What does liberalization without price competition achieve?: The case of cocoa in Ghana

The deregulation of Ghana’s domestic cocoa supply chain that took place in the early 1990s was expected to bring competition among different private buyers and to generate a number of production incentives to the farmers. Most notably, it was expected that competition would emerge by means of price...

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Autores principales: Vigneri, Marcella, Santos, Paulo
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161720
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author Vigneri, Marcella
Santos, Paulo
author_browse Santos, Paulo
Vigneri, Marcella
author_facet Vigneri, Marcella
Santos, Paulo
author_sort Vigneri, Marcella
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The deregulation of Ghana’s domestic cocoa supply chain that took place in the early 1990s was expected to bring competition among different private buyers and to generate a number of production incentives to the farmers. Most notably, it was expected that competition would emerge by means of price bonuses and/or premiums over the guaranteed price. However, this paper finds that price-based competition mechanisms did not develop in the resulting domestic cocoa value chain. Rather, the now increasing numbers of Licensed Buying Companies compete for cocoa supplies based on the provision of different services to farmers. The availability of a number of outlets offers farmers the option to choose among those that can provide cash as well as credit. The cash payment and credit for inputs offered to attract cocoa sales mainly benefit liquidity-constrained farmers, enabling them to invest in productive inputs. Since cash constrained farmers are likely to be the poorest as measured by simple welfare indicators, liberalization may be seen to have had a progressive impact on Ghana’s cocoa farmers.
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publishDate 2008
publishDateRange 2008
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spelling CGSpace1617202025-11-06T05:20:52Z What does liberalization without price competition achieve?: The case of cocoa in Ghana Vigneri, Marcella Santos, Paulo agricultural policies productivity cocoa regulations trade liberalization The deregulation of Ghana’s domestic cocoa supply chain that took place in the early 1990s was expected to bring competition among different private buyers and to generate a number of production incentives to the farmers. Most notably, it was expected that competition would emerge by means of price bonuses and/or premiums over the guaranteed price. However, this paper finds that price-based competition mechanisms did not develop in the resulting domestic cocoa value chain. Rather, the now increasing numbers of Licensed Buying Companies compete for cocoa supplies based on the provision of different services to farmers. The availability of a number of outlets offers farmers the option to choose among those that can provide cash as well as credit. The cash payment and credit for inputs offered to attract cocoa sales mainly benefit liquidity-constrained farmers, enabling them to invest in productive inputs. Since cash constrained farmers are likely to be the poorest as measured by simple welfare indicators, liberalization may be seen to have had a progressive impact on Ghana’s cocoa farmers. 2008 2024-11-21T09:57:38Z 2024-11-21T09:57:38Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161720 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Vigneri, Marcella; Santos, Paulo. 2008. What does liberalization without price competition achieve? GSSP Working Paper 14. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161720
spellingShingle agricultural policies
productivity
cocoa
regulations
trade liberalization
Vigneri, Marcella
Santos, Paulo
What does liberalization without price competition achieve?: The case of cocoa in Ghana
title What does liberalization without price competition achieve?: The case of cocoa in Ghana
title_full What does liberalization without price competition achieve?: The case of cocoa in Ghana
title_fullStr What does liberalization without price competition achieve?: The case of cocoa in Ghana
title_full_unstemmed What does liberalization without price competition achieve?: The case of cocoa in Ghana
title_short What does liberalization without price competition achieve?: The case of cocoa in Ghana
title_sort what does liberalization without price competition achieve the case of cocoa in ghana
topic agricultural policies
productivity
cocoa
regulations
trade liberalization
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161720
work_keys_str_mv AT vignerimarcella whatdoesliberalizationwithoutpricecompetitionachievethecaseofcocoainghana
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