The role of cocoa in Ghana's future development: Do geography and ethnic diversity matter?

The recent surge in world commodity prices might alter the role of traditional export crops in African economies. While export crops have traditionally been important sources of foreign exchange earnings and government revenues, Ghana is an exceptional case, where a combination of favorable external...

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Autores principales: Breisinger, Clemens, Diao, Xinshen, Kolavalli, Shashidhara, Thurlow, James
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161712
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author Breisinger, Clemens
Diao, Xinshen
Kolavalli, Shashidhara
Thurlow, James
author_browse Breisinger, Clemens
Diao, Xinshen
Kolavalli, Shashidhara
Thurlow, James
author_facet Breisinger, Clemens
Diao, Xinshen
Kolavalli, Shashidhara
Thurlow, James
author_sort Breisinger, Clemens
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The recent surge in world commodity prices might alter the role of traditional export crops in African economies. While export crops have traditionally been important sources of foreign exchange earnings and government revenues, Ghana is an exceptional case, where a combination of favorable external conditions and internal reforms have made cocoa the driver of growth and poverty reduction. Cocoa's share of agricultural GDP has been increasing rapidly and existing yield gaps and the prospects of continued high world commodity prices suggest further growth potential. We find that increasing cocoa production by around 60,000 tons per annum is needed to support Ghana reaching its middle-income country target. However, cocoa’s poverty-growth elasticity is low, thus implying that further growth is unlikely to lead to the large reductions in poverty experienced in the past. Finally, we show that, even with complimentary growth in other sectors, cocoa will continue to dominate agricultural exports over the medium term and that structural diversification remains a key challenge for Ghana.
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spelling CGSpace1617122025-11-06T06:33:03Z The role of cocoa in Ghana's future development: Do geography and ethnic diversity matter? Breisinger, Clemens Diao, Xinshen Kolavalli, Shashidhara Thurlow, James agricultural development cocoa The recent surge in world commodity prices might alter the role of traditional export crops in African economies. While export crops have traditionally been important sources of foreign exchange earnings and government revenues, Ghana is an exceptional case, where a combination of favorable external conditions and internal reforms have made cocoa the driver of growth and poverty reduction. Cocoa's share of agricultural GDP has been increasing rapidly and existing yield gaps and the prospects of continued high world commodity prices suggest further growth potential. We find that increasing cocoa production by around 60,000 tons per annum is needed to support Ghana reaching its middle-income country target. However, cocoa’s poverty-growth elasticity is low, thus implying that further growth is unlikely to lead to the large reductions in poverty experienced in the past. Finally, we show that, even with complimentary growth in other sectors, cocoa will continue to dominate agricultural exports over the medium term and that structural diversification remains a key challenge for Ghana. 2008 2024-11-21T09:57:34Z 2024-11-21T09:57:34Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161712 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Breisinger, Clemens; Diao, Xinshen; Kolavalli, Shashi; Thurlow, James. 2008. The role of cocoa in Ghana's future development. GSSP Working Paper 11. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161712
spellingShingle agricultural development
cocoa
Breisinger, Clemens
Diao, Xinshen
Kolavalli, Shashidhara
Thurlow, James
The role of cocoa in Ghana's future development: Do geography and ethnic diversity matter?
title The role of cocoa in Ghana's future development: Do geography and ethnic diversity matter?
title_full The role of cocoa in Ghana's future development: Do geography and ethnic diversity matter?
title_fullStr The role of cocoa in Ghana's future development: Do geography and ethnic diversity matter?
title_full_unstemmed The role of cocoa in Ghana's future development: Do geography and ethnic diversity matter?
title_short The role of cocoa in Ghana's future development: Do geography and ethnic diversity matter?
title_sort role of cocoa in ghana s future development do geography and ethnic diversity matter
topic agricultural development
cocoa
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161712
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