Impact of Internet on Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from Ghana

This research intends to estimate the impact of internet on agricultural productivity in rural Ghana.

Disparities in internet penetration rates between developed countries, such as the UK with a 98% penetration rate, and developing countries, where the rate can be as low as 36%, underscore a global digital divide with approximately one-third of the global population lacking internet access.

I propose to study the effect of internet on farmers' crop choice and productivity using a panel data of up to 280,000 households over 14-years.

Exploiting Ghana's 2012 investment in fibre optic infrastructure along the eastern corridor, I want to examine causal effects of a reduction in the cost of information acquisition (that internet invariably entails) on agricultural income in the context of Ghana.

The concept of farm productivity will be explored through the lens of total factor productivity and stochastic frontier modelling. Where needed instruments will be used to tackle potential endogeneity.

The study aims to provide insights into policy targeting decisions for Ghana and other developing countries by understanding why internet uptake is uneven in rural areas; Ghana highlights this disparity greatly, where 24% of households in the Western region had access to the internet in 2018, compared to figures as low as 10% in the Northern and Upper Eastern regions.

Appropriate targeting can significantly improve the use of internet in farming, resulting in sustainable income growth and wider poverty reduction. Further lessons can be learnt for other public infrastructure projects.