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The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of credit constraints on agricultural labour productivity as well as the impact of credit constraints and agricultural labour productivity on rural households' consumption in Ghana.

This study uses the Ghana Living Standard Survey round six (GLSS 6) as the main source of data, which happens to be one of the most comprehensive household datasets in Ghana. Quantitative estimation techniques (namely: Endogenous Switching Regression and Two Stage Least Squares) are used to address possible endogeneity and selection into credit markets.

First, large households are prone to credit constraints while age (experience) and compliance with extension advice reduce credit constraints. Second, the determinants of agricultural labour productivity for both constrained and unconstrained households are age, sex, farm equipment, herbicide and farm size. Third, household size, education and livestock rearing influence agricultural labour productivity of constrained households. Fourth, credit constraints, irrespective of how they are measured, impede agricultural labour productivity while access to credit fosters labour productivity. Lastly, credit constraints robustly reduce consumption while agricultural labour productivity strongly enhances rural households' consumption.

The first contribution is that, unlike most previous studies, we do not focus on the widely used measure of productivity – output per unit land, but on agriculture labour productivity in particular. Secondly, unlike most previous studies which examine the effect of credit constraints either on productivity alone or consumption alone, our study examines the impact of credit constraints on both. Thirdly, unlike the existing literature which uses one or two measures of credit constraints, we use a wide range of measures of credit constraints – seven different measures of credit constraints. Lastly, our empirical strategy solves at least two critical econometric problems – sample selection bias and endogeneity.

This paper aims to analyse the implications of globalisation and the adoption of international standards (International Financial Reporting Standards [IFRS]) for accounting information quality.

This paper uses a sample of 329 banks across 29 countries leading up to and beyond the implementation of IFRS to test for related hypotheses.

First, banks’ financial statements are prepared on the basis of international standards as national economies are integrated when social norms are diffused. Building on these results, the second test suggests that the relatively high-quality earnings among banks in Africa during the period is attributable to the adoption of and interaction of IFRS with globalisation and the strategy of banks to diversify within and across interest and non-interest income.

The authors investigate how globalisation and the adoption of IFRS affect accounting information quality.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the connections between financial inclusion and agricultural commercialization among farmers in Ghana.

In order to address endogeneity and sample selectivity bias, the study employs endogenous switching regressions (ESRs) to examine whether financially included and financially excluded maize farm households differ in their commercialization behavior and whether financial inclusion affects commercialization. The Heckman Treatment Effect (HTE) model is used to test for robustness of the results. The data used contain a random sample of 2,230 maize farmers across the ten regions of Ghana.

The results from the ESRs show that financial inclusion significantly fosters agricultural commercialization. Specifically, financially included households sell 13.25 percent more output than their financially excluded counterparts. In terms of the counterfactual, financially excluded households would have sold 5.04 percent more output if they were to have access to financial services. Results from the HTE model confirm that financial inclusion promotes agricultural commercialization.

Financial inclusion is low among maize farmers; this implies that there are more benefits to be gained by ensuring that farmers have access to a broad range of financial services.

The findings imply that the quest for the integration of smallholder farmers into markets cannot overlook measures to ensure financial inclusion.

It represents the first attempt at linking financial inclusion to agricultural commercialization using econometric methodology. The study serves as a foundation paper and for that matter will serve as a guide to future research on the financial inclusion-agricultural commercialization nexus.

Does financial inclusion matter for productivity among smallholder farmers? The authors answer this question by using the sixth and seventh rounds of the Ghana Living Standard Survey to examine the extent to which financial inclusion affects productivity among smallholder farmers in Ghana.

The study uses a pooled data of the 6th and 7th rounds of the Ghana Living Standard Survey which are national representative data. The authors model an Instrumental Variable (IV) to correct for endogeneity in financial inclusion and a dominance analysis to examine the effects of access to credit, ownership of savings account and insurance product on farmers' productivity.

Results from the study indicate that financial inclusion significantly enhances productivity. Moreover, credit, savings and insurance products influence productivity at various degrees. Thus, expanding the scope of financial services (access to credit, savings and insurance) among smallholder farmers is crucial for inclusive finance and sustainable agricultural production.

The findings of the study have implications for financial institutions in the design of financial products that the meet the needs of smallholder farmers.

Several studies have looked at how access to credit influences agricultural productivity in Africa. However, in recent times financial inclusion has been advocated for because it goes beyond mere access to credit. This paper to the best of our knowledge is the first of its kind to examine how financial inclusion could affect agricultural productivity in Ghana.

This paper examines the performance of smallholder rice farms established using improved planting technologies – broadcasting, dibbling and transplanting – under different production systems – rain-fed and irrigation – in Ghana.

Using recent cross-sectional data of 200 smallholder rice farmers from the upper east region of Ghana, this study employed multinomial logit model and descriptive and inferential statistics for the analysis.

The results revealed that rice production under irrigation system contributes significantly to increasing farm productivity and profitability. Rice farmers who adopted dibbling and transplanting technologies under both irrigation and rain-fed production system obtained higher productivity and profitability than those who used broadcasting technology. Adoption of improved rice planting technologies by smallholder farmers is significantly influenced by education, farm size, improved rice varieties, sales outlets, hired labour and percentage of paddy sold.

The sample size is relatively small, even though findings are still very important in terms of policy formulation for improved smallholder farm performance in a developing country like Ghana.

This study calls for collaborative efforts by government, donor agencies and NGOs to establish irrigation facilities and/or expand existing ones, increase sensitization and dissemination of improved planting technologies, as well as intensify the input subsidy programme in Ghana.

To the best of the authors knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on farmers' choice of rice planting technologies under irrigation and rain-fed production systems, and how these technologies impact on smallholder farm performance in Ghana.