Benefits of new technologies for grain legume cultivation for smallholder farmers in northern Ghana, as promoted by the N2Africa project

Harsh climate conditions and poor soils pose challenges for agricultural production by smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana. N2Africa promotes interventions such as increased grain legume cultivation and application of mineral fertilizers and/or rhizobium inoculants, with the aim of improving soil fertility and increase yields. Little is known about the actual benefits and costs associated with the implementation of the promoted technologies for smallholder farmers. In this study, groundnut and soybean yields have proven to increase significantly when the new technologies are implemented. However, the variation in crop yields is high between districts in northern Ghana and between individual farmers. The variation in crop response to the new technologies can partly be explained by the variation in soil properties of the plots, and is expected to be influenced by climatic variability and adaptive capacity of the farmers. For most farmers in northern Ghana, the benefits of the crop responses to the promoted technologies outweigh the direct costs. However, the new technologies are relatively less cost-effective than the conventional technologies, due to the additional investment costs.