Gendered and generational tensions in increased land commercialisation: rural livelihood diversification, changing land use, and food security in Ghana’s Brong-Ahafo region

Many smallholder farmers in Jaman North District, Brong‐Ahafo Region, Ghana are shifting from food crop production to increased cultivation of cashew, an export cash crop. This paper examines gendered and generational tensions in increased commercialisation of land, livelihood diversification, and household food security in the context of globalisation and environmental change. Using qualitative, participatory research with 60 middle‐generation men and women, young people and key stakeholders, the research found that community members valued the additional income stream. Young people and women, however, were apprehensive about the long‐term consequences for food security of allocating so much land to cashew plantations. Young, middle, and older generations were concerned about their weak bargaining position in negotiating fair prices with export companies and intermediaries. Greater integration into the global economy exposed rural actors to multiple risks and inequalities, such as the uneven effects of economic globalisation, rises in food prices, hunger and food insecurity, growing competition for land, youth outmigration and climate change. The shift towards cashew cultivation appears to be exacerbating gender and generational inequalities in access to land and food insecurity and leading to exploitation within the global agri‐food supply chain among already vulnerable rural communities in the global South. With stronger farmer associations and cooperatives, however, cashew farmers stand the chance of benefitting from greater integration into the global economy, through strengthened bargaining positions. Greater understanding is needed about the complex interactions between sustainable food systems, changing land use and gender and generational inequalities in rural spaces

Fairtrade and child labour in Ghana's cocoa sector : challenges, gaps and recommendations

1 online resource (vii, 5 pages)Includes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (pages 69-72).In spite of the numerous interventions put in place by the Government of Ghana, international development agencies and other relevant bodies such as Fairtrade to eradicate child labour in Ghana’s cocoa sector, it continues to be a significant problem in cocoa production. This research paper aims to explore the main reasons for the persistent occurrences of child labour in cocoa and the role of Fairtrade in ensuring the eradication of child labour in Ghana’s cocoa sector. The research identifies explicitly various causes of child labour in Ghana’s cocoa by reviewing relevant academic and grey literature in the area. It provides a critical assessment of the role of Fairtrade in eradicating child labour. The research paper also relied on data from fifteen (15) key informant interview respondents comprising five (5) officials from Fairtrade West Africa and International Cocoa Initiative, and ten (10) Fairtrade certified cocoa farmers from three selected cocoa growing areas in the Western, Eastern and Brong Ahafo Regions of Ghana. The paper concludes that poverty, the lack of awareness among cocoa farmers and cocoa-growing communities about child labour policies, inadequate educational infrastructure in cocoa growing communities, and other socio-cultural factors are the leading causes of child labour in Ghana’s cocoa sector. It examines how Fairtrade interventions, namely technical training and support for farmers, provision of educational infrastructure in cocoa-growing areas, and the sensitization of farmers and community members about child labour policies, are helping fight child labour in Ghana’s cocoa sector. It concludes by recommending an increase in Fairtrade premiums and prices, technical training and support for cocoa farmers, educational infrastructure and scholarships in cocoa-growing areas and the sensitization of cocoa farmers and communities

Empirical and simulation essays on analyzing a country\u27s export performance : the case of Ghana

A large array of literature has revealed the complexity of export performance analysis. Using the case of Ghana, this dissertation, divided into three essays, seeks to provide the methodological guidance, empirical and simulation evidence necessary to analyze a country’s export performance. The choice of Ghana was motivated by the country’s growth experience, strong export and agricultural sectors and implemented reforms and programs since 1983. In the first essay, we created a new trade-weighted Cedi index or real effective exchange rate (REER) that takes into account Ghana’s most relevant patterns of trade and captures the evolution of Ghana’s export price competitiveness overtime. Other factors of export performance have been identified collecting the perspectives of Ghana’s agricultural export sector stakeholders and using grounded theory. This research showed that Ghana’s export price competitiveness, as depicted by the REER, has improved since 1983 but has revealed many additional factors that played a role in the performance of Ghana’s agricultural export sector. Following export demand theory and the procedure of Toda and Yamamoto (1995) and Dolado and Lütkepohl (1996) (TYDL), the second essay estimates causal relationships between exports, the REER and foreign activity over the 1970-2009 period. Two additional models (VAR-GARCH-in-mean) were estimated to investigate the impact of exchange rate volatility on Ghana’s exports. The results support the view that some of the implemented macroeconomic reforms have been the cause of Ghana’s export performance. Additionally, we found that third-country exchange rate volatility has hampered Ghana’s export growth. The third essay tackles methodological shortcomings of the TYDL procedure. In a Monte Carlo experiment, we compared the Schwarz Bayesian criterion (SBC) and the likelihood ratio (LR) tests in terms of their lag order frequency distributions and the finite sample properties of the resulting modified Wald (MWALD) tests. We found that in general, the SBC selects the true lag length more often than the LR tests and that in large samples the choice of the lag selection method does not influence non-causality tests results. This research also revealed that in the presence of moving average terms or in the case of mixed unit-root processes, MWALD tests perform poorly

Exploring third-party certification programmes in commodity value chains

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonCertification programmes have become a widely adopted practice across commodity industries and serve as a mechanism for encouraging sustainable agriculture aimed at improving livelihoods, reducing poverty, and conserving the environment. Certification has also become critical in shaping the value creation and capture potential of producers, manufacturers, and consumers embedded in the value chains of many commodity industries. However, recent years has seen commodity certification programmes struggling to yield the expected benefits for which they were putatively established. Drawing on temporal myopia (TM) as a theoretical lens, this study explores the existential challenges facing the loosely coupled actors in CVCs, that has led to the floundering of these certification programmes. Focusing on the Ghana cocoa industry, the study provides a fine-grained explication of how the differential and competing organizing practices of these actors cumulatively contribute to the near collapse of these certification programmes. Adopting an interpretive approach and an exploratory qualitative research design, data for the empirical inquiry were chiefly collected using semi-structured interviews with cocoa farmers (25), the Ghana Cocoa Board (5), certification organisations (5), cooperatives (7) and produce buying companies (10). This was supplemented with focus group discussions (44), and publicly available documents on certification programmes. The study makes three main findings. First, the study unpacks the state of the art of certification programmes to understand how loosely coupled actors respond to certification practices, emphasizing how the activities of various loosely coupled actors contribute to those structures and procedures, which provides understanding of the organising practices required in certification programmes. Second, it highlights how TM accounts for the floundering of certification programmes in CVCs. Third, it demonstrates how environmental, social, and institutional factors may interact with the certification requirements, rubrics, and standards, to precipitate a range of organising practices that may operate in combination or serially to facilitate (or impede) certification programmes. The contribution of the thesis is also three-fold. First, broadening our understanding of the state of the art to certification in organising, this study extends our understanding of how loosely coupled actors in CVCs frame, make meaning, and respond to certification practices. Second, the study shows how taken for granted everyday organizing practices of the loosely coupled actors could serially combine to precipitate the near collapse of the certification programmes which frequently seek to promote sustainable production and livelihoods. Third, the study offers deeper insights into how temporal myopia serves as a blocking mechanism which induces these loosely coupled actors’, to focus on short term gains within the contingencies of the socio-economic environment in which they operate.Ghana Scholarship Secretaria

A review of Ghana’s food system and its implications on sustainability and the development of national food-based dietary guidelines

Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG) provide culturally-appropriate and actionable recommendations based on which populations can make healthy food choices. Food systems sustainability, from production to consumption, and disposal of food and foodrelated items, should be a critical consideration for developing such guidelines. This rapid review assesses Ghana's food systems to determine the level of sustainability to inform the FBDG recommendations. Peer-reviewed articles, documents and reports of relevance to Ghana were included in this rapid review. A hundred and eight papers, answering different questions on food system sustainability were reviewed. Bread, cereals, fish and indigenous vegetables are the most frequently consumed food groups. Sugar-Sweetened Beverages are the most consumed imported foods. In rural areas, 53% of dietary protein comes from plant sources. Fish is the main the source of animal protein for most Ghanaian households. There is intensive exploitation of marine and fresh water resources. Most livestock are raised by smallholder farmers using freerange system. Poultry is frequently kept on deep litter system and only a few are largescale. Crop production for household consumption and small-scale animal rearing are predominant, especially in Northern Ghana. By weight, fruits and vegetables are the least cultivated and consumed crops at the household level. Wood is the commonest source of fuel for cooking, especially in rural areas. Single use plastic is the most used and preferred material for food packaging. Indiscriminate and poor management of waste and pesticide misuse is commonly reported. The findings suggest the need for promoting production diversification, use of clean fuel and reusable food packaging as part of FBDGs to enhance sustainability of Ghana’s food systems

Struggles over family land? Tree crops, land and labour in Ghana's Brong-Ahafo region

Agricultural land use in much of Brong-Ahafo region, Ghana has been shifting from the production of food crops towards increased cashew nut cultivation in recent years. This article explores everyday, less visible, gendered and generational struggles over family farms in West Africa, based on qualitative, participatory research in a rural community that is becoming increasingly integrated into the global capitalist system. As a tree crop, cashew was regarded as an individual man's property to be passed on to his wife and children rather than to extended family members, which differed from the communal land tenure arrangements governing food crop cultivation. The tendency for land, cash crops and income to be controlled by men, despite women's and young people's significant labour contributions to family farms, and for women to rely on food crop production for their main source of income and for household food security, means that women and girls are more likely to lose out when cashew plantations are expanded to the detriment of land for food crops. Intergenerational tensions emerged when young people felt that their parents and elders were neglecting their views and concerns. The research provides important insights into gendered and generational power relations regarding land access, property rights and intra-household decision-making processes. Greater dialogue between genders and generations may help to tackle unequal power relations and lead to shared decision-making processes that build the resilience of rural communities

A review of Ghana’s food system and its implications on sustainability and the development of national food-based dietary guidelines

Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG) provide culturally-appropriate and actionable recommendations based on which populations can make healthy food choices. Food systems sustainability, from production to consumption, and disposal of food and foodrelated items, should be a critical consideration for developing such guidelines. This rapid review assesses Ghana's food systems to determine the level of sustainability to inform the FBDG recommendations. Peer-reviewed articles, documents and reports of relevance to Ghana were included in this rapid review. A hundred and eight papers, answering different questions on food system sustainability were reviewed. Bread, cereals, fish and indigenous vegetables are the most frequently consumed food groups. Sugar-Sweetened Beverages are the most consumed imported foods. In rural areas, 53% of dietary protein comes from plant sources. Fish is the main the source of animal protein for most Ghanaian households. There is intensive exploitation of marine and fresh water resources. Most livestock are raised by smallholder farmers using freerange system. Poultry is frequently kept on deep litter system and only a few are largescale. Crop production for household consumption and small-scale animal rearing are predominant, especially in Northern Ghana. By weight, fruits and vegetables are the least cultivated and consumed crops at the household level. Wood is the commonest source of fuel for cooking, especially in rural areas. Single use plastic is the most used and preferred material for food packaging. Indiscriminate and poor management of waste and pesticide misuse is commonly reported. The findings suggest the need for promoting production diversification, use of clean fuel and reusable food packaging as part of FBDGs to enhance sustainability of Ghana’s food systems.&nbsp

Firm characteristics, business environment, and performance of non-traditional agricultural SME exporters in Ghana

The contribution of Africa’s agricultural exports to world trade is less than 15%, although agriculture employs close to 60% of the work force in Africa and contributes on average 30% of gross domestic product. And the foreign revenues generated so far could not stimulate Africa’s further development. This is associated with the fact that Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) economies do not control world market prices, not much investments went into agriculture, and exports had little added value. In the last three decades, two strategic interventions by the Africa Union (AU) stand out, namely, improving the agriculture and agribusiness environment and diversification of export portfolios. This has been done in a number of ways, such as promoting export diversification (programmes/strategies) of non-traditional exports including agricultural exports. Ghana is no exception. In 2017, Ghana was listed in the World Development indicators as one of the best performing countries in Africa. In 2019, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) discussing the fastest growing SSA economies (per GDP growth %) stated Ghana (7.6%) as one of the top three, behind Ethiopia (8.5%) and Rwanda (7.8%).  So it is interesting to investigate how Ghana as one of the fastest growing SSA economy stimulates non-traditional agricultural exports (NTAE). The thesis focuses on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) because these constitute about 85.3% of all the NTAE companies. Though there is a pile of literature on Ghana’s export and SMEs, a theoretical gap still exists that needs to be explored to identify which factors at NTAE SME level itself, and the general business environment stimulate or hinder NTAE performance. The thesis starts out using the resource based view (RBV) but it acknowledge criticisms that the RBV is much focused on the internal capabilities of the firm. The criticisms of the RBV suggest that resources alone do not fully explain firm performance. The unexplained link can be better explained by application of other theoretical concepts. For this reason, the network and supply chain management (SCM) theories are used together with the RBV to better link resources and networks to performance.   A mixed method combining a quantitative and a qualitative approach has been used. The cross-sectional analyses are based on a sample of 152 NTAE SMEs located in the coastal, forest and savannah zones of Ghana, with 83% of the cases located in the coastal zone. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS SEM) analyses was applied.  The overall objective of this study is to identify the internal and external factors that facilitate or hinder NTAE SME export performance. This knowledge is used to provide suggestions towards a more effective policy framework to support NTAE SMEs’ operations. The thesis addresses the following central research question, within the theoretical context of the Resource Based View (RBV), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and network theories, which characteristics (specifically internal capabilities, resources and network relationships) of NTAE SMEs and their business environment are positively related to their export performance? The results show that performance is highest for those SMEs where the CEO has received tertiary level education and has export experience for over five years, exports directly (no use of traders/agents), makes extensive use of Ghana’s export institutions, use export contracts and is a member of SME associations. The network relations in the upstream processes are mostly based on relational embeddedness, based on trust (unwritten agreements) which has led to strong bonds over time. The scenario downstream is a little different. The networks are dense for NTAE SMEs who belonged to an association and sparse for those who did not. Export knowledge, corporate governance, product development, and professional and technical support are positively related to export performance. Interestingly, export mode is negatively related to export performance. The reason for this finding might be that in the case of Ghanaian NTAE SMEs the export mode is restricted. The general findings suggest that the macro state level policy is not adequately aligned with micro level policy/factors. Empirical results show that the upstream network linkages are poor between NTAE SMEs and extension services. Further the downstream network coordination is equally poor as either the certification processes/controls are not effective enough, export regulations are not strictly adhered to, leading loss of export market (reject of goods).  The weak institutional support also leads to that the NTAE SMEs are handicapped to build capacity to strengthen their resource bases. From an RBV perspective, NTAE SMEs have to build resources to strengthen their entrepreneurial and innovation capacity. This can be done through continuous innovation and safeguarding knowledge build up. It is crucial where there is/are no national sub-sector policy(s) and regulator(s) because chain operations are seriously affected increasing costs of coordination. Agribusiness financing is perceived to be inadequate, with urgings for more government prioritization to support this. The findings also suggest that export knowledge and good organization of the upstream supply chain relations will help NTAE SMEs to gain better performance when competing in international markets. The type of export product is a determining factor for downstream costs. Implications of the study suggest that NTAE SMEs could improve their social networks through building groups or associations for exporting with strong monitoring and enforcement of rules. Some policy intervention include encouraging public private partnerships where government shortfalls in NTAE support are identified. Incentives made available to private sector actors in agri supply chains would strengthen their resource base, so more services can be provided. The provision of export hubs in the forest and savannah zones, with the same facilities as those found in the coastal zone will ensure equitable spread of opportunities to NTAE SMEs. An alternative could be extending services through e-information, e-training and capacity building at reduced costs. It would be helpful for future studies to go more in-depth into the different sub-sectors using a longitudinal approach to support this cross sectional study. Also a larger sample of NTAE SMEs could be captured for the forest and savannah zones