Food origin labels in Ghana: Finding inspiration in the European geographical indications system on honey

Abstract

Geographical indication (GI) identifies goods originating from a particular territory, where certain qualities and reputation of the product are essentially attributed to that origin. GIs connote value addition hence a tool for livelihood improvement among producers of local products. This is especially the case for honey, which is mainly produced rural areas in Ghana, where there are few other income sources.However, GIs are unknown in the country. This paper discusses various elements and storylines that commonly characterize registered GI products, focusing on GI honeys registered within the EU and the single GI honey registered in Africa, the Oku white Honey in Cameroon. The study is based on a literature review of GI honey records and the EU DOOR database, general literature, and complemented with fieldwork. A number of elements were identified to characterize GI honeys and can be grouped into three elements: indicative, essential, and supportive. The three groups of elements are important for the identification, development, and promotion of GIs in Ghana. Analyzing potential GI honey case within the three groups of elements shows Ghana has a GI legislation but has to develop the capacity for relevant state institutions necessary for GI building. K E Y W O R D S EU honeys, geographical indications, Ghana, key topics, origin labels ENDNOTE 1 EC/C/05) (2013/C 235/05)) 235 (14.8.2013): Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006-application, pursuant to Article 51 and Article 50(2)(a) "Miel De Tenerife" (PDO), Official Journal of the European Union C 235/5. ORCID Courage Besah-Adanu

To Label or Not? Governing the Costs and Benefits of Geographic Indication of an African Forest Honey Value Chain

“…With the introduction of GI, beekeeping seems to live up to this expectation as the number of producers and beekeeping cooperative memberships increased, producer prices of white and brown honey increased, and white honey sales grew, as have the numbers of market outlets locally and in large urban areas. As such, seemingly the GI formation for Oku white honey mirrored the anticipated benefits theorized by Jena and Grote (2010) and argued for in other theoretical and empirical studies (Benni and Reviron, 2009;Cei et al, 2018), including studies of potential GI honeys (Egelyng et al, 2017;Mwakaje et al, 2018;Besah-Adanu et al, 2019). Positive impacts on local communities (Vandecandelaere et al, 2009), even if not engaged in honey production, have also been observed as one of the spillovers of GI, such as an expansion in tourist activities.…”

“…Giovannucci et al (2009) emphasize that despite the originality of a potential GI product, benefits will not accrue to stakeholders without the support of the legal and institutional frameworks. Other factors that support GI registration of products include collective action, prices and market for the product, specificity and reputation of the product, support from actors along the value chain, production methods and a link between product characteristics to history or tradition of the geographical area (Bramley et al, 2013;Egelyng et al, 2017), also for honey (Besah-Adanu et al, 2019). The effects of hybrid institutions also depend on product types and value chain characteristics (Lambin et al, 2014).…”

“…In Tanzania, the collapse of the beekeeping cooperative led to compromised quality of Uyui honey, previously named African Queen and valued for its link to the miombo woodlands of Tabora (Mwakaje et al, 2018). Strong producer groups and social ties among producers are known to be important for the coordination of production and marketing of GI products (Reviron and Chappuis, 2011;Egelyng et al, 2017;Besah-Adanu et al, 2019). While producer groups often benefit from legal frameworks provided by the state (Chabrol et al, 2015), producer cooperatives and associations in Oku have traditionally been supported by traditional authorities and strengthened through international projects led by research and development organizations, such as the forest conservation projects and the PAMPIG project that led to the GI registration.…”

Understanding the Real-World Impact of Geographical Indications: A Critical Review of the Empirical Economic Literature

“…Ghana is among the few African countries certified to export honey to the EU market; however, the export so far is not remarkable. Beekeepers of Ghana, therefore, would like to follow the example of the Oku White honey, which has received the African PGI label, resulting in increasing sales and prices, together with exports to the EU [47]. In Chile, neither the national GI labels nor the public certification trademark is widely used among the producers; therefore they cannot meet their original expectations to increase market share and to reach export markets [48].…”

Geographical Indication to Build up Resilient Rural Economies: A Case Study from Ghana

“…This is a particularly relevant barrier in cases of potential GIs open to international markets, where the risks of elite capture of the GI benefits may exclude the poorest producers in rural areas, as other experiences from Latina America have demonstrated [59]. Therefore, in order to make the initiative more resilient, then avoiding possible failures emerged in other similar cases [60], supportive elements are of paramount importance, in the form of GI legislation, state institutions, and local and international NGOs [61]. Moreover, the government of Ghana should review the laws governing the registration and operation of Geographical Indications in Ghana.…”