 9.5 38.4

Average land holding size (ha) 5.3 16.5 61.6

Median age (years) 42 44 46Can read and write in any language (%)

31.5 31.1 32.4

Engaged in nonfarm business activity (%)

21.6 23.4 37.8

Demographic characteristics of sampled farmers

Farm size dynamicsSampled farmers with at least 15 years farming experience and initial farm size < 5ha

S162, [25.3%]

Small (S)640

S537 [83.9%]

S340, [53.1%]

M/L178, [27.8%]

M/L197, [30.8%]

M/L192, [30.0%]

Initial

5 years

10 years

15 years

M/L103 [16.1%]

M/L98, [15.3%]

M/L102, [15.9%]

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Maize yields on largest mono cropped maize plot (1)

• Drop 4th row (repeats), update % count for first 2 rows• Add table with rate of fertilizer use across small medium large• Remove median and replace with % of sample• Remove Tillage rows• Remove next table completely

Small[n=426]

Medium[n=631]

Large[n=188]

Ton/Ha n% Ton/Ha n%Ton/Ha n%

With fertilizer 1.36 85.0 1.49 86.7 1.40 90.4No fertilizer 0.76 15.0 0.87 13.3 1.01 9.6Quantity of fertilizer* >0-50kg/ha 0.72 1.4 0.55 1.8 0.48 6.5 50-100kg/ha 0.84 9.1 0.83 9.1 0.59 11.2 100-150kg/ha 1.16 18.0 1.03 14.3 0.82 17.6 150-200kg/ha .95 11.6 1.23 12.6 1.30 9.4 200-300kg/ha 1.14 29.0 1.40 26.7 1.58 25.9 >300kg/ha 2.00 30.9 2.05 35.5 2.13 29.4*n% is among fertilizer users: small scale n=362; medium scale n=547 and large scale n=170

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Maize yields on largest mono cropped maize plot (2)

• Drop 4th row (repeats), update % count for first 2 rows• Add table with rate of fertilizer use across small medium large• Remove median and replace with % of sample• Remove Tillage rows• Remove next table completely

Small(n=426)

Medium(n=631)

Large(n=188)

Ton/Ha n% Ton/Ha n% Ton/Ha n%Local variety 1.05 43.7 1.15 33.0 0.93 30.9Hybrid seed use Mamaba (local) 1.66 2.6 1.61 1.3 1.77 2.7 Pannar (imported) 2.43 2.8 2.45 4.6 1.93 5.3Improved seed use Obtanmpa 1.50 22.8 1.39 26.5 1.42 34.6 Other improved 1.29 27.7 1.54 34.4 1.63 26.6

Improved (new) 1.77 4.9 1.46 8.1 2.34 5.9 Improved (<3 years recycled)

1.25 14.8 1.46 13.9 1.34 12.8

Improved ( 3 or more years recycled)

1.39 30.5 1.48 38.8 1.45 42.6

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Maize yields on largest mono cropped maize plot (3)

Small(n=426)

Medium(n=631)

Large(n=188)

Ton/Ha n% Ton/Ha n%Ton/Ha n%

Obtanmpa

With fertilizer 1.59 81.4 1.42 88.6 1.47 95.4

No fertilizer 1.29 86.0 1.51 86.0 1.36 87.8

Other Improved

With fertilizer 1.38 85.6 1.63 87.6 1.71 88.0

No fertilizer 1.35 84.7 1.42 86.2 1.29 91.3

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Maize yields on largest mono cropped maize plot (4)

Small(n=426)

Medium(n=631)

Large(n=188)

Ton/Ha n% Ton/Ha n%Ton/Ha n%

Row planted 1.32 84.5 1.42 89.5 1.39 89.4

Broadcasting .97 15.5 1.31 10.5 1.10 10.6

Row planted

With fertilizer 1.41 85.3 1.50 87.4 1.43 90.5

No fertilizer .80 14.7 .87 12.6 1.02 9.5

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Mechanization: Tractor owners and hiring marketKey findings

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Distribution of mechanized plowing across surveyed districts

 Farmers who use tractor

plowingFarmers who use animal

traction for plowing

Farmers who do not

plow

DistrictNon-tractor

ownersTractor owners

Non-bullock owners

Bullock owners

Ejura 108 119 0 0 26Techiman 14 1 0 0 202Kintampo North

58 9 0 0 154

Yendi 135 112 1 0 21Gushiegu 172 91 5 1 31Kasena Nankana East

99 10 31 11 9

Bawku Municipal

36 5 79 54 21

Sissala East 131 45 17 19 16Total 753 392 133 85 480

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Farm size among tractor owners, users and non-users

 

Owners Non owner-users

(n=753)Non users (n=688)

(n=402)

 Terc.

1Terc.

2Terc.

3Terc.

1Terc.

2Terc. 3Terc. 1Terc. 2Terc. 3

Landholding (ha)

Mean 14.5 30.1 72.2 5.3 9.1 22.8 3.7 7.1 20.4

Median 10.5 20.3 48.6 3.8 7.3 15 2.4 5.3 12.1

Land cultivated (ha)

Mean 7.4 15.9 45 2.6 5.7 14.6 1.7 4.4 12.1

Median 7.7 16.2 34 2.8 5.7 10.9 1.6 4.3 8.9 NB: terciles by land cultivated

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Gov.11%Private

89%

Source of Tractor Acquisition

Total number of tractors: 487

Tractor acquisition by source

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M. Fer-

guson59%Farm

trac13%

J. Deere

9%

Ford7%

Others12%

Dominant Tractor Brands

Total number of tractors: 487

Types of tractors owned

New21%

Used79%

New or Used Tractor?

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Overall

Terciles of cultivated land

Lowest Middle Highest

How many years hired-in tractor services before owning? (n=339)

9.7 8.8 10.3 10.2

Less than five years (%) 18.3 38.9 23.0 15.8 Five to ten years (%) 30.7 33.3 31.1 30.4 More than ten years (%) 51.0 27.8 45.9 53.8How many years since owning a tractor? (n=397)

3.6 3.1 3.4 4.2

Less than five years (%) 77.8 78.8 82.1 72.5 Five to ten years (%) 15.4 16.7 11.2 18.3 More than ten years (%) 6.8 4.5 6.7 9.2Mean tractors owned per farmer (n=402)

1.2 1.1 1.1 1.4

From tractor user to tractor ownership

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Motivation for first tractor purchase

Farm ex-pansion

50%

Timeliness22%

Provide services

22%

Others5%

Why do owners acquire tractors?

Total number of tractor owners: 402

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Overall

Terciles of cultivated land

Lowest MiddleHighes

tPercentage of farmers who hire-out services

First plowing (%) 83.2 82.0 81.7 85.8 Maize shelling (%) 19.5 17.2 18.3 22.8 Carting farm products and inputs (%)

35.5 38.5 38.1 29.9

Ratio of tractor owner to farmers served (median)

1:60 1:60 1:51 1:67

Years providing plowing services (n=302)

5.0 4.1 4.8 6.1

Hiring-out mechanization services among tractor owners

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Small Medium Large

Number of non-tractor owners (n=1441) 739 637 65

Percentage of farmers who hired services

Plowing (n=750) 45.3 58.9 61.5

Shelling (n=338) 17.3 30.5 24.6Carting (n=375) 20.0 32.3 32.3

Experience with service rental (years)      

Plowing 7.7 9.5 12.5Shelling 5.6 6.3 6.6Carting 6.3 7.0 11.8

Source: IFPRI/SARI Survey on medium and large-scale famers and mechanization survey, 2013

Hiring-in tractor services

  Non tractor users Tractor usersNumber of farmers 364 881Total hired labor hours/ha

Mean 182 133Median 119 93

Total family labor hours/haMean 431 224

Median 253 125Input use and farming practice    

Row planting 85.4 88.8Weedicide 57.7 87.1

Fertilizer 77.5 90.5Hybrid seed 4.4 6.7

Improved seed 50.0 60.224

Source: IFPRI/SARI Survey on medium and large-scale famers and mechanization, 2013

Mechanization and input use – for largest maize plot only

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TechnologyNo tractor use Tractor use

No Yes No Yes

Used fertilizer 0.8 1.2 0.9 1.5

Row planting 0.9 1.2 1.3 1.5

Hybrid seed - 1.6 - 2.3

Improved seed (new) 1.1 1.7 1.4 1.6

Maize yield (ton/ha) under mechanization and input use

Source: IFPRI/SARI Survey on medium and large-scale famers and mechanization, 2013

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Discussion on Research Directions

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Discussion• Should we rethink the role of medium-large scale farmers in agricultural transformation?What are the implications for induced technology adoption?

• Why yield-enhancing technology adoption is not so different across farm sizes?Why yield response to fertilizer and improved seed is not high across all

farm sizes?Why hybrid seed adoption rate is so low across all farm sizes?

• Can medium-large scale farmers lead mechanization in Ghana?Is farmer-to-farmer hiring market an avenue to smalholder

mechanization?

• What outstanding research topics can be addressed using the data?Any suggestions on methodologies/conceptual framework?

• Welcome collaboration to use data!!!!!