Cocoa Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Extension Service Delivery in the Agona East District of the Central Region of Ghana

Abstract

Dissemination of farm relevant information to cocoa farmers though crucial is inadequate in the public extension service. The information-transfer gap could be reduced if information dissemination is prioritised in extension service delivery. This study thus examines cocoa farmers’ willingness to pay for improved extension service in the Agona East District of the Central Region of Ghana. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to elicit information from 151 cocoa farmers. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics, SERVQUAL analysis model, conditional logit model, multivariate regression model and a standard logit model. Evidence from the study indicated that farmers were consistently not satisfied with the quality of extension service being provided by the public sector and that frequent farm visits as well as easy access to farm advisory services were the most important attributes they preferred in an extension service package. They were therefore willing to pay more for improvement in these extension service attributes. The results also indicated that the Assurance and Empathy dimensions of an extension service, good agent-farmer relation and the increase in average yield of a cocoa farm were significant variables that determined farmers’ choice of improved extension service delivery. The study therefore recommends government and potential investors to critically pay attention to and improve frequency of agents’ farm visits and farmers’ access to farm advisory services in extension delivery services.