Exploring the impact of agricultural innovation practices on technical efficiency: The case of smallholder pineapple farmers in Ghana

Abstract

Ghana’s horticulture subsector is one of the subsectors with the most smallholder farmers and the most potential, but it is struggling to develop due to a lack of innovative methods. The ability to intelligently adopt and employ new technologies, or upgrade existing innovations can enable smallholders to increase their productivity and be technically efficient. The impact of innovation practices on technical efficiency (TE) among smallholder pineapple growers in Ghana is examined in this study using an innovation practices index and a stochastic production frontier model. Based on survey data gathered from pineapple growers in Ghana’s eastern area, the following conclusions were made: First off, respondents who engage in greater innovation have a higher average mean than respondents who engage in a lower level of innovation. This shows how adopting new techniques is closely related to technical effectiveness. Second, among the inputs, labor is thought to be the most important contributor, followed by pesticides. Once more, the study found that adopting novel approaches will probably result in a boost in the TE of pineapple farmers. Finally, the impact of innovation initiatives varies among various groups of pineapple growers. Our findings have policy implications for enhancing innovation processes and raising the technical efficacy of pineapple growers.