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Analysis of Frequency of Savings among Tomato Farmers in Ghana
Keywords
Frequency, Savings, Multinomial regression, Tomatoes farmers, Ghana
Abstract
The study sought to examine the frequency of savings among 496 tomato farmers. These were randomly selected from 6 districts in 3 regions of Ghana. Multinomial logistic regression was employed to identify the determinants underlying the respondents’ frequency of savings – weekly, monthly and seasonally. The results showed that amount saved per period, number of years of education and engagement in non-farm income generating activities significantly influenced farmers’ savings frequencies. The findings of the study are quite significant as it takes the decision to save beyond the suggested two-stage sequential process to include a third stage, which is the time horizon of savings. The findings revealed that rural households have the tendency to lengthen their savings time horizon by holding onto their surplus funds particularly in the event of worsening future consumption. On the other hand, the anticipation of a gloomy future as a result of poverty may induce the rural householder to shorten his/her savings time horizon, that is, reduce the timeframe he/she holds onto surplus funds and quickly save such funds. Finally the study suggests education as a catalyst to create a desirable behaviour of saving “now” (weekly or monthly) rather than procrastinating savings to the “future” that is, saving seasonally.