Abstract
Markets are critical in connecting small towns with agricultural activities in their rural hinterland. This paper presents data from north-eastern Ghana on grain marketing and trade flows, combined with data on expansion of built and transport infrastructure in five linked towns of a periodic market system. Rurally sourced goods flow through historically established small-town and regional markets to national and international markets. Simultaneously, infrastructure and service provision develops in those small towns. These trends are linked by recursive, reinforcing processes of increasing consumption, agricultural commercialisation and economic diversification. Historical structures, such as periodic markets, and the nature of the commodities involved are central to this linkage and interact with policy: the commodities concerned have been promoted in northern Ghana in preceding decades, and contribute to small-town market development by integrating smoothly into existing local systems. Historical continuity is therefore central to the role that small towns play in rural–urban transformation.
Published Version
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