Trade In Ghana Research Articles

Smoked And frozen fish consumption and marketing channels in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana

Fish marketing has become an important trade in Ghana due to the increasing appreciation of the health benefits from consuming fish. This paper examines fish marketing and consumption in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana with specific reference to consumer preferences. It discusses the results of a survey research that compares the marketing and consumption of smoked and frozen fish. One hundred and fifty respondents comprising smoked and frozen fish sellers and consumers were randomly selected and interviewed. Twenty-two smoked fish species were identified, out of which 12 were freshwater species while 10 were marine species. Eighty-six per cent (86%) of consumers preferred smoked fish while 14% preferred frozen fish. Herrings, horse mackerel and salmon were the most preferred fish. Consumer preferences were based on taste, affordability, availability and wholesomeness in soup and stew. The fishmongers indicated that they obtained their marine fishes from Kumasi (42%), Techiman (30%), Sunyani (19%), Tema (5%) and Takoradi (4%) whiles freshwater fishes were obtained from Yeji/Makango (52%), Buipe/Yapei (33%), Nawuni/Botanga (9%) and Techiman (6%). The study showed that the marketing channel of frozen fish was simple while that of smoked fish was slightly more complex. Averagely, prices per kilogram of frozen or fresh (GH¢ 3.80) fishes were relatively cheaper compared to smoked (GH¢ 3.80) fish species. KEY WORDS : Marketing, Consumers, Freshwater, Marine, Frozen Fish, Smoked Fish

The effects of exchange rate on the trade balance in Ghana: Evidence from co-integration analysis

This paper examines the effects of exchange rates on the trade balance of Ghana. First, by deriving the real exchange rate as a function of preferences and technology of two trading economies and then by applying small price taking economy assumption to the Ghanaian economy, using annual time series data from 1970-2000 we estimate the trade balance as a function of the real exchange rate, domestic and foreign incomes. Co-integration analyses of both single equation models and VAR-Error correction models confirm a stable long run relationship between both exports and imports and the real exchange rate. The short-run elasticities of imports and exports indicate contractionary effects of devaluation, in terms of the Marshall-Lerner-Robinson conditions, though these elasticities add up to almost 1 in the long run estimates. The overall conclusion drawn from the study is that, for improved balance of trade in Ghana, coordination between the exchange rate and demand management policies should be strengthened and be based on the long run fundamentals of the economy. Key words: Exchange rate, trade policy, Ghana, co-integration.

Multinational presence and the export participation of local firms in Ghana

This article examines whether the presence of multinationals affects the export participation of local firms in the same industry using data on manufacturing firms in Ghana. We find robust evidence consistent with the idea of spillovers from multinationals to Ghanaian exporters. We also observe that larger firms and firms that exported in the past are more likely to export. Our results remain unchanged after we control for potential spillovers from other exporters. These results have useful implications for both Ghana's trade and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policies.

Emotive histories: the politics of remembering slavery in contemporary Ghana

New narratives about the role of Africans in the history of the slave trade in Ghana are emerging from unexplored vectors within the black Atlantic, breaking the previous silence about the topic since many of West Africa's elite families have ambiguous histories as both slavers and slaves. Heritage tourism, heavily backed by a state eager to build an industry, has brought Ghanaians into contact with the very different perspectives of comparatively more prosperous diasporan Africans, and has meant that Ghanaians have produced monuments and stories about the past in a new vernacular which differs from extant oral traditions and material culture. The incorporation of these stories into the heritage tourism industry has rendered them into a form of currency. In spite of this flawed function, they also serve emotional needs of diasporan and African communities alike, producing new structures of feeling while simultaneously performing to the demands of contemporary political and economic needs. This essay traces the contemporary conflicts, both local and transnational, made visible by the contradictions in accounts of the past and seeks to locate markers of the past made visible in material objects, particularly gifts between Africans and Europeans that speak to histories of complicity in the slave trade. Consequently, it also explores the complexities of the history of the post-independence relationship between Ghanaians and diasporans. Nonetheless, this essay insists that a new cultural space has opened up in which Africans themselves are authoring new narratives about their past, and a contemporary transatlantic generation offers a genuine engagement with the past, an escape from the stigma of slavery, and a shared sense of regret and empathy in relation to the difficult legacy of the transatlantic trade.

Uncovering the fruit bat bushmeat commodity chain and the true extent of fruit bat hunting in Ghana, West Africa

Harvesting, consumption and trade of bushmeat are important causes of both biodiversity loss and potential zoonotic disease emergence. In order to identify possible ways to mitigate these threats, it is essential to improve our understanding of the mechanisms by which bushmeat gets from the site of capture to the consumer’s table. In this paper we highlight the previously unrecognized scale of hunting of the African straw-colored fruit bat, Eidolon helvum, a species which is important in both ecological and public health contexts, and describe the commodity chain in southern Ghana for its trade. Based on interviews with 551 Ghanaians, including bat hunters, vendors and consumers, we estimate that a minimum of 128,000 E. helvum bats are sold each year through a commodity chain stretching up to 400km and involving multiple vendors. Unlike the general bushmeat trade in Ghana, where animals are sold in both specialized bushmeat markets and in restaurants, E. helvum is sold primarily in marketplaces; many bats are also kept by hunters for personal consumption. The offtake estimated in this paper raises serious conservation concerns, while the commodity chain identified in this study may offer possible points for management intervention. The separation of the E. helvum commodity chain from that of other bushmeat highlights the need for species-specific research in this area, particularly for bats, whose status as bushmeat is largely unknown.

The Slaves of Pikworo: <em>Local Histories, Transatlantic Perspectives</em>

This article examines the trans/formation of a memorial landscape of slavery and the slave trade in Ghana's Upper East Region. It focuses on a former slave camp (Pikworo), which is closely associated with late-nineteenth-century slave raids that play an important role in local memorial and ritual practices. Recently, however, Pikworo has been represented as part of the transatlantic slave route, so as to attract an African American audience. Here, the emphasis is less on social relationships than on victimhood and resurrection. The two colliding narratives correspond to two notions of sacralization which can be translated into the idioms of continuity and closure.

Bayo Holsey. Routes of Remembrance: Refashioning the Slave Trade in Ghana. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2008. xiii + 280 pp. Photographs. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $21.00. Paper.

Bayo Holsey. Routes of Remembrance: Refashioning the Slave Trade in Ghana. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2008. xiii + 280 pp. Photographs. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $21.00. Paper. - Volume 53 Issue 1

Routes of Remembrance: Refashioning the Slave Trade in Ghana by Bayo Holsey

Routes of Remembrance: Refashioning the Slave Trade in Ghana by <i>Bayo Holsey</i>

Reflections in a Shattered Glass: The British Council's Celebrations of the Bicentenary of the 1807 Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in Ghana

This article examines the Ghanaian celebrations of the bicentenary of the 1807 Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, which were commissioned by the British Council. It argues that these celebrations acted primarily to promote a benign view of Britain's relationship with Africa, rather than a realistic reckoning with a past of slave trading and colonialism.

Routes of remembrance: refashioning the slave trade in Ghana – By Bayo Holsey

Routes of remembrance: refashioning the slave trade in Ghana – By Bayo Holsey

Routes of Remembrance: refashioning the slave trade in Ghana

Routes of Remembrance: refashioning the slave trade in Ghana

Trade liberalisation and poverty: empirical evidence from household surveys in Ghana

PurposeDrawing first on stylised facts, the purpose of this paper is to isolate the impact of trade liberalisation policies pursued for the past two decades on poverty in agricultural households in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachTwo samples of agricultural households are drawn from the most recently published Ghana Living Standards Survey. Using terms of trade as a channel of the reforms, an econometric estimate of the impact of terms of trade on per‐capita expenditure, of these agricultural households, is run on both samples using two cross‐sectional models.FindingsThe results suggest that trade liberalisation had an adverse welfare impact on agricultural households immediately after the reforms‐1992; however, trade positively influenced welfare much later‐1999. Even though agricultural producers' terms of trade have improved they still constitute the largest segment of the poor in Ghana.Research limitations/implicationsTargeted trade policy instruments are required to positively impact mainstream agricultural households in poverty alleviation efforts. The absence of repeated cross‐sections in the Living Standards Survey limits the possibility of exploring dynamic effects.Originality/valueThis paper isolates welfare effects of trade on agriculture households in Ghana – a departure from previous studies which examine the effect of trade on all households. This distinction is important since welfare effects of trade in Ghana are more likely to impact households whose livelihoods depend on agriculture than on other households.

The Changing Trade Pattern of Emerging Economies: Gravity Model of Ghana's Trade Flow

This paper applies the augmented gravity model to study the changing pattern of Ghana's bilateral trade flows and to extract practical trade policy implications. Economic classification dummies are included in the gravity equation to characterize the peculiarity of South-South and North-South trade patterns. The result indicates that Ghana's trade especially the export sector has greater trading potential with the emerging and developing economies than the high income economies.

Structural relations of the sex trade and its link to trafficking: The case of Ghana

abstract The sex trade in Ghana is perceived as women's business. The legal definition of prostitution in the Ghanaian criminal code of 1960 limits sex work and stipulates prostitution as females' activity. Hence, punishment for it is meted out only to females who offer their bodies for sale but not the males who demand the offers or participate in any other form. This legal background, coupled with patriarchal structures and embedded in our customs and traditions, limits the right of women and sets the stage for unequal structural relations in the sex trade. There is a gross abuse of the rights of sex workers, who are predominantly women, by their pimps and managers, who are predominantly men. The sex trade in Ghana is also closely linked to trafficking of women and children, both within and outside the country. This profile discusses the issues that fuel commercial sex work and the structural relations between the actors of the sex trade: the woman as the supply, the man as the manager of the supply and demand.

Exportation of Timber in Ghana: The Menace of Illegal Logging Operations

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the linkage between external timber trade in Ghana and the increased incidence of illegal chainsaw operations which do not only threaten the country's forests and other natural resources but also the erosion of the basis for sustainable agriculture which is the main-stay of the country's economy. It uses ethnographic data from case studies of a recent research in selected forest reserves fringe communities in High Forest Zone of the country to explain the frustrations of local people with government policies that favour export to the neglect of local demand for timber and wood products. Although government pronouncements suggest that it is gaining an upper hand in the battle against illegal logging operations, evidence on the ground suggests that the greater part of the lumber on the local markets is supplied through illegal means predominated by itinerant chainsaw operators and their urban financiers. The paper concludes that the country's forest and tree resources face massive degradation and overexploitation if the government does not take a bold decision on illegal logging, especially the activities of chainsaw operators. An option, though unpalatable and politically sensitive, may be the mainstreaming of chainsaw operations through the re-introduction of limited permits to registered local groups of timber traders and their chainsaw operators to supply the domestic market. This should be under a system which enjoins such groups to be collectively responsible for the activities of their members. And, the government should also strengthen the Forestry Services Division (FSD) to design and operationalize an enhanced monitoring and surveillance system of logging activities.

Managing trade liberalization: legal system deficiencies and the political economy of contingency protection in Ghana

This article proposes to critically examine how effectively Ghana has managed pressures by domestic import-competing industries and unionized labour for protection since the country engaged in radical and far-reaching trade liberalization under World Bank and IMF auspices. It argues that the heavy influence of public choice theory on the conception of regulatory role of government in the economy held by these principal architects of Ghana's trade reforms has resulted in the omission to provide for contingency protection measures for domestic industries adversely impacted by imports as a consequence of liberalization. Though these measures pose a counternormative threat to free trade, the article takes the position that they are necessary tools for the effective management of protectionist pressures and therefore for sustaining free trade itself. Finally, it concludes that the uncritical application of choice theoretic analyses to Ghana's trade reforms may be mistaken and that there is no rational alternative to dealing with the problem of protectionist pressure other than a resort to the legitimate mechanism provided under international law.

The Changing Geography of Export Trade in Ghana under Structural Adjustment Programs: Some Socioeconomic and Spatial Implications

Like many other countries in Africa, Ghana has traditionally depended on a few export products—namely, cocoa, timber, and mineral resources—as the mainstays of its economy. The often-volatile nature of the world market price of these products made the economy very vulnerable to fluctuations in the prices of export commodities. Moreover, the geographical distribution of these resources meant that only a few regions could participate in their production and export. This resulted in wide spatial and socioeconomic disparities between the producing and nonproducing regions. Within the past eighteen years, however, a shift seems to have taken place. Under the auspices of the ongoing structural adjustment programs, emphasis is being placed on nontraditional export goods. This is not only helping to reduce the vulnerability of the economy by diversifying the sources of export earnings, but also engendering participation in the export trade by regions that have been traditionally left behind. This study analyses the changing geography of the export trade of Ghana using data from the International Monetary Fund/World Bank, the Ghanaian government, the World Trade Organization, and field observation. The study argues that while these new trends and efforts are laudable, they cannot bridge the gap between the export producing and nonproducing areas and cushion the economy against the vagaries of the export market unless deliberate attempts are made to improve transportation and other basic infrastructure in the less-endowed areas.

Structural adjustment programmes and the international tourism trade in Ghana, 1983-99: Some socio-spatial implications

Ghana has been undergoing a major economic restructuring programme over the past 16 years. Ghana, whose economy had teetered towards a complete collapse due to a multiplicity of factors, began to implement IMF/World Bank-sponsored economic restructuring programmes in 1983. Among other things, the restructuring programmes have not only sought to open up Ghana to globalization, but also to diversify the economy's dependence on the traditional exports of cocoa, timber and mineral resources. Given Ghana's rich historical and natural resources, tourism became one of the obvious areas targeted for improvement. While Ghana's tourism potential has long been known and exploited, a combination of factors has worked in concert to make it one of the most important tourist destination countries in sub-Saharan Africa. What are the socio-spatial implications of this boom in tourism? This paper examines the impact of economic restructuring on tourism in Ghana and some of the socio-spatial implications.

Bookselling and the library: a partnership for enhancing the book trade in Ghana

AbstractThe paper describes the types of booksellers in Ghana, their problems, and the library's role as a partner with booksellers for enhancing the book trade in Ghana. The writer is of the view that the future of bookselling in Ghana does not appear gloomy. There are several ways in which libraries can help in promoting the book trade in Ghana, and attempts must be made to develop this partnership.