Abstract:
The study set out to examine the utilisation of social networks among rural
farmers in four rural communities in the Central Region of Ghana. Data were
collected from 327 alters who were constituted via the egocentric approach based
on eight(8) accidentally selected egos, and analysed with tools from SPSS
(Version 21). Data were presented using frequency tables and percentages. The
Kruskal Wallis and the median tests were used to test the differences in the
communities with respect to their network size and density. The relationships
between the variables of interest were tested using the Chi-square test of
independence. The study found that resources that flow across networks are
important for rural agricultural development. Besides the resources that flow
across networks, the social support function of networks, exchange of tangible
and intangible agricultural resources also favour rural agriculture. It also became
evident that chiefs, unit committee chairpersons, pastors, assembly persons, unit
committee members and community elders played important roles in mobilising
groups and networks. It was also found that observational learning is key in the
adoption of technologies among rural farmers as they learn about new technology
by observing their neighbours and other people in their network.
It is recommended that, since farmers observe other farms and farmers in
order to access information on new technologies, policies that aim at the
introduction of new agricultural technology should consider model farms to
enable farmers to observe how the technology works. Also, policy makers should
pay more attention to the social support functions of networks since they favour
agricultural development. Last, key persons in the mobilisation of networks
should be part of policies that aim at developing rural agriculture.
