ADOPTION OF OYSTER MUSHROOM PRODUCTION AMONG BENEFICIARIES OF THE PROMUSH PROJECT IN THE ADENTAN MUNICIPALITY OF GHANA

ABSTRACT

Mushroom farming is being promoted by governments, national and other international development organisations to reduce rural and urban poverty, creating employment and improving food security. The main objective of this study was to assess the adoption of oyster mushroom farming among beneficiaries of the PROMUSH Project implemented by the Adentan Municipal Assembly in 2015. Specifically, the study sought to, i) determine the knowledge level of PROMUSH trainees of oyster mushroom farming ii) estimate the determinants of adoption among trainees and iii) identify and rank constraints to oyster mushroom farming in the Adentan Municipality. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires for individual respondents and interview guide for focus group discussions. Seventy (70) respondents were sampled from mushroom farmers who have been trained under the PROMUSH Project in the Municipality. The knowledge index formula, descriptive statistics, binary logistic regression model as well as Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance were used in the analysis of the data. The results indicate that, about 73% of respondents had medium knowledge level, 17% had high knowledge level, and 10% had low knowledge level of oyster mushroom farming. This means that mushroom farmers in the Municipality have moderate knowledge in oyster mushroom farming. The results of the adoption level show that 55 respondents, representing (78.6%) were currently producing oyster mushrooms. This makes adoption level high among respondents. The results from the logistic regression show that variables such as gender, household size and annual income tended to be factors that statistically influenced adoption of oyster mushroom farming. The Kendall’s result shows that there is agreement among respondents ranking of constraints. The four (4) main constraints of mushroom farmers in the Municipality were high cost of production, inadequate storage facilities, difficulty to accessing credit and non-availability of some inputs. There is high adoption of oyster mushroom farming among beneficiaries of the PROMUSH training project in the municipality. Males with high income are more likely to adopt oyster mushroom farming in the municipality. The Municipal Assembly should finance the training of more extension officers in oyster mushrooms production so that they can provide extension services to mushroom farmers within and out of the Municipality. Financial institutions within the Municipality should extent credit facilities to mushroom farmers. This will assist them in their mushroom business. More skills development in mushroom is required to supply labour to support commercial production since large household size does not affect adoption oyster mushroom farming. The training centre should also improve on the lecture delivery methods and testing of trainee’s knowledge during training.