Technology in Society 63 (2020) 101434 Available online 19 October 2020 0160-791X/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Quantifying the impact of agricultural technology usage on intra-household time allocation: Empirical evidence from rice farmers in Ghana Monica Addison a, * , Kwasi Ohene-Yankyera b , Robert Aidoo b a Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Bureau of Integrated Rural Development (BIRD), Kumasi, Ghana b Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, Kumasi, Ghana A R T I C L E INFO JEL classifcation: C21 J08 O12 Q12 Q16 Q55 Keywords: BFG Gender studies Ghana Agricultural innovations Intra-household time allocation ABSTRACT The use of improved agricultural technologies that lead to improved productivity, income and food security, could also destabilize intra-household time allocation. Using primary data from 917 rice farmers in Ashanti and Upper East Regions of Ghana, this paper employs a two-stage Bourguignon, Fournier, and Gurgand (BFG) se- lection bias correction model to quantify the impact of improved rice production technologies on intra-household time allocation. The empirical results indicate that farmers who take up improved rice technologies (fertilizer and improved rice seed) tend to increase labour input in farm work by 13.93 h per week. This has implications for the amount of time available for domestic work and leisure, especially for women in typical rice farming household. The design and development of technological innovations in the agricultural sector should take serious account of the domestic workload of women in farming communities to improve intensity and sustain- ability of use for both men and women. 1. Introduction The use of technological innovations is a critical pathway to improve the performance of the agricultural sector in developing countries [1]. Although Ghana’s agricultural sector provides employment for the majority of rural populace, the sector is underperforming, partly due to low usage of agricultural innovations [2]. Agricultural innovations are improved agricultural technologies and practices that are promoted and disseminated to aid producers to discover better ways to utilize the natural resources needed to produce food more effciently [3]. In response to the low performance of the agricultural sector in Ghana, the central government has invested in the promotion and dissemination of agricultural innovations. Among the agricultural innovations promoted and disseminated in Ghana, improved rice production technologies are among the priority list of Government [2]. According to Diagne et al. [4]; the terms “improved rice technologies” are used to describe the application of knowledge, skills and farm methods, farm inputs, tools and machinery as well as environmental arrangement and procedures to enhance rice productivity. These technologies include methods of land preparation, fertilizer usage and methods of application, soil water management methods, and the use of improved rice seeds, among others. However, this Paper focuses on the application of fertilizer and the use of improved seeds in rice cultivation. These technologies were selected because they have achieved national coverage in Ghana. Rice is currently the most important food and cash crop among cereals, and has the highest economic potential among major food crops such as yam and cassava in Ghana [5]. The main objectives of promoting and dissemi- nating agricultural technologies are to enhance productivity, improve food security, increase incomes and reduce poverty [6–8]. However, achieving these objectives could also result in intra-household time misallocation, depending on the labour requirements of such technologies. Some researchers have suggested that improved rice technologies are labour intensive, as compared to the traditional ones, thereby destabi- lizing household labour allocation [9–12]. They argue that poor household members, including women, facing labour constraint may have diffculty in using improved rice production technologies. For instance, World Bank [13] reported that during the Greene revolution in Asia and Latin America, the use of fertilizer-responsive and high-yielding rice varieties overburdened women due to an increasing * Corresponding author. P. O. Box KS 10919, Kumasi, Ghana. E-mail addresses: monicaddo@yahoo.com, maddison.canr@knust.edu.gh (M. Addison), kwasiyanky@yahoo.com (K. Ohene-Yankyera), badubob@yahoo.co.uk (R. Aidoo). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Technology in Society journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/techsoc https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101434 Received 10 July 2020; Received in revised form 12 October 2020; Accepted 16 October 2020