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This study examines the drivers of marketing channel participation amongst smallholder rice farmers in the northern region of Ghana.

Using a sample of 397 smallholder rice farmers drawn from a multistage sampling procedure, the study employed multivariate probit (MVP) model in the empirical estimations. In this context, the model assumes that a rice farmer should at least participate in one market channel.

The study reveals that the wholesaler market channel is the most commonly used channel among farmers, followed by the aggregator channel. However, the processor market channel is the least patronized one in the study area. The results also show statistically significant correlation coefficients in four out of the six possible combinations, implying that market channel participation among smallholder farmers is not mutually exclusive. Rice market channel participation is positively and significantly influenced by age, gender, household headship, access to credit, extension service, irrigation, improved seed and access to price information.

This study is limited in extending the analysis to include the impact of market channels on some outcome measures. This is due to data limitation.

The findings of this study add to the growing literature on smallholder market channel participation in Ghana.

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that affect smallholders' adoption of organic rice production in the Hai Lang district of Vietnam.

This study employed a cross-sectional survey research design. A sample size of 215 was drawn from a total of 455 smallholders. Descriptive and inferential statistics, including a binary logistic regression, were used to analyse the data.

The study concludes that younger female smallholders participating in credit/training programs and community-based organisations, who have a high level of education, a large household size and more experience in rice farming, and who grow mixed crops, have a greater tendency to adopt organic rice production.

A combination of demographic, socio-economic and institutional characteristics of rice smallholders should be considered when promoting organic rice farming practices by smallholders and when choosing organic agricultural development strategies for smallholders in developing countries.

This research provides significant understanding of the determinants of organic rice adoption by smallholder farmers and highlights factors that need to be considered when designing policies to enhance the uptake of organic farming in developing countries.

This study examined the impact of the Input Credit Scheme (ICS) by the Integrated Water Management and Agriculture Development (IWAD) on the productivity and food security of smallholder rice farmers in Ghana.

Cross-sectional data from 250 rice farming households in the Mamprugu Moagduri district of the North East Region obtained from a multi-stage sampling technique were used for the study. Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment (IPWRA), Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Kendall's coefficient of concordance were the methods of analysis employed.

Empirical results show that education, rice farming experience, dependency ratio, FBO membership, farm size and farm age were the significant factors influencing participation in the input credit scheme (ICS). Also, participants had an average rice productivity of 1,476.83 kg/ha, whereas non-participants had 1,131.81 kg/ha implying that participants increased their productivity by about 30%. In addition, the study revealed that participant households increased their household dietary diversity (HDDS) by 0.45 points amounting to about 8% diversity in their diets. High-interest rates associated with credit received, the short periods of credit repayment and the high cost of inputs provided under the scheme were the most challenging constraints associated with partaking in the ICS.

The available literature on agricultural interventions have predominantly emphasized input credit as a key factor for improving cropt productivity and food security of smallholders. This study provides compelling evidence that participation in ICSs can result in substantial benefits for agricultural development, as evidenced by increased productivity leading to improved food security. The significance of these findings is highlighted by the fact that, through participation in input credit schemes, smallholder rice farmers in many developing countries see substantial improvement in their capacity to access productive resources, thereby improving their productivity, while simultaneously reducing food insecurity.

Leveraging on the improved productivity of participants in the ICS, this study advocates that such input credit schemes should scale up to more food-insecure farming communities in Ghana.

The study uses a doubly robust econometric approach to evaluate the impact of ICS on smallholder rice farmers' productivity and food security in Ghana, making it the first of its kind. The findings offer a solid basis for future research and provide guidance for policymakers looking to boost agricultural development in Ghana.

The purpose of this study is to examine factors that affect smallholders' adoption of improved rice varieties in Vietnam.

This study used a cross-sectional survey design. A random sample size of 257 was drawn from a total of 725 smallholders. Descriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression were used to analyse the data.

This study concludes that younger smallholders who participate in credit and training programs have a high level of education, receive government support, have both owned and rented land for growing rice and those who have a larger farm size have a greater tendency to adopt improved rice varieties. In addition, if improved rice varieties have higher productivity potential, palatability and marketability compared with the traditional ones as perceived by smallholders and seed of these rice varieties are available in local markets, then they are likely to be adopted by smallholders.

A combination of socio-technological characteristics of smallholders should be considered when promoting smallholders' adoption of improved rice varieties and when choosing agricultural extension strategies to improve small-scale farmers' uptake of improved crop varieties in developing countries.

This research provides important understanding of the determinants of smallholders' adoption of improved rice varieties and highlights factors that need to be considered when designing policies to enhance the uptake of improved rice varieties in developing countries.

Outgrower scheme as a contractual agreement between farmers and some funding entities has in recent times found proliferation among resource poor farmers in Ghana, especially in northern Ghana. This contractual arrangement, which involves the provision of farm inputs, and in some cases, technical support by the implementing company and the repayment by farmers with portions of their harvest, is often regarded as an effective way to mutually improve the outcomes of both smallholder farmers and outgrower companies. The study aims to analyse. the level of awareness, nature of input package, determinants of participation and intensity of participation in input credit scheme by smallholder rice farmers in the Mamprugu Moagduri District of Ghana’s North East Region, using the Integrated Water Management and Agriculture Development (IWAD) scheme as a case.

Using a quantitative analytical approach, the study gathers information from 233 randomly selected smallholder rice farmers consisting of 150 participants and 83 non-participants using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, as well as the Tobit model, are the methods used in the analysis.

The results show that while factors such as age, marital status, number of dependents and farming experience only influenced participation in the scheme, religion, age, sex, number of dependents and farming experience influenced intensity of participation.

This study calls for the adoption of sustainable approaches by input credit companies in their credit support to smallholder farmers rather than the current ad hoc support during each cropping season.

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.

Farmer organizations (FOs) can elevate many of the production- and marketing-related challenges by ensuring access to technology, farming information and loan for inputs and mechanization. This study assesses the major factors that affect the participation in FOs by the smallholder rice farmers in Bangladesh and evaluates the impacts of the participation on rice yield and production efficiency.

The present study used primary data collected from 1,000 smallholder rice farmers in northwest Bangladesh, consisting of 250 farmers those participated in an organization. This study utilized a sample selection stochastic production frontier (SPF) method, a combination of the conventional SPF and the Heckman's sample selection model, to control for biases stemming from observed and unobserved attributes.

This study demonstrates that participation in an organization is significantly affected by smallholder rice farmers' education, occupation, family size, household income, land ownership and the location where they reside. At the same time, the participation status affects the productivity of smallholder farmers. Findings indicate that farmers who participated in an organization had higher rice yield (11% more) and were technically more efficient (1.4 percentage points higher) compared to farmers who did not participate.

Since this study was carried out with representative sampled farmers from northwest Bangladesh, the findings may not represent all farmers' perceptions of FOs in the country.

Even though more than 200,000 FOs are currently in operation, knowledge regarding the effectiveness of Bangladesh's FOs is limited. Notably, this study used a relatively new method, sample selection SPF model, to investigate the impact of FOs on the production efficiency of smallholder rice farmers in northwest Bangladesh. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature in elucidating the factors affecting participation in FOs and its impact on rice yield and efficiency. Since FOs have been somewhat ineffective in their role as service providers in Bangladesh, this study’s results will guide policymakers to intervene more successfully regarding the changes needed.

Rapid transformation of agrifood value chains because of population growth, urbanization, rising consumer incomes and increased demand for food quality and safety has resulted in the need for smallholder farmers to coordinate horizontally through group formation and collective marketing to improve farm performance in developing countries. This paper aims to examine the factors that influence farmer group membership and collective marketing decisions and their impacts on smallholder farm performance in rural Ghana.

Using data from a recent survey of 447 rice farmers in rural Ghana, an endogenous switching regression model is employed to account for selection bias arising from both observable and unobservable farmer attributes.

The data reveal that group members and collective marketing participants obtained higher prices and also incurred lower input costs. The econometric estimates show that age, access to credit, mobile phone ownership, distance to market and road status are the main drivers of group membership and collective marketing decisions. The authors also find positive and significant impacts of farmer group membership and collective marketing on farm net revenues.

The findings from this study suggest that government and donor support for the formation of farmer groups during implementation of agriculture and value chain interventions should as well incorporate strategies to facilitate collective marketing.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the role farmer groups and collective marketing play in improving smallholder farm performance.

In the developing countries, formal credit has dominant role for the development of agriculture sector. It increases the farmer's purchasing power for better farm inputs and agricultural technology for high crop productivity. The main purpose of this study is to examine the influence of socioeconomic characteristics of smallholder farmers for credit demand in Sindh, Pakistan.

A cross-sectional data set randomly collected from 90 smallholder farmers in Thatta district, Sindh, Pakistan, is examined. Descriptive statistics, correlation and the OLS regression method were used to demonstrate the important factors affecting the demand for formal credit.

The results revealed that formal education, experience of farming, landholding size, road access and extension contacts positively and significantly influenced the demand for formal credit.

This study is the first, to the best of authors' knowledge, to demonstrate the influence of various socioeconomic characteristics of smallholder farmers on demand for formal credit in Sindh, Pakistan. It also illustrates the imperative contribution to the literature regarding credit access and demand to improve the agricultural productivity.

In order to improve access to resources for smallholder farmers, efforts are being made to promote contract farming in Ghana. This is seen as a strategy to increase agricultural productivity of farmers, give better market access and guarantee adequate supply of raw materials to agro-based industries. However, the challenge is whether contract farming leads to improvement in food security status of farmers. The study therefore seeks to explore to what extent farmers' food security status is influenced by their participation in contract farming activities.

Using Cragg's double-hurdle model to analyse participation in contract farming, the authors control for selection bias using propensity score matching applied to a data set of 336 observations to examine the impact of contract farming on the food security levels of rice farmers in Ghana.

The results of this study show that yield of paddy and the wealth of the farmer are the main factors that influence the quantity of paddy rice to be contracted in contract farming arrangements. This study also finds that participation in contract farming will increase food security by 109%. In conclusion, contract farming has a significant positive impact on the farmers' food security status.

Agricultural policies and rural development initiatives supporting the promotion and expansion of contract farming should be pursued to persuade more farmers to produce under contract farming agreements.