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Abstract:
Agriculture is considered an important sector for poverty reduction, food security and economic development. Majority of people in the rural areas depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Economists have identified the production and marketing of vegetables as a means of livelihood and economic growth. A study was undertaken in Binduri District of the Upper East Region of Ghana with the goal of identifying and analyzing the factors that affect the marketing of vegetables among vegetables farmers along the White Volta. Purposive sampling method was used to select only vegetable farmers in the various communities along the White Volta. A simple random sampling method was used to draw a sample size of 10 respondents from each community making a total of 100 respondents. The study revealed that lack of good storage facilities and preservation mechanisms resulted in poor produce prices although markets existed for the vegetable farmers. It was also revealed that, the vegetables farmers faced challenges such as competition, inadequate advertisements and inadequate intermediaries in marketing their vegetables. The study concluded that, competition, inadequate advertisements and inadequate intermediaries were the challenges farmers faced in the marketing of their produce, hence, they were unable to meet their market targets most of the times. The study identified availability of marketing intermediaries, regular markets and word-of-mouth communication as factors that promoted the marketing of farmers' vegetable produce. Formation of vegetable farmer groups to access training regarding preservation and storage and marketing as well as securing buyers beyond farmers' geographical locations are interventions that could improve their lot.
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