Post-harvest management of agricultural value chains in Ghana: decreasing post-harvest losses
Boudewijn Wijnands 2 September 2014
Executive summary
This report focuses on the post-harvest management (PHM) sector of agricultural value chains in Ghana. Due to a lack of good PHM practices within the country there is a high amount of post-harvest losses (PHLs). The objective of this report is to gain a better insight into the PHM system that is currently in place and its impact on PHLs in non-perishable and perishable
agricultural value chains in Ghana. PHM practices are analyzed using different agricultural products as case studies which include a non-perishable agricultural product: cocoa; and a
perishable agricultural product: tomatoes. These agricultural products were chosen based on their importance to the Ghanaian farming economy and its future market potential.
Poor PHM practices are often due to a limited functioning logistical and infrastructure sector, limited access and availability of professional agricultural warehousing, restricted market channels, inadequate nor competitive agricultural processing sector, low quality products, cultural / social elements, tight financial resources, lack of government policies, and limited coordination between different stakeholders amongst others factors.
Non-perishable and perishable agricultural value chains face many post-harvest bottlenecks in Ghana. The value chains need to professionalize in order to meet a growing demand from both local and international consumers. The time is right for new government policies, investment, and cooperation in Ghana’s PHM sector - potentially harvesting large financial benefits for many future years to come.
Table of contents Executive summary ... 2 Introduction ... 4 Methodology ... 6 Data collection ... 6 Data analysis ... 7
Post-harvest management (PHM) and post-harvest losses (PHLs) ... 8
Logistical sector ... 11
Roads ... 14
Rail ... 15
Cross border logistics ... 16
Logistical future ... 17
Post-harvest management & post-harvest bottlenecks – more than investment is needed ... 17
Non-perishable agricultural value chains ... 20
Cocoa ... 24
Perishable agricultural value chains ... 28
Tomatoes ... 33
Improving the post-harvest management sector in Ghana: policy ... 38
Conclusion... 40
References ... 42
Introduction
“All the human and animal manure which the world wastes, if returned to the land, instead of being thrown into the sea, would suffice to nourish the world.” - Victor Hugo
Post-harvest management (PHM) and post-harvest losses (PHLs) are a very topical topic in Ghana. PHM includes all steps within the agricultural value chain that involve any activity that adds value to the harvested product with the purpose of increasing its final value (Aramyan et al., 2013). A lack of good PHM practices can lead to major PHLs (Hilhorst et al., 2011). Excessive PHLs have been a recurrent problem facing the Ghanaian food economy (Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture, 2012).
Major transitions in world food demand and local population factors are important catalysers for optimizing PHM practices and decreasing PHLs. A growing Ghanaian middle class (Kharas, 2010) has started changing consumer’s diets, increasing local demand for higher quality agricultural products. Furthermore, the increase in demand for agricultural products by the international market effect post-harvest cycles worldwide; including Ghana (Barrett, 2008). Global food demand is expected to grow at a faster pace than supply, as the world population increases steadily while supply is restricted by the scarcity of agricultural resources (Trostle, 2010). The internationalization of agricultural trade creates a lot of challenges for an
underdeveloped Ghanaian agricultural sector. Challenges include meeting international produce quality thresholds and guaranteeing a reliable production supply stream. These demanding challenges also hold a lot of opportunities for Ghana. Furthermore, PHLs in Ghana are not just an agricultural sector problem; but also have serious social implications on both the Ghanaian food security and population moral. For example, in Ghana’s Upper East Region, high suicide rates are reported among tomato farmers who cannot earn a living. They are unable to process their produce for conservation due to a lack of equipment or sell their product to the right market channels leaving a lot of their unsold produce to rot - depriving them of income (Owureku-Asare, 2013). Improving PHM practices is essential for securing better food quality and reducing PHLs (Kader & Rolle, 2004). These important local and international developments should stimulate the Ghanaian agricultural sector and its policy makers to improve the post-harvest
agricultural value chains in order to supply both changing local as international demand, while interpreting the challenges as opportunities in increasing prosperity - further developing Ghana. The agriculture sector in Ghana employs more than half of its workforce (which are mainly small-scale farmers) and accounts for roughly one-quarter of GDP making it arguably the most important domestic sector.
This report is coordinated by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and focuses on the Ghanaian PHM sector; analyzing its practices, its bottlenecks (impacting PHLs), and providing suggestions for sector improvements. Different post-harvest agricultural value chains are analyzed and used as examples of the current status quo of the Ghanaian agricultural sector. Post-harvest value chain analysis includes both non-perishable agricultural products, such as cocoa; as perishable agricultural products, such as tomatoes. These products were chosen based upon a variety of criteria which are discussed in the next section but include their
importance to the Ghanaian agricultural sector and its future market potential. This leads to the following research question:
What are the PHM bottlenecks / shortcomings in Ghana’s agricultural sector that lead to PHLs; and what can be done to improve non-perishable and perishable post-harvest agricultural value chains (PHM sector)?
The PHM report is structured into five main sections: 1) methodology; 2) analysis of the logistical / infrastructure sector; 3) current PHM practices and its bottlenecks; 4) improvements / suggestions; 5) conclusion. The methodology section describes the data gathering / analysis and defines / differentiates the PHM and PHLs terminologies. This is followed by a brief analysis of the Ghanaian logistical and infrastructure sector which are key determinants for managing an optimal post-harvest agricultural value chain. Thirdly, a thorough analysis of the current PHM sector and its impact on PHLs, divided into non-perishable and perishable agricultural value chains, is provided. This is followed in the fourth section by an analysis of potential
improvements and policy prescriptions for the PHM sector. Lastly, a brief conclusion is supplemented with suggestions for future research.
Figure 1. Interview list.
Type segment Name Product Country
Government organizations Ministry of Economic Affairs The Netherlands - The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Netherlands - The Netherlands
Cocobod Marketing Company Cacao Ghana
Ministry of Food & Agriculture - Ghana
Ministry of Trade and Industry - Ghana
Airport and Port Customs in Thema, Accra - Ghana
Member of Parliament Bright Edward Kodzo Demordzi - Ghana Member of Parliament Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto
Port of Thema
-PPRSD Food and safety regulators Ghana
IFDC (United Nations) International agricultural developer U.S.A.
Logistical think tanks Dinalog - The Netherlands
The Chartered Logistical Institute of Logistics & Transport
(CILT) - Ghana
Greenport Holland International Horticultural sector The Netherlands
SPEG Association of pineapple export Ghana
Gavex Ghana association of vegetable exports Ghana
Private institutions Armajarno Trading Cacao Ghana
Greenport International Ghana
Wienco Agriculture inputs Ghana
Celtic Cooling Agriculture cooling equipment Ghana
Labianca Transport Ghana
Damco Transport Ghana
Agri Impact Consultancy focusing on setting up fresh fruit
and vegetable supply chains Ghana
KLM - Air France Freight Transport Ghana
Blue Skies Cut packaged fruit Ghana
Supermaritime International schip management Ghana
VegPro Supplier and producer of fresh vegetables Ghana Universities University of Ghana - Agriculture department - Ghana
University of Amsterdam - Logistical department - The Netherlands
NGO's Solidaridad Cacao & palm oil Ghana
SNV Cacao & vegetables Ghana
Methodology
Data collection
Data for this report were obtained from primary (interviews) and secondary (literature) sources. Different stakeholders in the agricultural or PHM sector were interviewed which included government officials, companies, logistical think tanks, universities, non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and other key players. Figure 1, illustrated below, lists the different stakeholders interviewed for this report.
These stakeholders are active in the agricultural or PHM sector and were interviewed
individually or questioned in focus group discussions. The focus and aim of the interviews were to gain a better insight into the current status quo of the post-harvest agricultural sector, potential
bottlenecks, and possible improvement suggestions. Meetings were organized based on suggestions by Prof. J. de Wit (University of Amsterdam) and Mr. T. van Helden (Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Accra), as well as from follow up suggestions originated at different meetings with various stakeholders.
Interviews took place in the Netherlands and Ghana. The interviews were semi-structured and based on primary and secondary information provided by previous interviews with
stakeholders in the agricultural sector. Interviews were conducted on an individual or group discussion basis within the context of this PHM report. Each interview took approximately one hour, the set out questions were based upon the interviewed parties involved, while accounting for local traditions and formalities. No single key stakeholder was used as an original focus / starting point. The interviewees were interviewed on location or at the Embassy of the Netherlands. In total 36 interviews were held.
An analysis of the literature on PHM and PHLs are used throughout this report. In the methodology section the focus lies on defining PHM and PHLs while other information obtained from the literature are discussed in the relevant following sections.
Data analysis
The report is considered a qualitative study due to its extensive interview material and secondary resources. The primary and secondary data were analyzed in this report leading to conclusions and suggestions for enhancing PHM practices in the Ghanaian agricultural sector. There are two fundamental approaches to analyzing qualitative data: the deductive approach and the inductive approach (Thomas, 2006). Both approaches can be handled in a variety of different manners. The deductive approach involves using a structure or predetermined framework to analyze the data. Conversely, the inductive approach involves analyzing data with little or no predetermined theory, structure or framework and uses the actual data itself to derive the structure of analysis. In this report a combination of the two approached were used. The deductive approach was based upon previous literature on PHM practices and the inductive approach was influenced by listening to new insights and suggestions of interviewees. In qualitative research, data analysis often begins during, or immediately after the first data are collected, although this process continues and is modified throughout the study. Initial analysis
of the data may also further inform subsequent data collection. For example, interview schedules in Ghana were slightly modified in light of emerging findings, where additional clarification was required. Lastly, the key report findings regarding the different post-harvest practices within the agricultural value chains are discussed in the specific product section and linked in relation to existing literature and overall improvement suggestions.
Post-harvest management (PHM) and post-harvest losses (PHLs)
The post-harvest value chain consists of interconnected activities starting from
harvesting, transportation, handling, distribution, processing and marketing of the agricultural product until it has arrived at the final consuming consumer (Kader & Rolle, 2004). The managing of this chain is called PHM (Aramyan et al., 2013). The aim of PHM is to add value, involve different stakeholders, extend the duration period and quality of the agricultural product from the moment the product is harvested (Hodges, Buzby, & Bennett, 2011). Previous research has shown that optimal PHM has contained PHLs to a minimum (Feed the Future, 2010).
PHLs describe quantitative and qualitative food losses (de Lucia & Assennato, 1994). PHLs often occur as a result of untimely or improper methods of harvesting, storing, distributing, processing, and market channels within the products value chain. These weaknesses are often due to a limited amount of strong logistical sector and good infrastructure, knowledge gasps, limited market channels and cultural elements (Hodges, Buzby, & Bennett, 2011). According to a report by Wageningen University (van Gogh, van der Sluis, & Soethoudt, 2013) the most frequents causes of PHLs are weak ‘cold chain’ transport links, limited professional warehousing facilities, and overall rough product handling. This accounted for more than 40% of the
identified causes of losses in the post-harvest value chain in emerging countries, including Ghana. The largest PHLs normally occur on or near the farm, where the initial choice of which type of agricultural product produce is made, the variety and techniques of harvesting and
consolidation methods are chosen - all important steps which ultimately decide the level of losses (World Bank, 2010).
The quantification of PHLs in developing countries are mostly guesstimates derived from local questionnaires rather than actual measurements – this can be misleading (Parfitt, Barthel, & Macnaughton, 2010). Limited or non existing quantitative systems, and registration points to measure the precise amount of agricultural produce harvested, transported, and delivered to the
consumer make estimating PHLs a difficult or near impossible task. Data in Ghana on PHLs are poor, limited and if available most likely unreliable (Hodges, Buzby, & Bennett, 2011).
Estimates of PHLs in Ghana ranged from 20% to 50% depending on the product, region and farmer access to market channels (World Bank, 2012). In this report, interviewed stakeholders confirmed previous PHLs estimates from literature data which are summarized in figure 2 below.
There are many motivations for improving PHM practices and decreasing PHLs. At the level of individual households in Ghana, reduced PHLs can increase their own food supply by both reducing produce losses and increasing income from the improved market opportunities that could be used to buy other products or food type – increasing prosperity and improving the livelihoods for many Ghanaians (World Bank, 2010). Better PHM practices can also improve the food quality / safety with associated health benefits. Furthermore, aiming to reduce PHLs instead of increasing food production also save scarce expensive production resources such as fertilizer, water and land, this can decrease deforestation and lessen environmental harm (Hodges, Buzby, & Bennett, 2011). Moreover, as previously discussed, macro-forces such as a growing Ghanaian middle-class, changing international demand trends for higher quality agricultural produce, the need for new market-channels for farmers, should stimulate the post-harvest sector to improve. Improving the post-harvest sector will aide in developing Ghana’s economy, while ultimately increasing prosperity.
In this report the PHM sector is defined as all process that take place after the agricultural product is harvested. Other important pre-conditional factors that have an overall impact on the successfulness of the PHM process; such as the use / effectiveness of agricultural inputs, location, and scale-size of the farm, are not discussed in this report. This decision was made in regard to previous studies and focus / scope of this report.
Figure 2. PHLs previous literature estimates.
Country / region Product PHL Estimates Source
Ghana Banana <10% Akinyemi, Aiyelaagbe, & Akyeampong (2010)
Ghana Cabbage 19% Asiedu (2003)
Ghana Carrot 9% Asiedu (2003)
Ghana Yam 20-50% Baghkhandan (2005)
Ghana Fruits & Vegetables 50% Atanda (2011)
Ghana Perishables 30-80% Hoogerwerf, Jonker, & van der en Poort (2001)
Sub-Saharan Africa Perishables 50% Jabir (2012)
Figure 3. Agricultural products figures discussed in this report. Area planted 2010 (‘000 ha.) Average yield 2010 (Mt/Ha) Achievable yield (Mt/Ha) Volume of export 2010 (Mt.) Cacao 1,600.0 0.4 1.0 697,236.0(2) Palm Oil 378.0 5.84 - 55,000.0 Corn 992.0 1.7 6 8,720.0 Tomatoes 52.5 7.2 15 Peppers 21.0 (1) 6.5 32.3 Pineapple 10.5 14 - 40,141.4 Mango - 11.5 - 291.2
Sources: FAO statistics and Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture (2012).
3,695.0(3)
(1) other vegetables include peppers, carrots, and onion; (2) cocoa beans 2011; (3) vegetables: including tomatoes and peppers.
Note: achievable yields have been achieved in cases where more effective extension and use of recommended technologies have occurred. The dashes indicate agricultural products for which no on-farm research findings were available.
Specific PHM practices and PHLs discussed in this report are based on the following distinctive post-harvest value chains: 1) non-perishable: represented by cocoa; and 2) perishable: represented by tomatoes. Some facts and figures regarding the chosen agricultural products are illustrated on the next page in figure 3; these also include other agricultural products / value chains which were discussed in a different, more elaborate version of this report (the diagrams / value chains of these additional agricultural products are listed in the appendix). The cocoa and tomato value chains were chosen based on a variety of criteria: 1) the assignment of the label ‘top sectors’ by the Dutch government on its ‘agriculture & food’, ‘horticulture’, and ‘logistics’ PHM sector; 2) the current focus on agricultural logistics by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Accra and its strategic goals related to important agricultural value chains in Ghana where the Netherlands can add value to; 3) Recent developments in the international
Ghana’s logistical and infrastructure sector
In order to fully analyze the Ghanaian PHM sector it is essential to describe the current level of infrastructure and status of the logistical sector. Many previous PHM studies have concluded that a strong logistical sector is needed in order for optimal PHM practices to take place and create efficient post-harvest agricultural value chains (Hodges, Buzby, & Bennett, 2011).
It is important to note how the agricultural production is spread across Ghana in relation to the different logistical access points. Most of the national agricultural production is
concentrated in the southern part of Ghana; as the land is most fertile, closest to largest cities, and the areas are arguably the most developed (Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture, 2012). Figure 4 shows a simulated land use map of Ghana (the data on the Northern part of Ghana is limited). Cocoa and palm oil are the dominant crops in the wetter southwest of the country, while corn for example in the drier north. Furthermore, the data on the production of fruit varieties is also limited and its geographical production areas are described in more detail in the subsequent sections later in this report. Both the road network and (undeveloped) rail network are most densely concentrated in the Southern part of Ghana (Poku & Anin, 2013).
Logistical sector
The Ghanaian logistical sector is known for its inefficiencies and disorder. There are many problems with the transportation systems within the country. According to the Department of Transport and Telecommunication of the ECOWAS Commission, most of Ghana's transport challenges are also shared by the 14 other West-African countries in the region (Dorosh, Wang, You et al., 2010). Overall transport prices paid by businesses in Africa are among the highest in the world. Transport costs add to the high cost of doing business in Africa. As an example, the cost of transporting goods along the Tema-Ouagadougou corridor is 35% higher than the average
for other African and Asian corridors such as Dacca-Chittagong, Laem Chabang-Vientiane, Durban-Nelspruit, and Maputo-Nelspruit (Nathan Associates, 2010). Among domestic routes in Ghana, cost per ton of transporting material varies among different routes. The more costly routes are those that consist of old 5–10 metric ton trucks that carry between 50 and 100 125-kilogram bags; these are the most common trucks that are used when transporting agricultural produce by Ghanaian transporters.
There are other common West-African logistical problems such as an over reliance on road transportation for transporting both goods and freight. The over reliance on the road transport system, relegates other modes of transport such as rail, air and water transport systems to the background. Academics at the University of KNUST (Ghana) have argued that with ever increasing volumes in freight transport, especially due to a further increase of Ghana's oil and gas industry (Kapela, 2009), the national government needs to find solutions to the emerging consequences of the Ghanaian overall economic growth (Domfeh, 2011). According to Professor Adarkwa, from the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) it is estimated that more than 90% of Ghana's freight and traffic is carried by road transport and in certain rural areas; freight or goods are captive to this mode of transport (Domfeh, 2011). Furthermore, the infrastructure is inadequate and poor. There is a lack of funds for further development and timely maintenance of transport infrastructure and limited private sector interest in the provision of transport infrastructure. It should be noted that Ghana has made several efforts to attract the private sector in developing transport infrastructure, such as to help rejuvenate its rail industry for over a decade (Ghana Ministry of Finance, 2012); but most of these attempts have all proved unsuccessful.
There are institutional deficiencies and inadequacies of well motivated human resources to undertake policy, implementation and monitoring of projects. As an example, until 2009 for instance, the Monitoring and Evaluation Department of the Ministry of Roads and Highways in Ghana had only four staff, one land cruiser and one pickup truck. Despite some the recent improvements (current ‘technical monitoring’ staff have increased to 10), the gap of becoming a modernized governmental transportation department is still very big (Ghana Ministry of Roads and Highways , 2013). This government department is responsible for monitoring the progress of works on over 60,000 km of roads countrywide. With limited to no resources this is nearly impossible. Furthermore, the transport infrastructure in Ghana is also negatively affected by
regulations and its lack of enforcement. For example, the unwillingness to follow axle load limits set up by the government, especially in the sub-regions leads to the further deterioration of transit corridors and roads in general. In the road freight sector transporters can be carrying goods in excess of 70 tons with less than 6-axle trucks, while a maximum of 61- 67 tons is allowed as set out by the UEMOA regulations in 2011 (Ghana’s National Road Transport and Transit
Facilitation Committee, 2010).
As an overall indicator of the current status of the Ghanaian logistical sector the ‘logistics performance index’ (LPI) is used. This index is created by the World Bank and Tufts University. The LPI reflects the perceptions of a country's overall logistical status on a domestic and
international basis. The index Likert-scale ranges from 1 to 5, with a higher score representing better performance. According to this index, Ghana scores 2.64 out of 5 in 2014, compared to 2.5 in 2012, as depicted by figure 5 listed on this page (World Bank, 2014). This score is based on the level of process efficiency by customs clearance, quality of trade- and transport-related infrastructure, ease of arranging competitively priced shipments, quality of logistics services, ability to track and trace consignments, and frequency with which shipments reach the consignee within the scheduled time. These different aspects of logistics performance are assessed by operators on the ground. The index relies on a structured online survey of logistics professionals from the companies responsible for moving goods around the world: multinational freight forwarders and the main express carriers (World Bank, 2010). Furthermore, nearly 1,000 logistics professionals from international logistics companies, academic, and international institutions in 160 countries participated in the 2014 LPI survey. Despite Ghana’s transportation woes, as is reflected by its low score, the country has been improving its transportation sector as can be seen in the period of 2007-2014 (World Bank, 2014). This trend according to
Roads
The transportation of agricultural goods in Ghana relies heavily on road transport. Previous research has shown that investments in roads and road connectivity positively affect agricultural productivity and output (Chamberlin et. al, 2007). Stifel and Minten (2008) suggest that remoteness negatively affects agricultural productivity and incomes at the household level. The impacts of road infrastructure on agricultural output and productivity are particularly
important in Ghana as the agricultural sector accounts for a large share of gross domestic product (GDP). Furthermore, the relatively low quality of road infrastructure and long average travel times result besides the high level of PHLs also in high transaction costs for sales of agricultural inputs and outputs, and this limits agricultural productivity and growth. Thus, investments in road infrastructure can have a significant positive impact on the agricultural sector and in increasing overall prosperity.
As of 2009, the road network in Ghana consisted of 12,400 KM of urban roads, 42,209 KM of feeder roads, and 12,839 KM of trunk roads (World Bank, 2012). These roads in Ghana are considered to be limited, of bad quality, and inadequate as most of the road sections have reached a critical capacity where the volume of traffic flow is more than the road networks can handle. This situation poses especially a challenge to the transportation system in the various metropolis areas. It is very difficult to analyze if this is due to congestion peaks caused by agricultural harvesting periods. Different agricultural commodities have different harvesting periods, despite some time frame harvesting periods overlap, a
clear peak cannot be witnessed. On the other Figure 6. Ghana road network
map.
hand, during the ‘rainy season’ (from April – September), untarnished roads throughout Ghana can become extremely muddy and therefore unusable. This leads to longer transport journeys, which can especially be harmful for perishable agricultural produce.
Despite the fact that the Ghanaian authorities are investing in roads (Ghana Ministry of Trade and Industry, 2012), often assisted / built by foreign countries such as the United States (such as the George Walker Bush Highway in Accra, which opened in 2012) and China (such as the 800-kilometer Western Corridor Highway project); the overall investment level is too low to cope with the economic growth for there to be a significant improvement in the road network – this is especially acute in critical remote areas where farmers are located outside large cities such as Accra, Kumasi, Tema, Takoradi. Figure 6 on the previous page illustrates the current road network in Ghana which is concentrated in the Southern part of the country.
Rail
Other modes of transport in Ghana include an underdeveloped rail system - built in colonial times by the British (Jedwab & Moradi, 2011). However, due to limited / to no investments, this rail network does not operate fully (figure 9), nor has the capability to carry agricultural
products. It should be noted that the Ghanaian government is trying to rejuvenate the rail network between Accra; the capital; Tema (large port near Accra); Takoradi (other large
port city), Awasu (near a bauxite mine), and Kumasi (second largest city in Ghana (figure 7), and the wide core aggregation area of cocoa), through tendering it to Chinese companies. This
ambitious plan has until now faced many budgetary issues and construction delays. If this rail network were ever to be realized a significant alternative could be found for transporting cocoa from the Kumasi area to the ports, possibly even corn by a combination of road to rail transport (Jedwab & Moradi, 2011). This possible alternative mode of transport would be cheaper due to the bulkiness and weight of the agricultural
Figure 7. Ghana rail network (1). Source: Jewwab & Moradi (2011).
Figure 8. Ghana rail network (2). Source: Jewwab & Moradi (2011).
products. For other agriculture products included in this report, this change from road to rail transport is less of an option, due to the perishable nature of the product (fruit and vegetables) or short post-harvest processing time requirement (palm oil) – transport by truck is in theory faster. However, if the railroad network were to materialize and be vastly improved, a possible
containerization of agriculture produce transported by a road / railroad combination could be investigated. At this point in time, this scenario is unlikely, as first of all many different processes are needed in building basic infrastructure links and rejuvenating the many railroad networks. Containerization does hold a lot of potential if transporting agriculture goods by both road and rail networks were it to be possible.
Cross border logistics
Cross border logistics from Ghana, essential for exporting agricultural products, to neighboring countries continue to experience a number of bottlenecks. According to the World
Bank’s ‘Doing Business Report 2012’, Ghana ranks 90th out of 183 economies on the ease of
cross border trading (International Finance Corporation & World Bank, 2011). The country performs relatively well against its sub-Saharan peers on the time and cost of import and export (29 days at a cost of USD 1,315 per container in Ghana, compared to 37 days at USD 2,502 for sub-Saharan Africa), but this is still well behind the OECD average (11 days at USD 1,085 per container). In costs terms, the international transportation sector is very expensive (Oxford Business Group, 2013). A 2010 US Agency for International Development report found it costs seven times more to deliver the same container from Tema Port (near Accra), Ghana to
Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso than from Newark - New Jersey, US to Chicago, US, this is a roughly equal distance1. The report argued that despite the trucker salaries in the US being approximately 25 times higher than those in Ghana, Ghanaian truck transport prices are still higher. This is driven by a number of factors, including price increases associated with actual enforcement (arguably the ‘only’ enforcement) of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regulations at the border on axle loads, preventing trucks from maximizing their cargoes (overloading), higher fuel prices, as well as instances of border and checkpoint corruption (Oxford Business Group, 2013).
Logistical future
Overall the logistical sector in Ghana is poor, including an underdeveloped railway network and limited / low quality roads which lead to high maintenance and operational costs that the transporters then pass on to agricultural traders / consumers. Some routes have low volume commodities and inadequate competition, and sometimes collusion by truckers leads to even high rates. On the other hand, the routes between major cities such as Accra, Kumasi, and Tamale are much lower owing to competition, the availability of more vehicles, and better maintained roads (World Bank, 2012).
The long-term success of the logistical sector and infrastructure level in Ghana, essential for optimal PHM practices to take place, and foreign investors’ willingness to invest capital in the logistical sector (Poulton, Kydd, & Dorward, 2006), is likely to rest on the ability of the Ghanaian government to deliver on its strategy and goal of making Ghana a regional trade hub. The country has several factors in its favor, including political stability and relative security. In addition, an efficiency improvement at Tema Port has already raised confidence in Ghana becoming a transit corridor for goods headed to the rest of West-Africa and beyond.
Furthermore, due to the relative short flying distance (6-7 hours by air) and sailing distance (7 days by boat) to the European Union, Ghana has a geographical competitive advantage. Already multiple Western logistical multinationals are basing their local headquarters in Ghana. To transport agricultural products successfully, a solid, efficient, professional logistical and infrastructure sector need to be in place and fully operational. However, currently the logistical and infrastructure sector is far underdeveloped - this has to improve.
Post-harvest management & post-harvest bottlenecks – more than investment is needed
There are many similar post-harvest challenges that face both non-perishable and
perishable agricultural value chains. These challenges have a strong impact on PHLs. Perishable crops, by their nature, tend to have higher PHLs than non-perishable products. The level of overall PHLs vary heavily per region in Ghana and commodity type, but losses can exceed 50% (Hoogerwerf, Jonker, & van der Poort, 2001). Due to poor PHM practices, weaknesses are created in the specific agricultural value chain causing food losses. These weaknesses are a result of limited professional transportation means (a problem especially acute in West-Africa where
transportation costs can be five times of those in Asia) and bad infrastructure links (World Bank, 2009). Frequent breakdowns of available transporting trucks cause delays in travel time, especially perishable goods to rot, while
increasing overall costs for both non-perishables as perishable value chain stakeholders. Other factors such as robbery, theft, accidents and bribery enhance post-harvest problems (Oxford Business Group, 2013). Furthermore, the unavailability of appropriate agricultural packaging material, limited professional storage facilities (when available often located at non-strategic locations), an uncompetitive agricultural processing sector, and educational knowledge gaps further create PHM difficulties (Aramyan et al., 2013).
A lack of quality standards for agricultural products and governmental supervision result in diseases spreading more easily and reducing the product’s quality (World Bank, 2010). Limited new market channels are available to farmers leaving many unsold products to rot on the field or alongside the road (Sarris & Hallam, 2006). This is partly due to socio-economic factors in Ghana. Farmers rely on influential local market traders, known in Ghana as ‘market queens’ (women who buy and sell products in the local wholesale open market; where most of
agricultural products are sold) and traders and international traders to automatically come and buy their produce (World Bank, 2011). However, there is limited loyalty between the farmers and their buyers. Despite the fact that a contract has been signed the produce can be sold a second time by the farmer or on the other hand the buyer does not pick up and pay for the produce as earlier agreed upon (Lyon, 2000). This causes miscommunications and a low level of trust amongst the stakeholders creating an unreliable market leading to higher unnecessary losses.
Stakeholders at all levels within the post-harvest cycle lack financial resources to invest in the PHM sector (GIZ, 2011). However, finding adequate solutions for some of the bottlenecks described above in the PHM sector require more than financial investments. Simply building new infrastructure, warehousing facilities, processing factories and buying suitable new trucks do not automatically interlink the different agricultural post-harvest stages along the value chain,
Case Study
A tomato farmer in the Brong-Ahafo region harvests his produce and encounters some of the following PHM issues:
Potentially does not have sufficient labor when harvesting; leaving part of the produce to rot in the ground Does not have the technological
equipment to store the produce in cool warehousing
Does not have the ability to process the produce
No access to many market opportunities, (ex. Sunyani market) / limited market channels to sell the produce
No / limited trucks accessibility – difficulties transporting the produce to consumers
Low quality or no packaging material damaging the tomato product
nor improve PHM practices. For example, many previous reports, such as the Oxford Business Group report: ‘Logistics Capacity Assessment Report’ (2013), argue that building new modern warehouses improve post-harvest value chains. However, this same rapport also argues that building new warehousing is only a part of the solution. To illustrate this point, the following analysis was made: the availability of modern warehousing in Ghana is limited, therefore USAID (American government development aid organization) established and sponsored a plan to build 24 new professional warehouses in 2010-2013 (Feed the Future, 2010). Until now the program has seen many difficulties. Only nine warehouses have been (partially) completed and were donated to the Ghanaian government who tendered the operational rights to private companies. Some of these built warehouses are not operational anymore due to lack of day-to-day financing, wrong type of warehousing (not taken into account the area’s produce) and building the
warehouse at a non-strategic location (not considering important geographic elements such as distance to market channels and road networks) (University of Ghana, personal communication, August 15, 2013). This has led to the majority of farmers not using these newly provided
warehouses. They do not see the benefits, nor have the financial means to cover the renting costs that these warehouses demand (Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture, 2011). Therefore, solely building new modern warehouses without considering long-term operational financing, type of warehousing needed for the specific area produce, and strategic geographic location does not automatically improve PHM practices, nor decrease produce losses. Furthermore, resolving market channels availability issues, social-economic factors, and other challenges cannot solely be solved by investment but need government policies, intervention, and cooperation from the private sector. Government policies should also try to encourage young people into the trade of farming as the total number of farmers is decreasing. Young farmers prefer to work in the cities than on the land. As there will continue to be fewer hands to help at the farm during the
harvesting period, if this trend will continue, more and more produce will be lost unless new high-tech farming equipment is used to replace the smaller farming labor force. Further government policy suggestions are analyzed in the ‘Improving the post-harvest management
sector in Ghana: policy’ section.
Lastly, this part concludes a brief introduction in some of the challenges that the PHM sector in Ghana faces. The next section will look in more detail at the PHM status quo within the different non-perishable and perishable agricultural value chains.
Non-perishable agricultural value chains
The structure of this section is as follows: first an analysis is made of common factors amongst non-perishable value chains and its post-harvest management practices using cocoa, palm oil and corn as examples. This is followed by an extensive analysis of the cocoa value chain, PHM cycle / practices, its bottlenecks, and potential improvement suggestions within the value chain aimed at reducing PHLs.
Non-perishable agricultural products are characterized by their physical features as they can be stored without refrigeration and will stay in a relative good condition for a longer or indefinite period of time (Mather, Boughton, & Jayne, 2011). Most non-perishable agriculture products do have a "best used by" date or something similar, but can often be stored for a year or longer. The major difference of logistically handling non-perishable or perishable agricultural produce is that non-perishable products do not require refrigeration equipment to transport nor in the storage facility. Most importantly non-perishable goods need to be packed / stored in suitable crates, boxes or pouches where the produce can remain dry and retain its quality.
Cocoa, palm oil, and corn are considered less perishable as the agricultural products contain low moisture contents. Poor post-harvest handling can lead to both weight and quality losses. These agricultural products are considered to be very important in the country for both local as international trade (especially cocoa).
As previously discussed in the ‘Ghana’s logistical and infrastructure sector’ section, inefficient transport modes cause a lot of PHLs. An adequate amount of professional trucks and other modes of quality transport that are used to pick up the non-perishable agricultural products from the farmers to the end consumer are lacking. Often the trucks used are unsuitable and unfit for the transportation of large bulk (such as cocoa, corn and palm oil), and are not designed to cover vast amounts of distance. Non-perishable agricultural products are often heavy, and truck loaders often do not take into account the maximum loading capacity. This can lead to heavy loads that cause damage to the truck, delaying the transportation time and adding costs. Accordingly, these costs are passed on to the end consumer as the transportation market is not competitive and limited. Due to the already poor overall conditions of the roads in Ghana, the destruction caused by heavy trucks damage the roads further (Hodges, Buzby, & Bennett, 2011).
Furthermore, along the transportation journey, accidents, extortion, robbery, bribery are a common risk to the post-harvest cycle causing higher costs and PHLs (Oxford Business Group, 2013).
In non-perishable agricultural value chains, goods are stored at one or more warehouses depending on the product characteristics and regulation requirements set out by the Ghanaian government. For example cocoa, palm oil and corn, it is essential to have the availability of dry storage facilities. These types of storage facilities are in some regions still very limited
(discussed in more detail in the specific product analysis). However, slowly private companies are investing and starting to build professional warehousing facilities - especially for cocoa, where the value chain is heavily government regulated and is profitable (Ghanaian Ministry of Finance, 2013). More explicitly, due to the heavy focus of the Ghanaian government and with strong demand for this product from the worldwide market; the risk in this market is relatively lower than for other agricultural sectors in Ghana encouraging investments in warehouses by private companies. This is further enhanced, as the government recently signed contracts to rent / cooperate in using / operating these newly built warehouses. Farmers and traders in other non-perishable agricultural value chains tend to store their products in improvised warehousing facilities, such as in houses or other rather small unequipped storage facilities near the farm. Because these improvised storage facilities for non-perishable goods are often not perfectly dry (as is required); they are not ideal. This can lead to the occurrence of diseases spreading and contaminating the produce, causing damages to the product (Wareing, 2002). It should be noted, that the occurrences of diseases spreading within the warehousing facility is less common / limited for the cocoa value chain (due to strong governmental intervention), than it is for the corn and palm oil (fresh fruit bunches – not the oil) value chains (Angelucci, 2013), but the overall poor monitoring of the quality / healthiness of the products entering the storage facility is a frequent problem. Newly contaminated products can interfere with the other good quality products that are already present in the warehousing facility and can negatively affect the entire produce. If contaminated cocoa, palm oil or corn were to be exported, it can lead to rejections, potentially leading to long-term export bans for the producing country to different foreign markets (when for example dangerous and unwanted insects, mold, fungus, pests and diseases are found).
Also, the climate control requirements within the warehousing facility are considered a hassle: power cuts are common (needed for cooling and moisture controlling equipment – however not as important of a problem when comparing it to the perishable agricultural value chains), and due to sudden heavy rainfalls the ‘dry’ storage facilities can become humid,
negatively impacting the quality of the stored non-perishable agricultural products. Lastly, many warehouses that exist are old and poorly designed, while new warehouses are not always
strategically based (as discussed in the USAID example on page 19). This makes the availability of suitable storage facilities for non-perishable products a major challenge in order for optimal PHM practices to take place along the three value chains.
The overall post-harvest handling of non-perishable agricultural goods such as cocoa can also cause the quality of the products to diminish. Products are often handled in a rough and poor manner. The limitedness or absence of grading many non-perishable goods such as palm oil and corn produce, and sorting the products in a productive manner causes an increase in quality and product losses. For the cocoa value chain this is less so, as major steps have been taken by the government to grade, certify and sort the product in a professional standard. The quality level of palm oil is less regulated and corn does not have any quality standard. The PHM technology needed for grading and e-certification are lacking (the available computers are outdated and have a low level of technology, this causes further inefficiencies).
The packagings of non-perishable products are not to the highest standards (Osei-Amponsah, 2013). The packaging used for non-perishable goods are not always suited for long-term storage or for long transport journeys. The packaging material are regularly of poor quality, with no ideal design, causing further damages to the product during the later handling
transportation and storage phases. Lastly, sometimes improvised packaging solutions are made when suitable packaging are not available. For example, old bags with holes can be patched up with old cloth, or other unsuitable bags that can break easily are used for packaging the product, obviously this is not ideal; increasing the risk of produce weight loss along the transport journey. This is not the case for the cocoa value chain as the government has introduced packaging standards, however for palm oil, corn and other non-perishable goods the products that are packaged can be overfilled, wrongly stacked, potentially breaking the packaging – spoiling the product.
PHM of non-perishable products is further complicated by the lack of suitable market channels or no markets at all (FAO, 2011). Cocoa is mostly exported to Western-Europe and the overall national produce has already found a buyer, as demand for the product is strong (a relatively small amount of cocoa is used for domestic purposes). Corn and palm oil on the other hand are mostly used for the Ghanaian market, while some processed products are exported to neighboring countries. In the corn and palm oil value chains, major market gaps exist between the farmer and end consumer (not all farmers are able to sell (all) their produce). Social factors and Ghanaian culture are also an important element in the PHM of non-perishable value chains. These include a lack of trust / loyalty and a breach of contracts between agricultural market participants.
An important element to take into consideration when describing PHM practices in Ghana is education (Asiedu, 2003). A lot of stakeholders in the non-perishable value chains have limited education. Farmers, market queens / traders, transporters and other stakeholders are untrained at different stages and are unaware of some of their initiatives / actions taken along the value chain can cause damage to the quality of the products.
The overall lack of capital investment resources (due to high local interest rates and farmers / companies non creditworthiness) needed for the further building of processing facilities, dry storage facilities, and equipped trucks etc. holds back needed investment in tools and other systems that can improve the post-harvest value chains.
Lastly, some policies introduced by the Ghanaian government have / had a major impact on the PHM of non-perishable agricultural goods. The government has introduced strict control mechanisms for the cocoa trade, coordinating every step (further elaborated in the cocoa
section). Similar policies could be introduced, such as an improvement in the quality control, for the trade in palm oil and corn which until now has almost no regulation. It could also be
considered to introduce temporarily price-control mechanisms in order to assist these value chains in becoming more professional during the development phase (currently the government already controls the prices of the cacao sector).
The PHM of cocoa, palm oil and corn face many challenges. However, this also leads to many opportunities in enhancing the value chains and optimizing the quality / quantity of the produce produced. The next section of the “Non-perishable agricultural value chains” chapter looks closer into the cocoa, palm oil and corn value chains.
Cocoa
The most important agricultural product in Ghana is cocoa. The Ghanaian produce totals around 30% of the world’s supply and employs over two million farmers. This makes ‘the cocoa product’ the largest employer in Ghana. The Ghanaian cocoa value chain is strongly regulated by the government as it is the most important crop for the Ghanaian economy (Asamoah, Arthur, & Stephen, 2013). The Ghanaian cocoa harvest season starts at the beginning of October and runs to the end of April, and therefore does not face a concrete logistical congestion peak due to its long harvesting period (around 6-months). Cocoa tends to be produced in the southern part of Ghana as illustrated on the map (page 27).The overall state of the cocoa post-harvest value chain is relatively well developed compared to other agricultural products.
The post-harvest value chain is characterized by a strict regime of different steps (Amoah, 2009). The government of Ghana has commissioned a monopoly regulator / market coordinator named Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD). COCOBOD’s role is to control, develop and create a sustainable quality supply of cocoa to the world market. First, it approves ‘Licensed Buying Companies (LBC’s), which are licensed by COCOBOD to buy cocoa from local
purchasing clerks (these are often representatives of a farmer community) to transport and sell it at an agreed mark-up to COCOBOD. This price is an agreed price between the LBC and
COCOBOD, which is normally around 75% of the world cocoa market price. COCOBOD takes a 25% margin for the costs it makes in subsidizing farming fertilizer, marketing of the product, storage facilities, and guaranteeing the LBC’s / farmers a fixed price (Cocoa Marketing
Company, 2012). The overall ‘fixed cacao price’ agreement is pre-financed by short-term, syndicated letters of credit facilities by international banks. The heights of the LBC’s margins are unknown as it is not coordinated by COCOBOD, therefore it seems to be operating by market forces (Coates, Kitchen, Kebbell et. al., 2011).
The chain starts by the LBC’s, who normally first bulk the cocoa from different farmers and transport the produce by pickup and / or larger trucks. The LBC’s often outsource this local transportation step, but can also have a small fleet of pickup and larger trucks to transport the cocoa. The cocoa is then often temporarily stored at one of the 67 regional ‘cacao districts’ - LBC operated distribution warehouses which need to be dry. During this phase, COCOBOD inspects the produce, classifies, grades and seals it before it is allowed to be exported. Quality
checks occur throughout the cocoa value chain at every phase. When the cocoa produce has been packed in a bag within the distribution warehouse, it becomes illegal to reopen it and violators face severe legal punishment. The certification of the product, such as UTZ, Rainforest Alliance or Fair Trade certification, is of great importance to the traceability of the product (at this moment not all cacao is traceable – no accurate estimation data available), an element that end consumers (for example chocolate factories in Europe) require in order for them to guarantee the produce quality to its consumers (for example chocolate bar customers). From the LBC operated warehouse, the cocoa produce is transported and delivered to a COCOBOD owned warehouse (normally near the ports), where COCOBOD sells the product to the world market (major commodities brokers and Western cocoa processors) or local cocoa processors. The cocoa produce can be sold to the same LBC who transported and logistically organized the trade of cocoa from the farmers to a COCOBOD warehouse, as is the case for Armajaro (commodity trader). The product is than either loaded on a container ship, with the majority of the vessels sailing to Europe (where it is processed) or is transported to a local cocoa processor. A summary of the cocoa post-harvest value chain is provided in figure 9 on the page 27.
A part of the PHM concept is to add additional value to the product. In the case of cocoa this is processing the product. However the processing capacity for cocoa in Ghana is limited. The lack of processing facilities causes cocoa to be sold abroad for the export market where the product is also processed. This limits the financial margins that Ghanaian stakeholders can make, as a profitable element of the cocoa trade is the processing of it. In the cocoa post-harvest value chain, companies such as Barry Calabeut, Cargill and Nestlé are building or have recently opened processing facilities instead of transporting it to Amsterdam (GNA, 2001), the
Netherlands were a large majority of the worldwide production of cocoa is processed (Merkus, 2014). However, a major obstacle for further developing the Ghanaian cocoa processing industry is that the majority of the end consumers’ (chocolate products) live in the Western world / Europe. It is however more expensive to transport the rough cacao and processing it in the Europe. Nonetheless, due to the favorably location of most end consumers, plus the ability of mixing the rough Ghanaian cacao with other cacao produced in different countries, together with the strong logistical network based in Western Europe, convince many cocoa multinationals of processing the majority of the agricultural produce in the Netherlands.
Other major bottlenecks in the post-harvest cocoa value chain are the unreliable and unequipped trucks that transport the product, which break down easily causing travel delays and increasing costs. Poor handling of the cocoa product can lead to lost bags or it being spoiled. If 1 bag is lost / spoiled, 24-25 bags need to be sold in order for the loss to be compensated (Wienco, personal communication, September 12, 2013); a heavy burden to compensate for, especially as the transporter, nor the trader takes the responsibility of the additional costs associated with the loss, leading to many disagreements even if there are clear contracts, creating a lot of distrust in the market – increasing inefficiencies. The storage room for the cocoa produce in the first step of the post-harvest cycle at the purchasing clerk is often poor: it is not dry, too humid, and there are no or primitive drying facilities (a requirement for an optimal cocoa quality). The farmers and purchasing clerk simply try to sell their produce as fast as possible, while neglecting the quality in the short-term. Despite the fact that the certification and the traceability of the cocoa trade is improving, largely due ‘corporate responsibilities’ programs introduced by Western consumers and government policies, not all of the cocoa production has met this standard yet. Increasing the amount of certified cacao leads to a higher quality produce and more prosperity for the farmer / Ghanaian society.
The post-harvest cycle takes ~60 days between the time of harvest and final payment by COCOBOD for the cocoa production. 28 out of the 60 days are consumed by waiting for the COCOBOD payment to the LBC; therefore the actual ‘physical cycle’ only lasts 32 days. The additional payment time by COCOBOD / Ghanaian government increases storage costs for LBC’s and causes unnecessary full warehouses. This further causes investment losses and the cycle to be slowed down.
It should be noted that despite the bottlenecks the cocoa post-harvest cycle faces, it is relatively well developed due to the importance of the product for the Ghanaian economy and investments / commitments made by foreign Western companies. PHM practices can and should be improved. A better coordination, regarding improving the quantity and quality of the cacao, between COCOBOD, LBC’s and its farmers would be a good start, while COCOBOD should also loosen its grip on the tightly controlled cocoa value chain in order for the private sector to flourish and increasing the financial margins for farmers who are more incentivized in producing more and higher quality cocoa (Amoah, 2009). This could increase the cocoa trade even further,
while decreasing PHLs (due to more availability of warehousing and competition) and creating a more sustainable supply of cocoa to the world market increasing profits to the Ghanaian
economy. Lastly, as the original COCOBOD system is largely credited for professionalizing the cacao value chain over the last decade (despite the current demand by the cacao private sector in modernizing it), it is an interesting concept to investigate if introducing a similar system for other agricultural value chains during its development phase can be beneficial in professionalizing it – this is further briefly discussed in the ‘Improving the post-harvest management sector in Ghana:
policy’ section.
Perishable agricultural value chains
Perishable agricultural products, such as fruit and vegetables, are becoming ever more important in the Ghanaian and global market. This increase in demand generates new revenues, which is largely due to the long-term economic growth of Ghana’s economy that has led to the creation of a middle class. The new middle class is the major driving force behind the demand for high quality perishable products: domestic consumption for fruits and vegetables are increasing rapidly (NRI, 2010). In order to meet this domestic demand, PHM practices within these perishable value chains need to improve (Meng, Florkowski, Sarpong et al., 2014). Currently, a lot of the perishable agricultural produce is lost after harvesting: many of products rot along the road, are spoiled during transport, or are unsold. Especially the limited availability of strategically planned / affordable cold storage warehousing and inappropriate packaging material lead to high PHLs, by some estimates a staggering 50-70% of the entire produce (Hoogerwerf, Jonker, & van der en Poort, 2001).
The perishable agricultural value chains face various PHM obstacles, some similar to the non-perishable agricultural products chains, however due to the perishable nature of the
agricultural products the post-harvest problems are much more urgent (Sloof, Tijskens, & Wilkinson, 1996). When the perishable agricultural products are not handled in an optimal manner, the duration and quality of the products will reduce dramatically.
This section uses the tomato, pineapple, pepper, and mango product to describe the common PHM constraints / bottlenecks that each of these value chains faces. Thereafter, the tomato post-harvest value chain is analyzed in more detail. The tomato value chain was chosen
based on its importance to the Ghanaian diet (it being the most important) and farming economy. It should be noted that other important perishable crops produced in Ghana, such as cassava and plantain are not discussed in this report due to the similarities of the PHM bottlenecks and overall topic scope.
Biological spoilage is the main cause of PHLs for fruits and vegetables, as they lose value very quickly without refrigeration (Atanda, Pessu, Agoda et al., 2011). Perishable agricultural products are produced in every region of the country making reliable and fast transportation an important theme (World Bank , 2011). Due to the perishable nature of the products, the
transportation needs cooling at all times in order to extend the duration of the good; therefore products should be transported in ‘reefer’ cooling trucks or a atmospherically controlled vehicle. However, the trucks that are used in Ghana are often not equipped nor designed for this type of cargo, often lacking the cooling facility essential for the transportation of fresh agricultural products. The lack of transport climate control techniques during the transportation cycle could arguably be the biggest causer of PHLs in the perishable agricultural value chains. An
alternative, due to the problems of limited suitable reefer trucks, is to cool the fresh produce directly onside by the farmer and process it there before transporting the processed goods towards the consumer / buyer. In this case, for the most part, the transport journey does not need to be cooled (not needing reefer trucks anymore). However, as the majority of Ghanaian fresh product producing farmers are small-scale, who are spread throughout the country; difficulties emerge when attempting to acquire expensive processing equipment / or investing in cooling facilities. With small-scale farmers having limited financial resources these are substantial difficulties to overcome, making this scenario in the short-term less likely.
Optimal PHM practices for perishable goods require cooled warehousing (Jabir, 2012). The availability of this type of warehousing is limited in Ghana. The frequent power cuts (without reliable backup generators) causes the cooled warehousing, that is available, to work in an improper and unmanageable manner. Furthermore, similar post-harvest bottlenecks to the non-perishable value chains occur, such as climate settings in warehousing not functioning properly, increasing humidity levels after a tropical rainfall, and a lack of knowledge in
monitoring diseases. As the USAID example described in the ‘Post-harvest management &
warehouses does not automatically solve post-harvest bottlenecks; nor the lack of financial resources or change farmers mentalities, therefore strategic plans / policies are needed.
The packaging of tomatoes, pineapples, peppers, and mangoes are often not ideal. As an example, the packaging used for tomatoes, lack the needed requirements to transport the produce safely. Large wooden crates are used, filled to the top crushing the produce. Initiatives have started by the government to use smaller plastic crates that will diminish the losses occurred in the wooden crates, but process is slow. Other perishable products packaging use weak boxes and can break easily; destroying a large part of the total goods within a truck. Overall, the packaging used to pack perishable goods are made out of poor material, is often overloaded (crushing the goods) and is not specifically designed for the specific product – therefore not suited for long transport journeys. As pineapples, peppers and mangoes are often exported, the quality of the packaging has improved in recent years but there are still many steps to be taken. Furthermore, the overall rough handling of the perishable goods causes damages to the products and its quality.
There are four major post-harvest perishable value chains: 1) small retailers and open wholesale markets; 2) export; 3) professional retailers such as hotels, supermarkets and premium restaurants; and 4) the processed vegetable value chain. The domestic market channels for perishable goods such as tomatoes, peppers, mangoes and pineapples are very limited. Market queens and traders dominate the trade; they sell the products to small retailers and open wholesale markets. Most farmers are depended on them to buy their goods. There are often no alternatives in selling their products through a different sales channel; the market queens and traders therefore have a strong negotiating position. Many farmers who do not have access to the market queens or traders simply try to sell their products for a lower price on the road or in their local village (unsold products are left to rot) (van Gogh, van der Sluis, & Soethoudt, 2013). In the export market for perishable products such as pineapple, mango and pepper better PHM practices appear to be applied which lead to lower PHLs as traders and perishable processor companies are more aware of poor PHM costs and quality criteria demanded by Western based
clients (World Bank, 2011).More processing capacities in Ghana are needed in order to add
value to perishable goods. However, the available processing facilities are limited and often uncompetitive (Robinson & Kolavalli, 2010b). Currently, a lot of large vegetable processing factories in Ghana are uncompetitive due to the competition from cheaper imported products,
while large fruit processing companies have trouble finding enough fruit in the lean production season to be processed, therefore not filling its full processing capability and increasing costs due to its need to import the fruit produce from abroad. New processing factories initiatives in Ghana have a lot of hurdles to overcome, such as an unreliable power supply, low worker skills, and high set-up costs in order to be financially competitive against imported canned perishable goods (Bartels, 2008).
Grading / quality systems are not present for tomatoes (which are mostly used in the domestic market), while some exist for exporting products such as peppers, mangoes and pineapples due to the pressure from Western importing customers and a growing Ghanaian middle class (Suzuki, Jarvis, & Sexton, 2011), but the systems are still considered to be weak. Improvements should be made in quality controls; this can be done through introducing strong grading / certifying systems which enforces a products quality (Sun, Costa, & Menesatti, 2012). By setting out quality standards through a grading system, PHM practices will adapt and try to meet the new standards for the different perishable value chains (Nboyine, Billah, & Afreh-Nuamah, 2012). Due to an increase in demand for higher quality perishable products the Ministry of Food and Agriculture forecasts that there will be a ‘greater market segmentation’ between bulk markets, whole sale markets and retail / supermarkets specialized in offering high quality fresh perishable products rivaling the current dominate open market operated by market queens, also increasing / plus professionalizing new market channels for farmers (Kievit, 2013). However, currently the Ghanaian perishable agricultural culture focuses more on quantity then on quality; delaying the market channels segmentation process (Van Hall Larenstein, 2009). Optimal PHM practices are also troubled due to limited old technology equipment used for post-harvest handling and bad infrastructure links (similar to the non-perishable agricultural products value chains, bumpy and dirt roads increase the chance of the perishable goods being squashed against each other). Furthermore, farmers in Ghana are limitedly agronomical educated
especially regarding topics of optimizing PHM practices (Hodges, Buzby, & Bennett, 2011). Stakeholders who want to improve PHM practices along the value chains often lack the financial resources to buy and invest in refrigerated cooling trucks, building new processing factories, cooling storage facilities, and efficient PHM systems. Culture and social factors in Ghana also weaken an optimal PHM system. Most farmers for products such as tomatoes, pineapples, mangoes and peppers are not working together or bundling resources. Farmers find
new advanced cooling warehousing too expensive to use, but when farmers are grouped a possible discount can be negotiated and causing peer pressure amongst other farmers to use it -increasing the products quality (under the condition that the warehouses are strategically placed). Also, there is no loyalty between the farmer and market queens / traders, causing
miscommunications from both sides delaying the harvest of the produce or left to rot in the field. The various stakeholders along the different value chains need to coordinate, work together and communicate their problems and possible solutions with each other (Aramyan, van Gogh, van der Bijl et al., 2013). For example, Ghanaian supermarkets are demanding higher quality products that currently most local farmers are unable to deliver. A major reason for this is the poor post-harvest handling of the demanded products, diminishing the quality of the product and inability to guarantee a sustainable supply year around. These makes the supermarkets very weary, and they are therefore unwilling to buy from local farmers and choose to import the products for a higher price instead. Supermarkets, traders, warehousing operators, and farmers should work together to solve this problem and enhance the entire perishable value chains for all parties involved. By communicating and working together PHM practices can be improved,
leading to lower PHLs for the fresh agricultural produce.The Ghanaian government currently
lacks policies to encourage better coordination, structure, and communication amongst the various stakeholders within the perishable value chains.
As mentioned, the trade of farming in Ghana is considered unattractive amongst young people and the sector faces job shortages (Leavy, Anyidoho, & Asenso-Okyere, 2012). This problem at first sight appears to lead to a production problem, however the shortage of labor during the harvesting season leads to perishable goods not being taken of the land as the level of ‘harvesting technology’ is limited - farmers when harvesting rely on manual labor. Until now the government has not introduced a solid plan to cope with this phenomenon. Also, investment plans by foreign development aid organizations to improve PHM practices along the perishable value chains are often not coordinated (University of Ghana, personal communication, August 24, 2014) and could even work against each other or performing the same program without the other parties knowledge, these type of investments are inefficient and a waste: new government policies could solve this issue. It should be noted that the government is slowly introducing new policies targeting improvements of PHM practices along various perishable value chains. Government policies, such as the ‘National Export Strategy’, ‘Ghana Trade Policy’, ‘Export
