Cocoa Farmers’ use of Multiple Agricultural Information: An Empirical Study From Asante Akim North Municipality, Ghana

The study examined cocoa farmers’ utilization of agricultural information in the Asante Akim North Municipality of Ghana. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select 388 cocoa farmers, and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a multivariate probit (MVP) model. The findings showed that pest and disease information had the highest utilization (60.82%), followed by agrochemical information (60.05%), harvesting and storage information (59.02%), and market information (57.47%), while climate change information recorded the highest extent of utilization (mean = 3.82), indicating that it was often utilized. Farmers primarily relied on COCOBOD extension services, personal experience, and information from friends and fellow farmers, while radio, television, social media, and community leaders played relatively limited roles. The study further found that socioeconomic characteristics such as age, sex, education, training participation, farmer‐based organization (FBO) membership, distance to market, and access to credit are significantly associated with farmers’ use of agricultural information. Major barriers to information access and utilization included inadequate extension agents, low financial capacity, illiteracy, and language barriers. The study recommends that COCOBOD and agricultural extension agencies strengthen decentralized extension delivery, promote FBOs as local information hubs, and expand local‐language communication through accessible channels such as radio to improve agricultural information dissemination and utilization among cocoa farmers.