How effective are farmer-based organisations in Ghana's smallholder agriculture?

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed renewed interest in farmer-based organisations (FBOs) as important local institutions for promoting smallholder agriculture and improving rural livelihoods. Many believe that the establishment of FBOs would, amongst other things, strengthen the ability of smallholder farmers to access agricultural services such as extension services and inputs, as well as reduce their risks and transaction costs of accessing these services. This thesis examines the extent to which FBOs improve smallholder farmers' access to extension services, inputs and credit in Ghana. Central to this thesis is to understand whether, and to what extent, smallholder farmers' participation in FBOs improves their access to extension services, inputs and credit, with special attention to understanding the factors that shape their performance in this process. The study employs a mixed-methods approach to data collection and analysis. The data collection involved structured questionnaires to 240 smallholder farmers; semi-structure interviews with 90 smallholder farmers, 12 government officials and four NGO officials. It also used a variety of secondary sources, such as documentation from FBOs, survey data, and project data from government agencies and NGOs. The data analysis utilised both quantitative and qualitative approaches, namely descriptive and inferential statistics, thematic analysis and descriptions. The analysis in the thesis shows that while smallholder farmers' participation in FBOs improves their access to extension services, inputs and credit, their access to these services is on a limited basis. The thesis argues that the limited roles that FBOs play in improving smallholder farmers' access to extension services, inputs and credit relate largely to their governance and management structure and their internal collective capabilities, as well as the smallholder farmers' motivations for participating in the FBOs. The study argues that when external institutions (e.g. government and NGOs) do not invest in building FBOs' organisational structure and leadership capacities, the results are FBOs that are passive and have weak leadership with regard to mobilising their members for the purpose of accessing agricultural services. Contrary to the empirical and theoretical arguments that FBOs and related organisations with homogenous and small memberships should have a positive collective outcome, this thesis argues that collective activities will remain limited in FBOs if their leaders do not have the experience and skills to mobilise their members for such activities. Developing sound organisational structures, such as suitable rules and regulations, would contribute to ensuring that FBOs invest time and resources into collective activities, such investment is a significant factor in their success.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	English