Linking Crop Specialization to Agricultural Commercialization: Empirical Evidence from the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone of Ghana

Specialization and intensification have been the main focuses of agricultural development and modernization for decades, among those who claim that doing so will increase agricultural output. Specialization and commercialization in agriculture are linked to greater efficiency than subsistence farming, as these can boost the production and competitiveness of smallholder farmers. However, in recent years, some have questioned this model's resilience and long-term viability. Specialization, as well as increasing output and commercialization, are part of the agricultural transformation processes. Research needs to be done to answer why farmers switch to high-value crop production to increase profits and deal with the resultant issues. The question of whether crop specialization would lead to greater commercialization within the Ghanaian context requires an answer. This study explores the link between crop specialization and agricultural commercialization by utilizing secondary data from the Ghana Feed the Future baseline survey involving a total sample of 2,952 farm households. As a novelty, the study addresses the seeming simultaneity between crop specialization and agricultural commercialization that has been overlooked in the literature. The bivariate probit regression result indicates that estimating separate univariate probit models is inappropriate. Therefore, failure to jointly model crop specialization and commercialization could yield biased estimates. This study applies the recursive bivariate probit model to establish a causal relationship between crop specialization and agricultural commercialization. The findings have revealed that crop specialization stimulates commercialization. The synergy between crop specialization and agricultural commercialization has implications for enhancing food security and increasing farmers' incomes. To improve commercialization and crop specialization, the Government of Ghana should intensify land registration and modify the land tenure systems to make lands easily accessible to farmers.