Abstract
Various researchers have determined the different factors influencing farmers’ decisions to adopt certified organic production, without considering factors about the social and institutional environments of smallholder farmers in developing countries. In this paper, we examined the social, physical and institutional factors that affect farmers’ choice of production systems for pineapple in Ghana. A multinomial logit model was used to examine the factors influencing the pineapple farmers’ choice of a production system. Empirical findings indicate that apart from personal and attitudinal factors, the social, physical and institutional factors are also very important in individual farmer’s decisions to adopt certified organic production systems. Policy implications of these findings are that besides farmers’ personal and attitudinal characteristics, the social, physical and institutional features were also crucial in their decision to adopt certified organic production systems. The identified factors contribute to informing the government and other key players along the pineapple value chain on the elements to strive for when designing strategies and programmes to promote certified organic pineapple production. The study proposes that to encourage and sustain certified organic pineapple production systems, stakeholders in the pineapple sector should help farmers to consider the environmental sustainability in their production decision making and educate farmers on the potential cost and benefits of certifying their products organically. Effective policy and strategy design should, therefore, consider these factors to improve the adoption rate from conventional to certified organic production systems.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achaw MA (2010) The impact of large-scale pineapple companies on rural livelihoods in the Akuapim South Municipality of Ghana. Master’s Thesis, Norway: Unversity of Oslo Blindern Centre for Development and the Environment
Babyak MA (2004) What you see may not be what you get: a brief, nontechnical introduction to overfitting in regression-type models. Psychosom Med 66:411–421
Best H (2010) Environmental concern and the adoption of organic agriculture. Soc Nat Resour 23(5):451–468
Beus EB, Dunlap RE (1994) Agricultural paradigms and the practice of agriculture. Rural Sociol 59:620–635
Burton M, Rigby D, Young T (1999) Analysis of the determinants of adoption of organic horticultural techniques in the UK. J Agric Econ 50(1):47–63
Carolyn PE (1999) Attitudes, backgrounds and information preferences of Canadian organic and conventional farmers: implications for organic farming advocacy and extension. J Sustain Agric 13(3):45–72
Constance DH, Choi JY (2010) Overcoming the barriers to organic adoption in the United States: a look at pragmatic conventional producers in Texas. Sustainability 2:163–188
Cranfield J, Henson S, Holliday J (2010) The motives, benefits, and problems of conversion to organic production. Agric Hum Values 27:291–306
D’Souza G, Cyphers D, Phipps T (1993) Factors affecting the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices. J Agric Resour Econ 22:159–165
Danielou M, Ravry C (2005) The rise of Ghanas pineapple industry: from successful takeoff to sustainable expansion. Africa region working paper series no. 93. World Bank, Washington DC Retrieved from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/788441468035966030/The-rise-of-Ghanas-pineapple-industry-from-successful-takeoff-to-sustainable-expansion. Accessed 20 June 2018
Darnhofer I, Schneeberger W, Freyer B (2005) Converting or not converting to organic farming in Austria: farmer types and their rationale. Agric Hum Values 22:39–52
Djokoto JG, Owusu V, Awunyo-Vitor D (2016) Adoption of organic agriculture: evidence from cocoa farming in Ghana. Cogent Food Agric 2(1):1242181
Fairweather JR (1999) Understanding how farmers choose between organic and conventional production: results from New Zealand and policy implications. Agric Hum Values 16:51–63
Genius M, Christos JP, Tzouvelekas V (2006) Information acquisition and adoption of organic farming practices. J Agric Resour Econ 31(1):93–113
Green WH (2000) Econometric analysis, 4th edn. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River
Harrell FE Jr (2001) Regression modeling strategies: with applications to linear models, logistic regression and survival analysis. Springer Series in Statistics, New York
Hollaway G, Shankar B, Rahman S (2002) Bayesian spatial probit estimation: a primer and an application to HYV rice adoption. Agric Econ 27:383–402
IFOAM, FiBL (2006) The world of organic agriculture, statistics and emerging trends 2006. International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Born, Germany. Retrieved from http://orgprints.org/5161/2/willer-yussefi-2005-world-of-organic.pdf. Accessed 20 June 2017
IFOAM, FiBL (2008) The world of organic agriculture, statistics and emerging trends 2008. International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Born, Germany. Retrieved from http://orgprints.org/13123/4/world-of-organic-agriculture-2008.pdf. Accessed 20 June 2017
IFOAM, FiBL (2014) The world of organic agriculture, statistics and emerging trends 2014. International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Born, Germany. Retrieved from https://shop.fibl.org/chen/mwdownloads/download/link/id/638/. Accessed 20 June 2017
IFOAM, FiBL (2015) The world of organic agriculture, statistics and emerging trends 2015. International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Born, Germany. Retrieved from https://shop.fibl.org/chen/mwdownloads/download/link/id/686/. Accessed 20 June 2017
Jansen HGP (1992) Inter-regional variation in the speed of adoption of modern cereal cultivars in India. J Agric Econ 43:88–95
Jumba FR, Freyer B (2016) Perception of quality in certified organic pineapples by farmers in Kayunga district, Central Uganda: implications for food security. J Agr Rural Dev Tropics and Subtropics 117(1):137–148
Kallas Z, Serra T, Gil JM (2010) Farmers’ objectives as determinants of organic farming adoption: the case of Catalonian vineyard production. Agric Econ 41:409–423
Karki L, Schleenbecker R, Ulrich H (2011) Factors influencing a conversion to organic farming in Nepalese tea farms. J Agric Rural Dev Trop 112(2):113–123
Kassie M, Zikhali P, Manjur K, Edwards S (2009) Adoption of organic farming techniques evidence from a semi-arid region of Ethiopia. Environment for Development Discussion paper EfD DP09-01. University of Gothenburg environmental economics unit, Sweden and Resources for the future, Washinton DC. Retrieved from http://www.rff.org/files/sharepoint/WorkImages/Download/EfD-DP-09-01.pdf. Accessed 23 Dec 2013
Khaledi M, Weseen S, Sawyer E, Ferguson S, Gray R (2010) Factors influencing partial and complete adoption of organic farming practices in Saskatchewan, Canada. Can J Agric Econ 58:37–56
Kisaka-Lwayo M (2008) A discriminant analysis of factors associated with the adoption of certified organic farming by smallholder farmers in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. Proceedings of 2nd International conference of the African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE)., Accra, Ghana, pp. 411–416. 20–22 August 2007
Kleemann L (2014) Knowing where organic markets move next - an analysis of developing countries in the pineapple market. Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Jpournal 8(2014–14)
Kleemann L, Abdulai A, Buss M (2014) Certification and access to export market: adoption and return on investment on organic-certified pineapple farming in Ghana. World Dev 64:79–92
Kothari CR (2004) Research methodology: methods and techniques, 2nd edn. New Age International Publishers, India
Läpple D (2010) Adoption and abandonment of organic farming: an empirical investigation of the Irish dry stock sector. J Agric Econ 61(3):697–714
Läpple D, Van Rensburg T (2011) Adoption of organic farming: are there differences between early and late adoption? Ecol Econ 70:1406–1414
Lohr L, Park TA (2002) Choice of insect management portfolios by organic farmers: lessons and comparative analysis. Ecol Econ 43:87–99
Lohr L, Salomonsson L (2000) Conversion subsidies for organic production: results from Sweden and lesson for the United States. Agric Econ 22:133–146
Maddala GS (1992) Introduction to econometrics, 2nd edn. Macmillan Publishing Company, New York
Mensah A, Brümmer B (2015) Determinants of MD2 adoption, production efficiency and technology gaps in the Ghanaian pineapple production sector. Proceedings of 29th International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE). Milan, Italy. 8–14 August 2015
Michelsen J, Lynggaard K, Padel S, Foster C (2001) Organic farming development and agricultural institutions in Europe: a study of six countries. Organic farming in Europe: Econ Policy, volume 9, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart,p 179
Mutebi KR, Twebaze J, Kamugisha R, Tenywa M, Sabiiti M, Kugonza I, Tenywa M, Nyamwaro S (2018) Multi-stakeholder partnerships in value chain development: a case of the organic pineapple in Ntungamo district, Western Uganda. J Agrib Dev Emer Econ 8(1):171–185
Niemeyer K, Lombard J (2003) Identifying problems and potential of the conversion to organic farming in South Africa. Proceedings of 41st Annual conference of Agricultural Economic Association of South Africa (AEASA). Pretoria, South Africa. 2–3 October 2003
Offermann F, Nieberg H, Zander K (2009) Dependency of organic farms on direct payments in selected EU member states: today and tomorrow. Food Policy 34(3):273–279
Okon UE, Idiong IC (2016) Factors influencing adoption of organic vegetable farming among farm households in south-south region of Nigeria. Am Eur J Agric Environ Sci 16(5):852–859
Overseas Development Institute (2011) Ghana’s sustained agricultural growth: putting underused resources to work. ODI publications, London Retrieved from https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-documents/11558.pdf. Accessed 10 July 2018
Parra López CP, Calatrava Requena J (2005) Factors related to the adoption of organic farming in Spanish olive orchards. Span J Agric Res 3(1):5–16
Parrott N, Sockyew AC, Makunike C, Ntambi SN (2006) Organic farming in Africa. In: Helga W, Yussefi M (eds) The world of organic farming agriculture: statistics and emerging trends 2006. International Federation of Organic Agricuture movement (IFOAM) and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Bonn Retrieved from http://orgprints.org/5161/2/willer-yussefi-2005-world-of-organic.pdf. Accessed 20 June 2017
Pietola KS, Oude-Lansink A (2001) Farmer response to policies promoting organic farming technology in Finland. Eur Rev Agric Econ 28(1):1–15
Pornpratansombat P, Bauer B, Boland H (2011) The adoption of organic rice farming in northeastern Thailand. J Organ Syst 6(3):1–12
Pradhan M, Tripura B, Mondal TK, Darnnel R, Murasing J (2017) Factors influencing the adoption of organic farming by the farmers of North District of Sikkim. Int J Adv Sci Res Dev 4(2):1–7
Saha A, Love HA, Schwart R (1994) Adoption of emerging technologies under output uncertainty. Amer J Agric Econ 76:836–846
Saker MA, Itohara Y, Hoque M (2010) Determinants of adoption decisions: the case of organic farming (OF) in Bangladesh. Ext Farm Syst J 5(2):39–46
Schneeberger W, Darnhofer I, Eder M (2002) Barriers to the adoption of organic farming by cash crop producers in Austria. Am J Alternive Agric 17(1):24–31
Serra T, Zilberman D, Gil JM (2008) Differential uncertainties and risk attitudes between conventional and organic producers: the case of Spanish crop farmers. Agric Econ 39(2):219–229
Sodjinou E, Glin L, Nicolay G, Tovignan S, Hinvi J (2015) Socioeconomic determinants of organic cotton adoption in Benin, West Africa. Agric Food Econ 3:12
Svotwa E, Baipai R, Jiyane J (2009) Organic farming in the smallholder farming sector of Zimbabwe. J Organic Syst 4:8–14
Thapa GB, Rattanasuteerakul K (2011) Adoption and extent of organic vegetable farming in Mahasarakham province, Thailand. Appl Geogr 31:201–209
United State Agency for International Development (USAID) (2012) Trade and investment program for a competitive export economy in Ghana: a synthesis of findings. Policy Brief 01-2012. USAID, Washington DC Retrieved from http://www.jfoehmke.com/uploads/9/4/1/8/9418218/ghana_tipcee_mango_pineapple _impact.pdf. Accessed 20 June 2017
Wuepper D, Sauer J, Kleemann L (2017) Sustainable intensification amongst Ghana’s pineapple farmers: the complexity of an innovation determines the effectiveness of its training. Environ Dev Econ:1–22
Zulveraa Z, Sumardjob S, Slametc M, Ginting B (2016) Factors influencing the adoption of the organic vegetable farming system in Agam and Tanah Datar Districts of West Sumatra. Int J Sci Basic Appl Res 26(1):425–432
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Badu-Gyan, F., Henning, J.I.F., Grové, B. et al. Examining the social, physical and institutional determinants of pineapple farmers’ choice of production systems in Central Ghana. Org. Agr. 9, 315–329 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-018-0233-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-018-0233-y