Browsing by Author "AGYEI,FRANK KWAKU"

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    PROFITS, ACCESS AND AUTHORITY ALONG GHANA’S CHARCOAL COMMODITY CHAIN
    (KNUST, 2019-06) AGYEI,FRANK KWAKU
    In Africa, charcoal is the main source of energy for cooking and heating in urban households. Charcoal supply produces great wealth and engages remarkable number of people. In spite of its economic significance, the extent to which charcoal income reduces poverty is debatable. This study addresses the questions: (1) What profits are reaped by the different actors in the charcoal production and trade, and what are the characteristics of actors?; (2) By what mechanisms do actors gain, maintain and control access to benefits?; and (3) How are institutions mediating access to opportunities, and how do that affect the legitimacy and authority of institutions? The questions are addressed in the case of the charcoal chain originating in the Kintampo Forest District (the main charcoal production area in Ghana) and going to the three largest end markets in Ghana. The study employed commodity chain analysis to quantify and explain profits, and access mapping to trace the socio-political and economic relations in which charcoal benefits are located. The study estimates that Ghana’s charcoal market generates US$ 66 million income annually. Yet, income distribution is highly skewed among and within actor groups. Merchants make up only 3% of the actors in the market, yet reap 22% of the profit. Producers and retailers, the largest groups in the sector, generate incomes below the national minimum wage. The study illuminates how the mechanisms used by various groups of actors to gain, maintain and control access are dynamic in time and space. It shows how significant incomes are derived by those in control of the market while those in control of the production process generate much lower levels of profits. The study documents force, moral economy, social movement and innovation as structural and relational access mechanisms that allow actors to benefit. The study further demonstrates that chiefs, having no legal mandate in trees, are gaining overall authority in Ghana’s charcoal production. Chiefs’ authority is drawn from long-established customs and social structures in land/tree management, as well as validating of claims. The Ghana Forestry Commission de facto have very limited authority over trees for charcoal production despite their de jure mandate in this regard. The study suggests that improving equity and wellbeing along charcoal chains requires more attention on access mechanisms operating on charcoal markets, especially access to capital, information and buyers. The legitimacy of institutions stems from the coercive and social ability to control access to resources and opportunities.