Fruitless or Fruitful? Examining Ghana's Agricultural Inputs Subsidy and Household Welfare

There are mixed accounts of the impact of government input subsidies on farmers welfare outcomes in the global south with political colorations, which often tend to exaggerate outcomes. Ghana's Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme phase 1, promised to be revolutionary in attaining the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-2 of ending hunger. However, the programme received criticisms with mixed sentiments within the political circle and policy arena, with scarce evidence in the extant literature. Using cross sectional data collected from 1107 maize farmers, we find that participating in the PFJ increases maize yield by 454.90 kg/ha, gross income by US$ 171.74 and per capita consumption by US$ 0.43. Our findings show that the adoption of only fertilizer increases maize yield significantly by 1609.2 kg/ha, gross maize income by $332, and improves per capita consumption significantly by $1.22. Participating in the PFJ programme is influenced by age, gender, marital status, education, farm size, credit, pests and diseases, market access, farm distance, radio, political affiliation, and the perception of timely supply of seeds and fertilizers. Our results suggest that adopting multiple combinations of packages remain financially viable. The choice of combinations of interventions is significantly influenced by socioeconomic and institutional factors. We suggest that agricultural extension and advisory services target efforts to address structural challenges relating to land ownership, credit access, market access, pests, and diseases to improve welfare outcomes. The study highlights the need to expand and sustain the PFJ programme to have a maximum impact on maize production, income generation, and household consumption.