Effects of Urban Periodic Markets on Rural Development in Ghana: A Rural Web Analysis
Date
2021
Authors
Addai, Godfred
Editors
Advisors
Suh, Jungho
Bardsley, Douglas
Bardsley, Douglas
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Thesis
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Abstract
Rural areas in Ghana continue to experience limited access to and participation in urban
markets, poor socioeconomic linkages between rural and urban areas as well as the decreasing
returns for rural products and profitability of agriculture. These problems have led to increasing
poverty and especially, within villages in the northern part of Ghana. Ghana’s decentralisation
policy clearly defines the responsibilities of the local councils to address rural problems
through the implementation of projects including urban markets. However, the local councils
have not paid much attention to urban periodic markets (UPMs) as a mechanism for rural
development. This thesis primarily investigates the extent to which UPMs affect the rural
economy of Ghana to inform policy decisions. The thesis adopts the Rural Web analysis to
explore the effects of UPMs on important dimensions in selected villages in the south and north
of Ghana to comprehend the contribution of these urban markets to rural development. The
dimensions include novelty production, social capital, and the governance of markets,
sustainability, endogeneity, and institutional arrangements. The study finds that UPMs are a
form of an institutional environment that operates effectively by engaging rural households in
trading activities. First, UPMs affect institutional arrangements in rural areas through the
formation of groups and institutional collaboration. Second, UPMs affect social capital through
the creation of social interactions among households within and outside the villages. Third,
they affect the governance of markets by increasing the direct participation of rural households
in urban markets. Fourth, UPMs affect endogeneity in rural areas by encouraging the sale of
food crops, livestock, and poultry in urban markets. Fifth, they affect novelty production
through the sale of value-added foods in urban markets. Finally, UPMs affect sustainability by
encouraging the sale of organic foods in urban markets.
The formation of producer-marketing groups on market days enables farmers to overcome the
difficulty of transporting their products to UPMs. UPMs engage the local councils to pay
particular attention to road infrastructure through the rehabilitation of village roads. Group
selling in UPMs helps farmers to determine the prices of their products. The social interactions
that are generated during UPMs connect farmers to urban and international buyers. Farmers
trade in foreign currency with international buyers during market days in urban areas with the
possibility that they would earn a high income. The availability of transport services in villages
during market days as well as the proximity of UPMs to villages increase farmers’ direct
participation in these urban markets. Rural farmers sold a larger proportion of agricultural
products in the UPMs. Rural farmers are encouraged to increase the sale of value-added and organic foods at the UPMs because consumers trust these products during market days. UPMs
engage farmers in numerous non-farm jobs, which provide them with additional income. The
study findings are relevant for Ghana’s development policies that seek to improve standards of
living in rural and urban areas. The study suggests that the local councils in Ghana should
incorporate the activities of UPMs into their development policies to aid in promoting rural
and urban interactions, as well as rural development
School/Discipline
School of Social Sciences
Dissertation Note
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 2021
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