The Political Economy of the Cocoa Value Chain in Ghana

Abstract

The cocoa sector has, historically, been the backbone of the Ghanaian economy. Many households depend directly on the cocoa sector for livelihoods, and aspects of the cocoa industry, such as input supplies to farmers and cocoa pricing, have historically featured prominently in national and local politics. This paper examines the basic underlying political economy dynamics of the cocoa value chain, with particular focus on how the interests, powers and interactions of various actors along the value chain have contributed to agricultural commercialisation in Ghana. The paper also explores the challenges affecting the cocoa value chain, social difference within the chain, and how various segments of the cocoa value chain have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana since March 2020.

Organic Cocoa Value Chain Sustainability: The Perception of São Tomé and Príncipe’s Stakeholders

“…Most stakeholders also identify market-related factors (premium prices, consumer demand, market access, and social difference within the cocoa value chain) as, simultaneously, the main constraints and drivers among smallholders, their cooperatives, and private companies. These results are in line with previous research [36,42,43], which showed that cocoa farmers in Indonesia, Cameroon, and Peru perceive the marketing chain to be long and ineffective and oriented towards the international market. These factors determine domestic organic cocoa prices and expressed concerns about low pricing, price volatility, difficulty in accessing the market, small-scale production, low productivity, and lack of partnerships.…”

“…Several sustainability challenges related to the organic cocoa value chain have been identified both in the literature [43,46] and in this study. These mainly relate to the economic dimension of sustainability (governance and powers and interactions of various stakeholders along the value chain), but also, and less, to the environmental [47] and social [44] dimensions.…”

Political Settlements and the Management of Cocoa Value Chain in Ghana

“…While the state provided subsidised fertilisers and agrochemicals in the early post-independence era, the subsidies were withdrawn in the mid 1980s. They were, however, re-introduced in the mid 2000s partly as a result of the desire to use input supply to win political votes (see Teye and Torvikey, 2018). Although inputs from the state are currently subsidised, farmers still bear most of the cost:…”

“…The cocoa production segment in the colonial era was largely occupied by smallholders, as the colonial administration feared that any efforts to take lands from traditional authorities to establish large-scale plantations could create local opposition and tensions, as highlighted by Teye and Torvikey (2018):…”

“…Several households in Ghana depend directly on the cocoa sector for livelihoods, and components of the cocoa industry, such as input supplies to farmers and cocoa pricing, have historically featured prominently in national and local politics (Teye and Torvikey, 2018). However, there are very few studies on the interests and benefits that accrue to various actors of the cocoa value chain in Ghana.…”