Innovation is essential for agricultural and economic development, especially in today’s
rapidly changing global environment. While farmers have been recognised as one of the key
sources of innovation, many studies on agricultural innovations continue to consider farmers
as adopters of externally-driven innovations only. Based on cross-sectional data from 409
farm households, this study, in contrast, analyses the innovation-generating behaviour among
rural farmers in northern Ghana. Inspired by two innovation theories – induced innovation
and innovation systems – we focus on the determinants of innovation behaviour. Employing
recursive bivariate probit and endogenous treatment-regression models which control for
selection bias, we find that participation in Farmer Field Fora, a participatory extension
approach with elements of the innovation systems perspective, is a key determinant of
innovation behaviour in farm households. Other important determinants are education,
climate shocks and risk preferences. These results are robust to alternative specifications and
estimation techniques. We conclude that policies for the generation of innovations among
farmers should focus on education, and on building innovation capacity through institutional
arrangements that permit interactions and learning between stakeholders.
