Internal Publication
Determinants of non-farm micro and small enterprise participation in rural Ghana
The non-farm sector is critical for the socio-economic development of Ghana especially the ruralpoor. This paper analyses the determinants of individual participation in non-farm enterprises andthe intensity of participation. The paper used the Economic Growth Centre (EGC)/Institute ofStatistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) Socio-Economic Survey data collected in 2009.The paper estimated the determinants of participation using a probit model and then estimated theintensity of participation using a truncated regression model. The results indicate that majority ofadults engaged in non-farm enterprises in rural Ghana are women (about 73%). The study foundthat females tended to participate more in non-farm self-employment and are less likely toparticipate in non-farm wage employment. The results further showed that individual characteristicssuch as the gender of the individual, being head of a household, being the spouse of a householdhead, having formal education, age of the individual, having access to credit, possessing a mobilephone, per capita ownership of land and livestock influenced the participation of individuals in self-and wage employment. Results from truncated regression model for self-employed enterprisesshowed that having access to mobile phones, owning more livestock and electricity are important in determining the intensity of participation in self-employed enterprises. For wage-employment, beinga household head, spouse of household head, having access to mobile phone and owning morelivestock increased the number of days working on wage employment. Education is relevant foremployment in the non-farm sector especially wage-employment. Government should play a leadrole in making formal education accessible to the rural people. Deliberate policies should focus onaddressing critical factors such as access to credit, mobile phone, electricity and education whichare relevant for increasing participation intensity in rural enterprises
Author: Ayambila, Sylvester Nsobire | ORCID: 0000-0003-0225-3848
Co-author: Osei-Akoto, Isaac | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0471-256
Co-author: Ayamga, Michael | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5046-9750
Institution: University for Development Studies Tamale | Centre: West African German Centre for Sustainable Rural Transformation (WAC-SRT)
Type: Journal article | English | Peer Reviewed
Subjects: Development
Published in: British Journal of Economics, Management & Trade, ISSN: 2278-098X | Volume 17 [Issue 4]
Publisher of document: Tarakeswar : Sciencedomain International
Date: 2017 | Pages: 1-12
https://doi.org/10.9734/BJEMT/2017/33814
Copyright: © 2017 Ayambila et al. | License: Open Access: CC BY 4.0
