Culture, Markets, and Agricultural Production: A Comparative Study of the Investment Patterns of Migrant and Citizen Cocoa Farmers in the Western Region of Ghana

Abstract

Current agrarian reforms in Ghana, sponsored by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, are based on the notion that pricing incentives from markets are the key to agricultural investments. The turnaround in the production of the principal agricultural export, cocoa, seems to vindicate this view. However, this perspective is silent on the question of why many farmers continued to produce cocoa in the period preceding the reforms when prices were at their lowest in the country's history. Based on research on the comparative investment patterns of migrant and citizen cocoa farmers in two districts in the Western region of Ghana, this article suggests a holistic approach to comprehending investments. It indicates that the economic behaviour of cocoa farmers is complexly linked to the politics of land tenure, and cultural expectations and obligations.

Land distribution and acquisition practices in Ghana's cocoa frontier: The impact of a state-regulated marketing system

“…Awanyo (1998) compares investment strategies among indigenous landowners and migrants who have acquired usufruct rights through abunu. While some of the indigenous cocoa farmers shift parts of their production away from cocoa in periods of low prices, all migrant tenants continue and even expand cocoa production in the same period.…”

“…In Juaboso District, the indigenous Sefwi population is defined as consisting of members of any of the resident local matrilineages (Awanyo, 1998). They can be described as the holders of "stools".…”

“…The land belonging to the stool, or in practice to the matrilineage as a group, is termed stool land. 4 An individual can be granted farming rights to land, but cannot claim ownership, as the land belongs to the whole community (matrilineage), those living as well as the ancestors and those as yet unborn (Awanyo, 1998).…”

“…Another observer of Ghana's cocoa sector claims that individual landholdings range from 1 to 20 hectares, averaging about 5 hectares (Nyanteng, 1995). Other case study based figures, however, refer to holdings ranging from 6 to 138 hectares (Awanyo, 1998). Even though these analyses demonstrate striking differences in landholdings, none of them reflect on the causes or implications of such differences.…”

Patterns of population change in Ghana (1984–2000): urbanization and frontier development

“…It includes all forms of work taking place in a variety of locations. 2 An indigenous household is here defined as a household that is a member of any of the resident local Sefwi matrilineages and thereby has the right to access to land for farming (Awanyo 1998). A migrant household is correspondingly defined as a household that does not belong to a local matrilineage and thereby does not have an inherited right to access to land.…”