Lit Verlag Marketing and Market Queens

This book analysis how global, regional and national trade policies have influenced the domestic agricultural food market in Ghana. Through a detailed investigation of the tomato sector in the Upper East Region, a theoretical analysis of risks, power and the moral market, shows a complex market structure dominated by powerful tomato market queens who control the market. Empirical evidence reveals a market chain captured by local actors at various levels who in an attempt to protect their position exhibit a moral obligation towards traders by assisting them to buy at cheap prices at the farm gate. At a higher level, the book presents challenges confronting Ghanaian tomato farmers as they are faced with flooding of the domestic market with tomato paste from European countries and weak processing sector. Compounding their problem is regional competitions from Burkina Faso farmers.