IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ddj/ejards/y2025i4p115-144.html

Determinants of Farmer-Based Organisations’ Sustainability in Peri-urban Tamale, Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Nurudeen Abdul-Rahaman

    (Cocoa Health and Extension Division of COCOBOD, Accra, Ghana)

  • Eliasu Mumuni

    (University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale, Ghana)

  • Kamaldeen Yussif

    (University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale, Ghana)

Abstract

This study examines the dynamics and determinants of the sustainability of farmer-based organisations (FBOs) in peri-urban Tamale, Ghana. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected from 200 members across 40 FBOs to characterise group structures, identify organisational and membership factors influencing sustainability, and assess perceived impacts of FBOs membership. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were employed for analysis. Results reveal that only one-third of FBOs can be considered sustainable. The key determinants of FBOs sustainability are members’ financial commitment, leadership tenure, leadership proactiveness, effective feedback mechanisms, transparent auditing practices, existence of group bank accounts, and gender. Male membership and operating with permanent leadership tenure inhibits the sustainability of FBOs. On the other hand, operating members funded group with a group bank accounts, transparent auditing practices in conjunction with proactive leadership having an effective feedback mechanism, enhances FBOs sustainability. Membership of sustainable FBOs is found to better improve adoption of good agricultural practices (GAPs), credit and markets access, as well as household income and food security. The findings underscore the fact that FBO sustainability is shaped not only by structural and socio-economic factors but also by effective communication processes and participatory governance practices. Policy measures should therefore prioritise strengthening leadership capacity, promoting participatory group models, and investing in enhancements effective communication within groups to enhance the resilience and long-term viability of FBOs.

Suggested Citation

  • Nurudeen Abdul-Rahaman & Eliasu Mumuni & Kamaldeen Yussif, 2025. "Determinants of Farmer-Based Organisations’ Sustainability in Peri-urban Tamale, Ghana," Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development Studies, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Doctoral Field Engineering and Management in Agriculture and Rural Development, issue 4, pages 115-144.
    • Handle: RePEc:ddj:ejards:y:2025:i:4:p:115-144
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.35219/jards.2025.4.10
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.jards.ugal.ro/images/jards/journal/2025_4/Abdul-Rahaman_et_al.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/https://doi.org/10.35219/jards.2025.4.10?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abdul-Rahaman, Awal & Abdulai, Awudu, 2018. "Do farmer groups impact on farm yield and efficiency of smallholder farmers? Evidence from rice farmers in northern Ghana," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 95-105.
    2. Gian Nicola Francesconi & Fleur Wouterse, 2015. "Promoting the role of farmer-based organizations for value chain integration: the tension between a program's targeting and an organization's investment strategy," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 46(4), pages 527-536, July.
    3. Bratton, Michael, 1986. "Farmer organizations and food production in Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 367-384, March.
    4. Stanley Kojo Dary & Jasper Grashuis, 2021. "Characterization of farmer‐based cooperative societies in the upper west region of Ghana," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(4), pages 669-687, December.
    5. Uwe Deichmann & Aparajita Goyal & Deepak Mishra, 2016. "Will digital technologies transform agriculture in developing countries?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(S1), pages 21-33, November.
    6. Ma, Wanglin & Abdulai, Awudu, 2016. "Does cooperative membership improve household welfare? Evidence from apple farmers in China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 94-102.
    7. Karim Hussein, 2001. "Producer Organizations and Agricultural Technology in West Africa: Institutions that give farmers a voice," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 44(4), pages 61-66, December.
    8. Fischer, Elisabeth & Qaim, Matin, 2012. "Linking Smallholders to Markets: Determinants and Impacts of Farmer Collective Action in Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1255-1268.
    9. Awal Abdul-Rahaman & Awudu Abdulai, 2020. "Farmer groups, collective marketing and smallholder farm performance in rural Ghana," Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 10(5), pages 511-527, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Margitta Minah, 2022. "What is the influence of government programs on farmer organizations and their impacts? Evidence from Zambia," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(1), pages 29-53, March.
    2. Awal Abdul‐Rahaman & Gazali Issahaku & Wanglin Ma, 2023. "Agrifood system participation and production efficiency among smallholder vegetable farmers in Northern Ghana," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(3), pages 812-835, July.
    3. Wanglin Ma & Sanghyun Hong & W. Robert Reed & Jianhua Duan & Phong Luu, 2023. "Yield effects of agricultural cooperative membership in developing countries: A meta‐analysis," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(3), pages 761-780, September.
    4. Dennis Etemesi Olumeh & Dagmar Mithöfer, 2024. "Impact of collective action on household welfare: Empirical evidence from baobab collectors in Malawi," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(2), pages 385-411, June.
    5. Wanglin Ma & Awudu Abdulai, 2017. "The economic impacts of agricultural cooperatives on smallholder farmers in rural China," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(4), pages 537-551, September.
    6. Ahmet Candemir & Sabine Duvaleix & Laure Latruffe, 2021. "Agricultural Cooperatives And Farm Sustainability – A Literature Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1118-1144, September.
    7. Jan Falkowski & Pavel Ciaian, 2016. "Factors Supporting the Development of Producer Organizations and their Impacts in the Light of Ongoing Changes in Food Supply Chains: A Literature Review," JRC Research Reports JRC101617, Joint Research Centre.
    8. Zhu, Xiaoke & Hu, Ruifa & Zhang, Chao & Shi, Guanming, 2021. "Does Internet use improve technical efficiency? Evidence from apple production in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    9. Adjin, K. Christophe & Goundan, Anatole & Henning, Christian H. C. A. & Sarr, Saer, 2020. "Estimating the impact of agricultural cooperatives in Senegal: Propensity score matching and endogenous switching regression analysis," Working Papers of Agricultural Policy WP2020-10, University of Kiel, Department of Agricultural Economics, Chair of Agricultural Policy.
    10. Ayobami Adetoyinbo & Verena Otter, 2022. "Can producer groups improve technical efficiency among artisanal shrimpers in Nigeria? A study accounting for observed and unobserved selectivity," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-33, December.
    11. Kifle T. Sebhatu & Fatemeh Taheri & Tekeste Berhanu & Miet Maertens & Steven Van Passel & Marijke D'Haese, 2021. "Beyond focus: Exploring variability of service provision of agricultural cooperatives," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(2), pages 207-231, June.
    12. repec:bjc:journl:v:8:y:2021:i:3:p:84-89 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Hao, Jinghui & Heerink, Nico & Heijman, Wim & Bijman, Jos, "undated". "Cooperatives Membership And Smallholder Farmers’ Welfare - Evidence From Shaanxi And Shandong Provinces, China," 2017 International Congress, August 28-September 1, 2017, Parma, Italy 260914, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    14. Fuhong Zhang & Apurbo Sarkar & Hongyu Wang, 2021. "Does Internet and Information Technology Help Farmers to Maximize Profit: A Cross-Sectional Study of Apple Farmers in Shandong, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.
    15. Zheng, Hongyun & Ma, Wanglin & Wang, Fang & Li, Gucheng, 2021. "Does internet use improve technical efficiency of banana production in China? Evidence from a selectivity-corrected analysis," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    16. Jerzy Michalek & Pavel Ciaian & Jan Pokrivcak, 2018. "The impact of producer organisations on farm performance: A case study of large farms in Slovakia," JRC Research Reports JRC108059, Joint Research Centre.
    17. Guyo Godana Dureti & Martin Paul Jr. Tabe‐Ojong & Enoch Owusu‐Sekyere, 2023. "The new normal? Cluster farming and smallholder commercialization in Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(6), pages 900-920, November.
    18. Jasper GRASHUIS & Ye SU, 2019. "A Review Of The Empirical Literature On Farmer Cooperatives: Performance, Ownership And Governance, Finance, And Member Attitude," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 90(1), pages 77-102, March.
    19. Eunice Adu Donkor & Elena Garnevska & Muhammad Imran Siddique & Emmanuel Donkor, 2021. "Determinants of Rice Farmer Participation in the Direct Marketing Channel in Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-14, April.
    20. Jiang, Meishan & Li, Jingrong & Mi, Yunsheng, 2024. "Farmers’ cooperatives and smallholder farmers’ access to credit: Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    21. Md. Sadique Rahman & Monoj Kumar Majumder, 2021. "Drivers of adoption and impacts of an eco-friendly agricultural technology in Bangladesh," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(12), pages 1-18, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ddj:ejards:y:2025:i:4:p:115-144. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Gianina Mihai (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fegalro.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.