Welfare impacts of commercialization of rabbit production in Ghana

Most research conducted on rabbit production put emphasis on production vis-à-vis its commercialization and impact on smallholder welfare. The study aimed at analyzing the commercialization of rabbit production and its impact on the welfare of rabbit farmers using data from 200 rabbit farmers in Ghana. Endogenous switching regression (ESR) and propensity score matching (PSM) were the methods employed. The results showed that socioeconomic factors such as age, marital status, extension contacts, market information, training service, rabbit rearing experience, years of schooling, distance to market, and household head significantly influenced the decision to commercialize rabbit production. The ESR results revealed that commercialized rabbit farmers generated additional income of GH¢1104.47 vis-à-vis non-commercialized farmers. Commercialized rabbit farmers were found to spend less on food expenditure by GH¢257.59. However, commercialized farmers tend to spend more on non-food expenditures. The study therefore recommends that government should encourage rabbit commercialization among smallholder farmers in Ghana. Marketing and negotiation skills problems as well as credit constraints of smallholder farmers need to be addressed. Additionally, efforts must be made to strengthen collective action initiatives and extension services so that they can provide rabbit farmers with useful services as commercialization improved welfare.