Drought-index insurance, advisory services and farm productivity in Ghana

Improving the performance of smallholder farmers requires a comprehensive approach that addresses production risks and inefficiencies. This study employs a mediated stochastic frontier model to examine the impact of bundled drought-index insurance (DII) adoption and participation in Farmer-Based Organization (FBO)-led training on farm productivity and technical efficiency among smallholder farmers in northern Ghana. The empirical results indicate that the adoption of bundled micro- and meso -DII, combined with participation in FBO-led training, is significantly associated with higher maize output. The estimated output gains are reflected in both upward shifts in the production technology frontier and reductions in technical inefficiency. These findings underscore the value of integrating DII with complementary human capital interventions to improve output and highlight the untapped potential of FBOs for enhancing insurance adoption and productivity.