Studies have shown that the economy of Ghana cannot afford to rely solely on cocoa exports. It is imperative to diversify the export base of the Ghanaian economy. In this respect, the palm oil sub-sector of the agricultural sector, which until the early part of the 20th century was the major...

We apply the classic agency model to investigate risk shifting in an agricultural marketing channel, using time series analysis. We show that if the principal is risk-neutral and the agent is risk-averse instead of risk-neutral, then a linear contract can still be optimal if the fixed payment is...

This paper analyzes the dimensions of transaction cost in the poultry industry. We analyze asset specificity, frequency, uncertainty, and opportunism in the poultry industry in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. We examine these dimensions for all firms in the production chain: input suppliers,...

This study analyzes the marketing costs of a pineapple producing and export firm (Bomart Farms) in Ghana. Con­ sistent with the existing literature, we categorize marketing costs into assembling, processing, and distribution costs. The assembling cost comprises of cost of crating and loading...

The number of ostrich farms in Ghana has increased lately as a result of the high and faster financial returns these farms are accruing. This study assesses the performance of MacBaron Ostrich Farm by examining the trends in its output, operating performance, profitability, market structure, and...

We specify a principal-agent marketing channel involving producers, wholesalers, retailers and a futures market. Our hedge ratio for producers appears to be much lower than the common price-risk minimising ones as we account for producers vertical contracts and, by using annual data, their...

Food-supply chains have become extensively vertically coordinated through the use of contracts as an organizational response to satisfy the needs of consumers in the saturated food markets of the industrialized countries. The contracts involved must establish an optimal trade-off between...

We examine the interaction of marketing channel members and the influence of these interactions on incentives, coordination costs, and risk allocation strategies in a food marketing channel. For this purpose we specify a three-stage principal-agent marketing channel model involving producers,...

The study examines the food security status of farming households in theCoastal and forest belts of the Central region of Ghana.A multistage sampling technique was used to select the households that were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. In all, data obtained 260 households were used...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine women farmers' access to credit from rural banks (RBs) in the Upper East region of Ghana. The paper examines the nature of credit supply by the RBs to their customers and the proportion that goes to women over a ten year period. It proposes the...