Participation in Agro-Processing and its Effects on Household Welfare in the Sissala East Municipality of Ghana

Abstract

Low participation in agro-processing deny the Ghanaian economy the full contribution of agriculture to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This study sought to investigate the effects of agro-processing adoption on household welfare in the Sissala East Municipality. A descriptive cross-sectional design involving a multistage random sampling technique was employed. In a chi-square test of independence, respondents’ involvement in agro-processing showed significant association with the sex of respondent, educational level, and occupation. Also, respondents’ involvement in agro-processing showed significant association with average monthly income, savings, ability to pay school fees, ownership of the house, building material, ability to pay electricity bills and household cooking fuel. It is therefore concluded that participation in agro-processing has a significant association with several household welfare parameters. It is recommended Government and Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) may have to institute training programmes on agro-processing, put in place credit schemes to support agro-processing activities, make accessible the needed farm inputs to boost yields.