What Informs Farmers’ Choice of Output Markets? The Case of Maize, Cowpea and Livestock Production in Northern Ghana

This study analyses the main determinants of output market choices by rural farmers in northern Ghana amidst growing concerns of lack of lucrative markets for smallholder farmers. Using recent survey data collected from 448 households, the study applied the multinomial logistic regression (MLR) model with village markets as the base outcome. The findings revealed that association membership, access to storage facilities, openness to new production and marketing methods, access to financial services, knowledge of sustainable intensification (SI) practices, access to guaranteed market, availability of quality market services and distance to output market would likely influence the choice of a farmer to sell at a farm gate over village markets. Access to extension services was found significant in influencing farmers’ decisions to sell by the roadside. Also, gender, association membership, access to processing facilities, availability of quality market services and distance to output market would likely influence the choice of a farmer to do private sales. Furthermore, association membership, access to processing facilities, access to extension services and market information significantly influences the decision of farmers to use other market outlets (e.g., regional/district markets). The study concludes that the choice of market outlet used by farmers depends much on institutional and channel-specific characteristics. These findings have policy implications for the development of market policies, providing rural market infrastructure services, promoting SI practices and strengthening extension service delivery.